The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada

The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada (all times Eastern):

6:23 p.m.

Another 12 people have died from COVID-19 in British Columbia, continuing a daily surge in deaths in the last week and bringing the death count to 481 since the pandemic started.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says 694 people have tested positive for COVID-19 for a total of 35,422 people.

Henry says when vaccines become available in the province, there will be limited amounts available, so for the weeks and months ahead, people must stay strong and stick to the restrictions.

She says she knows the majority of people are following the rules and she recognizes the sacrifices that everyone is making in the province.

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5:43 p.m.

Alberta has recorded 1,854 new COVID-19 infections, a new daily record.

The province also reported 14 additional deaths in Thursday’s update, bringing total fatalities to 575.

There are 511 COVID-19 patients in hospital, including 97 in intensive care.

Out of the more than 19,600 tests conducted since the last update, 9.4 per cent came back positive.

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4:16 p.m.

Health officials in Saskatchewan are diverting hundreds more staff to fight COVID-19 as daily cases are forecast to exceed 500 in two weeks.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority expects the number of people in hospital and receiving intensive care could soon double.

Officials are planning for the surge by redeploying 600 health-care staff, which means other health services will be temporarily suspended.

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3:57 p.m.

Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister says people who don’t think COVID-19 is real are idiots. 

Pallister says he knows he is unpopular in some quarters because of the restrictions his government has imposed on public gatherings and businesses. 

But he says the rules are needed to save lives, and everyone needs to work together to reduce the spread of the virus.

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3:51 p.m.

Public health officials in Prince Edward Island announced one additional positive case of COVID-19 in the province Thursday.

The individual is a man in his 20s, a rotational worker who recently travelled to P.E.I. from outside of the Atlantic region and has been in self-isolation since arriving.

This case is not related to any of the other recent positive cases of COVID-19 in the province. 

P.E.I. currently has five active cases of COVID-19, and there have been 73 positive cases since the onset of the pandemic.

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2:40 p.m.

Saskatchewan is announcing 259 new cases of COVID-19 and one additional death.

Health officials say the person who died was in their 80s.

Most of the new infections are located in and around Regina and Saskatoon.

There are 104 people in hospital, with 24 people receiving intensive care.

The seven-day average of new daily cases sits at 269.

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1:56 p.m.

Nunavut is reporting five new cases of COVID-19 in Arviat today, bringing the community’s active case count to 68.

All cases in Rankin Inlet have now recovered.

There are seven active cases in Whale Cove.

Nunavut has 75 active cases of COVID-19 and 123 recovered cases.

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1:50 p.m.

Public health officials in New Brunswick are reporting six new cases of COVID-19 in the province Thursday.

There is one new case in the Moncton region, three new cases in the Saint John region and two in the Fredericton area.

There are now 111 active cases in the province.

New Brunswick has had a total of 520 cases and seven deaths since the pandemic began.

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1:32 p.m.

Manitoba is reporting 367 new COVID-19 cases and 12 additional deaths today. 

The province continues to have a high rate of people testing positive — 13 per cent, on average, over the last five days.

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1:15 p.m.

The Quebec government is cancelling its plan to allow gatherings over four days at Christmas.

Premier Francois Legault announced today the province will no longer permit multi-household gatherings of up to 10 people between Dec. 24 and 27, as had been planned.

Legault first announced the Christmas plan on Nov. 19, saying people could get together as long as they quarantined for a week before and a week after the holiday period.

But with COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths on the rise and a health system deemed fragile due to a lack of staffing, Legault says it’s not realistic to think the numbers will go down sufficiently by Christmas.

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1:12 p.m.

Health Canada’s chief medical adviser, Dr. Supriya Sharma, says she expects to get some final documents from Pfizer on Friday that will provide information on the manufacturing process and which lots of vaccine doses will be sent to Canada.

That is the final thing needed before Canada can approve the vaccine.

Dr. Howard Njoo, the deputy chief public health officer, says he fully expects the decision to be “favourable.”

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12:45 p.m.

Moderna’s vaccine is to be delivered to one site in Canada rather than to each province and Canadian logistics will then distribute it to the provinces as required.

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12:30 p.m.

Deputy chief public health officer Dr. Howard Njoo says while initial supplies of vaccines will limit vaccinations to three million people, there will eventually be a COVID-19 vaccine for every Canadian.

Pfizer’s vaccine is expected to start being delivered first in January, and will be sent by the manufacturer to predetermined points in each province.

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12:05 p.m.

Nova Scotia is reporting 11 new cases of COVID-19 today.

The number of active cases in the province s now stands at 119, that’s down from the 127 cases reported on Wednesday.

Nine of the new cases are in the central health zone, which includes Halifax, while the other two cases are in the northern zone.

The province has had a total of 1,342 cases, while 1,159 are resolved and there have been 65 deaths.

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11:12 a.m.

The Quebec government is reporting 1,470 new cases of COVID-19 and 30 additional deaths linked to the pandemic.

Twelve of the deaths occurred in the last 24 hours, while the rest happened earlier.

Hospitalizations declined by three to 737, while the number of people in intensive care remained unchanged at 99.

There have been a total of 146,532 cases and 7,155 deaths in the province since the pandemic began.

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11 a.m.

Ontario is reporting 1,824 new cases of COVID-19, and 14 new deaths due to the virus.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says there are 592 new cases in Peel Region, 396 cases in Toronto, and 187 cases in York Region.

The province says it has conducted 52,873 tests since the last daily report.

In total, 666 people are hospitalized in Ontario due to COVID-19, including 195 in intensive care.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec 3, 2020.

The Canadian Press