The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Monday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
5:20 p.m.: The Pickering Markets, the largest indoor marketplace in Ontario, is closing its doors for good after almost 50 years in business.
The famous marketplace that housed about 500 vendors made the announcement in a Facebook post on Boxing Day, saying the decision to close was not made lightly and was caused by the pandemic.
“COVID-19 has taken its toll on so many small businesses and we were no exception to its cruel effects,” the Facebook post said. “We feel for every single business that has or is currently going through these tough decisions.”
“It’s a loss to the family legacy,” said Michael Baltzis, owner of King Kebab, who started working in his family’s business at Pickering Markets when he was 12.
Read the full story here: Pickering Markets, Ontario’s largest indoor marketplace, is closing after almost 50 years in business
4:16 p.m.: The residents and staff members at a Seattle-area nursing home that had the first deadly COVID-19 outbreak in the United States began receiving vaccines on Monday.
The first death associated with the Life Care Center of Kirkland, Washington, was reported in late February, and more than 40 people connected to the facility later died of coronavirus. The Seattle Times reports that Monday was the first day long-term care facilities can receive vaccines under a federal partnership with CVS and Walgreens, which is handling shots for the bulk of the state’s approximately 4,000 long-term care facilities.
Along with health-care workers, Washington state has recommended that nursing home residents receive the vaccine first, followed by residents of assisted-living facilities, adult family homes and other care sites. State officials have set a goal for all residents to receive the first dose of the two-dose vaccine by the end of January.
3:40 p.m.: Toronto Public Health is reporting another 2,226 COVID-19 infections and 64 deaths in the four days since the city last reported a daily update.
The totals reported Monday afternoon work out to an average of 556.5 cases and 16 deaths each day since the local health unit’s last report before the Christmas holiday. As of Christmas Eve, the city had been reporting an average of 684 new infections and 13.3 deaths daily over the previous week.
A total of 1,908 people have now died of COVID-19 in Toronto.
Toronto Public Health was one of several Ontario health units to take days off from reporting local data over the weekend.
3:20 p.m.: Nunavut is reporting just one new COVID-19 case.
The territory says the case is in Whale Cove, a community that went into lockdown on Christmas Eve.
Indoor gatherings have been limited to five people beyond those in each household, and travel in and out of the community has been restricted.
There have been 23 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Whale Cove, but 21 of those are now considered recovered.
Arviat is the only other Nunavut community with active COVID-19 cases.
There have been 222 cases there, but just seven remain active.
3:00 p.m.: Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Monday he is not opposed to private companies buying coronavirus vaccines to distribute to patients who want to pay for the shots.
But he noted there isn’t much existing supply and warned companies not to try to buy vaccines already promised to the Mexican government.
“We are not opposed to commercializing the vaccine, to companies importing it and selling it to those who can pay,” López Obrador said. “The catch is the supply of vaccines in the world markets, because there still isn’t enough production.”
“We would be opposed if the ones we have under contract were to be given to a private company, that we would not permit and we would file a complaint,” he said.
Mexico’s medical safety commission must grant approval for any vaccine.
López Obrador has been criticized by some in Mexico for centralizing vaccine purchases and distribution, and for putting the effort — like many programs in his administration — in the hands of the military.
The president has promised that vaccines will be free and available to everyone in Mexico, but so far the country has only received around 50,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. To vaccinate 1.4 million health-care workers — the first in line to get the shots — Mexico would need 2.8 million doses.
The government is placing hopes on three vaccines now in or entering Phase 3 trials in Mexico; it announced Novavax Inc. will be conducting part of its testing in Mexico. China’s CanSino and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceutical business have also been conducting trials in Mexico.
2:25 p.m.: Southwest Airlines is lifting the threat of furloughs or pay cuts for thousands of workers now that U.S. airlines will get up to $15 billion more in taxpayer aid contained in the coronavirus-relief bill.
American and United Airlines, which together furloughed 32,000 employees in October, said Monday they will bring those workers back temporarily.
The $900 billion relief package signed after some delay by President Donald Trump on Sunday night includes $15 billion for airlines to keep all their employees on the payroll through March 31. A previous round of $25 billion in payroll aid expired Sept. 30, leading to the furloughs at American, United and smaller carriers.
