The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada

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

6:10 p.m.

Alberta’s chief medical health officer says the province had an estimated 1,100 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw tweeted that there was about an eight-per-cent positivity rate on approximately 13,300 tests completed.

The province says 300 new variants of concern have been identified, and that the variants now make up 33 per cent of Alberta’s active COVID-19 infections.

Hinshaw says today’s data is preliminary and regular updates won’t resume until Monday.

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4:25 p.m.

Saskatchewan is reporting 254 new COVID-19 cases today, along with one new death.

Today’s pandemic update from the province says the person who died was in the Saskatoon zone and was between 60 and 69 years old.

The update notes there are 193 people with COVID-19 in Saskatchewan hospitals, with 37 patients receiving critical care.

It also says an additional 8,109 vaccine doses have been administered, raising the provincial total to 208,742.

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1:10 p.m.

Johnson & Johnson is starting to test its COVID-19 vaccine on teenagers, and eventually will include Canadian kids in the trial. 

The company says in a statement today it is expanding its clinical trial to kids between 12 and 17 years old. 

It will begin with 16 and 17 year olds in the United Kingdom and Spain, and soon add teenagers in that age group in Canada, the United States and the Netherlands. 

Once initial data on that group is reviewed, it will expand the trial down to 12-year-olds in what they are calling a “stepwise approach.”

J&J’s is the fourth of the vaccines Canada has purchased to begin tests on kids.

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1 p.m.

Health authorities in New Brunswick are reporting nine new cases of COVID-19.

Officials say all nine of the new infections are in the Edmundston region, most of which remains in lockdown.

Public health says eight of the new cases are connected to a previously confirmed case, and the source of the remaining infection is under investigation.

There are now 147 active COVID-19 infections across New Brunswick.

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12:40 p.m.

Health authorities in Nova Scotia are reporting nine new cases of COVID-19.

Officials say five of the nine new infections are a group of international travellers.

The remaining cases are all linked to domestic travel outside of Atlantic Canada.

Officials say there are 31 active cases of COVID-19 in the province.

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11:15 a.m.

Quebec is reporting 1,314 new cases of COVID-19 today and five additional deaths, including one within the past 24 hours.

The Health Department says the number of hospitalizations rose by 16 to 503. 

The number of people in intensive care was 121, up two from the day before.

Public health authorities say 48,507 doses of vaccine were administered on Thursday, for a total of 1,440,680 since the start of the provincial vaccination effort.

Quebec has reported 313,676 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 10,681 deaths linked to the disease.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 2, 2021.

The Canadian Press