The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada for Monday, Feb. 8, 2021

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

6:20 p.m. 

British Columbia now has 40 confirmed cases of fast-spreading variants of COVID-19.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says 25 cases are the U.K. variant, while 15 involve the type that originated in South Africa.

The province has recorded another 1,236 cases of COVID-19 and 13 deaths.

Almost 155,000 people have received their vaccine and 12,111 of those are second doses.

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5:40 p.m.

Alberta is reporting 269 new cases of COVID-19 and five additional deaths due to the virus.

The province says 432 people are in hospital, with 76 of them in intensive care.

Since Friday, another 25 cases of COVID-19 variants have been detected.

That brings the total of variant cases in the province to 96, of which 46 have not been linked to travel.

The province lifted some restrictions today with regards to dining in restaurants and children’s sports.

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3:30 p.m.

Saskatchewan is reporting 171 new cases of COVID-19.

Health officials say 214 people are in hospital, with 30 people receiving intensive care.

Two more residents also died from the virus.

The Ministry of Health is preparing to release the next phase of its vaccination plan, which will outline who will be next in line for a jab once more supply becomes available.

It says nearly 43,000 doses have so far been given to critical health-care workers and seniors living in long-term care and small communities.

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2:25 p.m.

Health officials in Manitoba have announced four more deaths and 52 new cases of COVID-19.

Dr. Brent Roussin, the chief provincial public health officer, says while it’s the lowest daily case numbers since the fall, it’s not time to completely ease restrictions.

Roussin says he will provide more information on changes to the public health orders Tuesday.

To date, 48,187 doses of vaccine have been administered, including 14,533 second doses.

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1:45 p.m.

Health officials in New Brunswick are easing COVID-19 restrictions in two regions of the province where case numbers have been high.

The Edmundston region will come out of a lockdown to enter the red level of the province’s COVID-19 response plan at 11:59 p.m. tonight, while the Moncton region will drop from red to orange.

There are two new cases of COVID-19 in New Brunswick today — the smallest daily increase since New Year’s Day.

There are 182 active cases in the province, and seven people are in hospital with the disease, including two in intensive care.

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1:35 p.m.

Public health officials in Nova Scotia are reporting one new case of COVID-19 today.

Officials say the Halifax-area case involves travel outside the Atlantic region.

The province says it had administered 18,000 COVID-19 vaccinations as of Sunday, more than 5,000 of which were second doses.

Nova Scotia is lifting restrictions on gatherings, allowing retail businesses and fitness facilities to operate at 75 per cent capacity, up from the previous limit of 50 per cent.

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1:00 p.m.

Ontario will start gradually reopening its economy on Wednesday.

Premier Doug Ford says the state of emergency declared last month will expire as scheduled tomorrow.

Stay-at-home orders will remain as regions gradually transition back to the government’s colour-coded public health restrictions systems over the next several weeks.

The government says it will move some regions back into lockdown if COVID-19 cases spike.

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12:45 p.m.

Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting 11 new cases of COVID-19.

Health officials said today the cases are tied to three clusters in the greater St. John’s area.

Chief medical officer of health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says there is evidence of community spread.

The province has 27 active reported cases.

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11 a.m.

Quebec is reporting 853 new cases of COVID-19 and 17 more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus, including two that occurred in the past 24 hours.

Health officials said today hospitalizations rose by six, to 969, and 160 people were in intensive care, a rise of two.

The province says it administered 1,529 doses of COVID-19 vaccine yesterday, for a total of 259,188.

Quebec has reported a total of 270,911 infections and 10,046 deaths linked to the virus.  

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10:45 a.m.

Ontario is reporting 1,265 new cases of COVID-19 and 33 more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus.

Health Minister Christine Elliott said today there are 421 new cases in Toronto, 256 in Peel and 130 in York Region. 

The province says it has conducted 28,303 tests since the last daily report.

In total, 901 people are hospitalized in Ontario with COVID-19, including 335 in intensive care, and 226 people are on ventilators.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 8, 2021.

The Canadian Press