Delta and Southwest avoided furloughs by convincing thousands of workers to take voluntary buyouts or early retirement and, in the case of Delta, negotiating contract concessions from pilots. This month, Southwest warned nearly 7,000 workers that their jobs could be in danger if their unions did not accept pay cuts of about 10%.
Southwest Chairman and CEO Gary Kelly told employees Monday that federal relief “was always our preferred plan, and it means we can stop the movement toward furloughs and pay cuts that we previously announced.”
Kelly said Dallas-based Southwest doesn’t expect the need for any furloughs or pay cuts in 2021. But, he added, the airline is “still overstaffed in many areas,” and he appealed to employees to consider voluntary time off.
A spokesman for United said Monday the airline was still working on details for temporarily bringing back 13,000 furloughed workers through March.
Last week, after Congress passed the latest relief measure, American Airlines CEO Doug Parker said his carrier would recall 19,000 furloughed workers and make their pay and benefits retroactive to Dec. 1. A spokesman said Monday that American also intends to soon restore flights to smaller cities that were dropped this fall after a federal requirement to maintain those flights expired.
This spring, as the pandemic caused a nosedive in travel, airlines warned of massive layoffs unless Congress provided federal aid. That led in March to the first round of taxpayer assistance – up to $25 billion to cover payrolls for six months, and another $25 billion in low-interest loans. Some airlines turned down the government loans.
This fall, with travel still well below half of 2019 levels, airlines lobbied Washington for another round of aid, and they were rewarded.
The rapid development of vaccines has again raised hopes for a recovery in travel, maybe in time to salvage the key summer vacation season. However, a new strain of the coronavirus in the United Kingdom has led to new travel restrictions in Europe and sent another shiver through the airline industry.
2:16 p.m.: Public health officials in Manitoba are reporting nine new COVID-19 deaths.
That brings the total number of deaths in the province since the pandemic began to 654.
Monday’s update also notes that 107 new cases of COVID-19 have been identified since the province’s last update on Sunday.
The update says a new outbreak has been declared at the St. Paul’s Personal Care Home in The Pas, but an outbreak at Seven Oaks Hospital is now over.
2:10 p.m.: New Brunswick is reporting one new case of COVID-19.
Officials say the case involves a person in their 50s in the Fredericton region who is in close contact with a previously identified infection.
There are now 33 active cases across the province, with three people in hospital and two in intensive care.
Health officials say 1,034 front-line health-care workers received their first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in Moncton over the holidays.
2:00 p.m.: Nova Scotia health officials say 13 new cases of COVID-19 were identified in the province over the past four days.
Nine cases were identified on Dec. 25 and Dec. 26, all linked to travel outside Atlantic Canada or to existing cases.
Three cases were identified on Dec. 27, also linked to travel or previously known infections, and one new case was identified today.
There are now 33 active infections of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia.
1:40 p.m.: There is a new neighbourhood in Oakville that has the highest COVID-19 rate in the town, according to the latest report from Halton Public Health.
The Halton cases by neighbourhood map examines the spread of coronavirus disease with confirmed and probable cases per 10,000 people, according to Halton region. They include neighbourhoods where outbreaks have occurred or are ongoing.
In Oakville, the neighbourhood with the highest rate is now River Oaks, a rather large area covering large pockets between Ninth Line and Tremaine Road to the east and west and Highway 407 and Upper Middle Road to the north and south, with 414 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began and a rate of 121.4.
It surpasses North Bronte Oakville which had the highest rate for several weeks.
River Oaks residents are saddened and upset to learn that COVID-19 rates are rising.
“This has just been a real nightmare for everyone here,” said Ken Galipo, who lives off of River Glen Boulevard. “Can’t go anywhere or do anything with all the closures and we are hitting the thick of winter.”
Read the full story from Louie Rosella here.
1:30 p.m.: Police have laid charges after they say large gatherings were held two days in a row in a Wheatley, Ont., church this weekend.
Chatham-Kent Police say they found more than 100 people without masks inside the church at both times.
Police say a 50-year-old man from Merlin, Ont., was charged over the gathering at Old Colony Mennonite Church on Saturday.
They say another man from Merlin was charged over a gathering at the same church the next morning.
Both men were charged with failing to comply with the Reopening Ontario Act, which limits religious gatherings to 10 people indoors or outdoors during lockdown.
Ontario was placed under a province-wide lockdown on Saturday, which will remain in effect for 28 days in southern Ontario.
12:45 p.m.: Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting two new cases of COVID-19.
One case involves a man between 20 and 39 years old and officials say his infection is related to international travel.
The second case involves a man between 20 and 39 years old who returned to the province from working in Alberta.
Health officials are warning rotational workers about an outbreak in Alberta at TC Energy’s oilsands site in Cold Lake.
Newfoundland and Labrador has 19 active cases of COVID-19 with one person in hospital.
11:50 a.m.: Canada has surpassed 15,000 deaths related to COVID-19.
The grim milestone was reached with the reporting of 37 new deaths in Quebec.
A total of 15,001 Canadians have now died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began earlier this year.
Of the 37 new deaths, Quebec health officials say seven took place in the last 24 hours, 27 occurred between Dec. 21 and Dec. 26, and three are from unspecified dates.
Quebec is also reporting 2,265 new cases of COVID-19.
The news comes after a contagious new strain of the virus was found in two more parts of the country on Sunday .
The variant first seen in the U.K. has now been found in Ottawa, the Vancouver Island area of B.C. and in Durham Region east of Toronto, where the first two cases were reported on Saturday.
Details to come.
11:15 a.m.: The number of air travellers in the United States soared to a pandemic high on Sunday despite the ongoing surge of COVID-19 cases.
A whopping 1,284,599 travellers were recorded at checkpoints by the Travel Security Administration on Sunday, marking the largest single-day total since mid-March, when the number of flyers greatly declined due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Sunday’s large number of airport visitors came two days after Christmas. Ahead of the holidays, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that travelling “can increase the chance of getting and spreading the virus that causes COVID-19.”
Every day between Dec. 18 and Dec. 23, meanwhile, saw more than 950,000 air travellers at U.S. checkpoints, while 1,128,773 people were recorded on Dec. 26.
The U.S. has recorded more deaths from COVID-19 in December than in any month, with more than 63,000, according to CNN.
11 a.m.: Police in Quebec City say they handed out 41 fines last week for violations of COVID-19 rules limiting social gatherings.
Police say they broke up gatherings in private homes, restaurants and a house of worship.
Quebec has restricted indoor and outdoor private gatherings and shuttered businesses deemed non-essential over the holiday period in an effort to stem rising infections and hospitalizations.
10:30 a.m.: This holiday season, Frank Madigan is worried he’ll be pulled over by a police RIDE spot check — but not because he fears blowing over the legal limit of 0.08.
“While they will never smell alcohol on my breath while I am driving, I cannot smell COVID-19 on their breath and neither can they,” the 81-year-old resident of Capreol, Ont., wrote in a letter to his local newspaper.
The retired Canadian army major, Via Rail conductor and probation officer told the Star he isn’t convinced police agencies operating impaired driving programs are adhering to safety protocols dictated by Canada’s medical officer of health.
But police forces across Ontario insist they are operating RIDE programs with new protocols and training to ensure the safety of the public and officers.
“It is challenging running a RIDE program during this time and that is why we have altered the way we do them now,” Det.-Const. Scott Matthews, of Toronto police Traffic Services, wrote in an email.
“We wear masks, gloves and eye protection. The only thing we cannot do is stand two metres away, as we need to hold the equipment during the (breath) test.”
Read the full story from Betsy Powell here.
10:30 a.m.: A huge study of another COVID-19 vaccine candidate is getting underway Monday as states in the U.S. continue to roll out scarce supplies of the nation’s first shot options.
The U.S. has authorized emergency use of two vaccines, one made by Pfizer and BioNTech and the other by Moderna, but doses will be rationed for months.
The candidate made by Novavax Inc. is the fifth to reach final-stage testing in the U.S. Some 30,000 volunteers are needed to prove if this vaccine – a different kind than its Pfizer and Moderna competitors – really works and is safe.
The Novavax candidate uses lab-grown harmless copies of the spike protein that coats the coronavirus to train the body to recognize if the real virus comes along.
9:30 a.m.: As Toronto’s housing demand grows and home prices continue to soar, even throughout the pandemic, wages have failed to keep pace.
In 1990 the average Toronto home cost four times an average income. Now it costs 15 times the average income. Rents have risen twice as fast as income, according to research from WoodGreen and the Toronto Region Board of Trade.
They have issued two joint reports this year urging action on what they say is a crisis in attainable or workforce housing.
But the challenge of affordability extends to higher income brackets too.
Research provided by the board of trade shows someone has to earn $76,000 to afford a one-bedroom apartment that costs $1,922. You need an income of $101,000 to afford a two-bedroom unit — based on keeping housing costs at 30 per cent of pre-tax earnings, a common measure of affordability.
Read the full story from Tess Kalinowski here.
8:30 a.m.: British hospitals are cancelling non-urgent procedures and scrambling to find space for COVID-19 patients as coronavirus cases continue to surge despite tough new restrictions imposed to curb a fast-spreading new variant of the virus.
Dr. Nick Scriven, immediate past president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said Monday that the rising number of hospitalized patients was “extremely worrying.”
“With the numbers approaching the peaks from April, systems will again be stretched to the limit,” he said.
British authorities are blaming a new variant of the coronavirus for soaring infection rates in London and southeast England. They say the new version is more easily transmitted than the original, but stress there is no evidence it makes people sicker.
Britain has already recorded more than 70,000 deaths among people with the coronavirus, one of the highest tolls in Europe.
8 a.m.: Under intense bipartisan pressure, President Donald Trump on Sunday signed a sweeping coronavirus relief and spending bill — the denouement of a dayslong drama over whether he would allow millions of Americans to endure a devastating cut to unemployment benefits and force a chaotic shutdown of the federal government in the final weeks of his administration.
The abrupt reversal by the president, ensconced at his Florida resort, came as converging crises of COVID-19, economic suffering, the looming government shutdown and Trump’s ongoing fight to overturn the election drew expressions of alarm from lawmakers.
The legislative package, which includes $900 billion in COVID-19 aid and a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill, renews enhanced jobless benefits that have been a lifeline for those thrown out of work by the still-raging pandemic, and provides funding for distributing the COVID-19 vaccines.
It also keeps the government afloat for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends in September, averting what otherwise would have been a shutdown starting Tuesday.
7:25 a.m.: Finland has become the latest European country to report a case of the more contagious coronavirus variant first identified in Britain.
Health officials said Monday that a Finnish citizen who had recently arrived from Britain for a Christmas holiday was diagnosed with the new COVID-19 variant in the southeast Kymenlaakso region over the weekend.
Nordic neighbours Sweden and Norway reported their first cases of the new COVID-19 variant on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Denmark reported its first such case earlier in December.
In Canada, health officials reported three cases of the variant in Ontario, including two cases in Durham and one in Ottawa. On Sunday, British Columbia health officials reported the province’s first known case of the U.K. COVID-19 variant.
6:18 a.m.: In 2020, it was Canada that led the charge to have the Tokyo Games postponed, the first country to withdraw because of concerns related to the pandemic.
It was a shock to the Canadian athletes’ system. They tend to be a regimented bunch, working with strict schedules, but they’re also optimistic.
Read the full story from the Star’s Laura Armstrong here.
6:16 a.m.: With Canada embarking on the largest and most important immunization campaign in the country’s history, Black and Indigenous health leaders say public health agencies should take advantage of the trust they have within their communities, which may be more skeptical or hesitant toward the COVID-19 vaccine due to general mistrust in a health-care system that has historically mistreated them.
There is significant vaccine hesitancy within the general population — a recent survey by polling firm Angus Reid found that 48 per cent of Canadians said they would get the COVID-19 vaccine as soon it was available to them, while 31 per cent would get it eventually, 14 per cent wouldn’t get it and seven per cent weren’t sure. Experts say whatever hesitancy exists in the general population is compounded for racialized and Indigenous people by systemic racism, historical injustices and negative personal experiences with the health-care system.
Read the full story by Brendan Kennedy here.
6:15 a.m.: Christmas is traditionally a real estate dead zone. But this year — of all years — Realosophy president John Pasalis said the agents at his Leslieville brokerage were busy right up to the holidays.
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Some of that activity suggests that Toronto’s condo recovery may already be underway.
The single-family home market has seen blazing sales and price growth this year as buyers sought more space to work and study. But the city’s condo market has dragged as rents dropped and listings flooded the market, especially for smaller units downtown.
Experts like Pasalis, however, said there are gathering signs that condos are poised to sell again and agents are reporting a discernable uptick in investor interest.
Read the full story from Tess Kalinowski here.
6:03 a.m.: Moscow has started offering a domestically developed coronavirus vaccine to people older than 60 after Russia’s Health Ministry cleared it for use among the elderly.
Earlier this month, mass vaccination against COVID-19 started in Russia with the Sputnik V vaccine, which is still undergoing advanced tests among tens of thousands of people needed to ensure its safety and effectiveness. Front-line workers, such as doctors and teachers, were the first in line to get the shots, and until Saturday only those aged 18-60 were allowed to be vaccinated.
On Saturday, the Health Ministry cleared Sputnik V for use among those older than 60. In Moscow, the elderly can sign up for immunizations starting Monday.
Russian authorities have reported over 3 million confirmed coronavirus infections, the fourth highest caseload in the world, and more than 55,000 deaths.
6:03 a.m.: A Chinese court on Monday sentenced a former lawyer who reported on the early stage of the coronavirus outbreak to four years in prison on charges of “picking fights and provoking trouble,” one of her lawyers said.
The Pudong New Area People’s Court in the financial hub of Shanghai gave the sentence to Zhang Zhan following accusations she spread false information, gave interviews to foreign media, disrupted public order and “maliciously manipulated” the outbreak.
Lawyer Zhang Keke confirmed the sentence but said it was “inconvenient” to provide details — usually an indication that the court has issued a partial gag order. He said the court did not ask Zhang whether she would appeal, nor did she indicate whether she would.
Zhang, 37, travelled to Wuhan in February and posted on various social media platforms about the outbreak that is believed to have emerged in the central Chinese city late last year.
She was arrested in May amid tough nationwide measures aimed at curbing the outbreak and heavy censorship to deflect criticism of the government’s initial response. Zhang reportedly went on a prolonged hunger strike while in detention, prompting authorities to forcibly feed her, and is said to be in poor health.
6:03 a.m.: Germany’s confirmed death toll in the coronavirus pandemic has topped 30,000 as the country hopes its lockdown will bring down case numbers.
The national disease control centre, the Robert Koch Institute, said Monday that another 348 deaths were reported over the past 24 hours, bringing the country’s total to 30,126.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose by 10,976 to 1.65 million. That increase is much lower than a week ago, but lower testing and reporting over the Christmas period likely accounts for much of the difference.
Germany had a relatively low death rate in the first phase of the pandemic but has seen hundreds of deaths per day in recent weeks. Among major European nations, Italy, the U.K., France and Spain still have higher death tolls.
A shutdown that was deepened on Dec. 16 with the closure of schools and most shops is scheduled to remain in place until Jan. 10 and appears likely to be extended.
6:02 a.m.: The governor of a province at the centre of an expanding COVID-19 outbreak in Thailand has been confirmed infected with the coronavirus after meeting with public health officials including the deputy prime minister.
The meeting Sunday attended by the Samut Sakhon governor, Deputy PM Anutin Charnvirakul and others was considered a low risk of spreading the virus because everyone wore masks, said Dr. Taweesilp Visanuyotin, a spokesperson for the COVID-19 response centre.
The governor, Weerasak Wijitsaengsri, did not have symptoms but would be treated at a hospital, Taweesilp said.
Anutin, who is also Thailand’s public health minister, wrote on Facebook that he has tested negative for the virus and is isolating at home for 14 days.
Thailand reported 144 new cases Monday, most of them locally transmitted, and its total has reached 6,285.
The Southeast Asian country had virtually no cases beyond quarantined travellers for months, but its totals have surged since an outbreak among migrant workers at a seafood market in Samut Sakhon was detected in mid-December.
The province was put under lockdown on Dec. 19. Confirmed cases related to the seafood market have been found in 43 other provinces, including the capital, Bangkok.
Taweesilp said every province has to work hard to control the virus situation and the number of new infections could reach the thousands daily if nothing was done to prevent the spread. “The best way is to avoid travelling and meetings.”
6:02 a.m.: Authorities have banned New Year’s Eve revelers from congregating in Sydney’s downtown harbourside to see the celebrated fireworks due to the pandemic risk. New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Monday people who live in the city centre can invite up to 10 guests to their homes to celebrate.
The guests will have to apply for permits to enter the area. Australia’s largest city recorded five new cases of COVID-19 connected to a cluster in the northern beaches region, bringing the total to 126 infections since Dec. 10. Around 1 million people usually congregate on the harbour foreshore to see the annual fireworks that centre on the Sydney Harbor Bridge.
6:01 a.m.: Japan on Monday reported its first member of Parliament to die from the coronavirus. Yuichiro Hata, 53, had served as transport minister under a now-defunct opposition party. He developed a slight fever on Thursday and planned to be tested for the virus as a precaution, but his condition suddenly worsened on Sunday, said Tetsuro Fukuyama, secretary general of the constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, to which Hata belonged.
Hata was the son of late Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata, who headed an opposition-led government in 1994. Fukuyama said he hopes Hata’s death will raise public awareness of the danger of the virus.
“He was still just over 50 and his condition worsened so quickly. I feel strongly that we really should not underestimate the risk of the coronavirus,” he said. Japan is struggling with a surge in infections that is showing no signs of slowing.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s government has been reluctant to impose tougher restrictions that would further damage the pandemic-hit economy. Japan has reported 220,236 cases, including 3,252 deaths, as of Sunday. Three other national lawmakers have contracted the virus and recovered.
6:01 a.m.: South Korea has confirmed its first cases of a more contagious variant of COVID-19 that was first identified in the United Kingdom.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said Monday the cases are a family of three people who came to South Korea on Dec. 22. They arrived a day before South Korea halted air travel from Britain until Dec. 31 to guard against the new version of the virus.
The three people, who reside in the U.K., are under quarantine in South Korea. South Korea on Monday registered 808 new coronavirus cases, raising its national caseload to 57,680 with 819 deaths.
6:01 a.m.: Sri Lanka’s government announced Monday that cinemas will be allowed to reopen throughout the country on Jan. 1 after being closed for three months because of the coronavirus. The reopening, which will require the following of strict health guidelines, is part of the island nation’s efforts to return to normalcy despite lockdowns in different parts of the country.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa decided to reopen the cinemas because of the hardships faced by the industry, his office said in a statement. Patrons will be required to wear face masks and have their body temperatures taken before entering the cinemas.
Seats will also be kept vacant between patrons and cinemas can admit only 25% of their normal capacity. Consumption of food and drinks will not be allowed because that would require the removal of face masks. Sri Lanka has confirmed 41,053 coronavirus cases, including 191 fatalities.
6 a.m.: Indonesia’s government plans to ban foreigners from entering the country for 14 days starting Jan. 1 in an attempt to keep out a new coronavirus variant that is believed to spread more rapidly.
Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi said the Cabinet made the decision on Monday. The government also announced 5,854 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, bringing the country’s total to 719,219 confirmed cases, including 21,452 deaths.
4 a.m.: The latest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 4 a.m. ET on Monday Dec. 28, 2020.
There are 552,020 confirmed cases in Canada.
_ Canada: 552,020 confirmed cases (79,863 active, 457,193 resolved, 14,964 deaths).The total case count includes 13 confirmed cases among repatriated travellers.
There were 5,520 new cases Sunday from 95,240 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 5.8 per cent. The rate of active cases is 212.46 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 43,087 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 6,155.
There were 65 new reported deaths Sunday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 700 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 100. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.27 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 39.81 per 100,000 people.
There have been 13,438,585 tests completed.
_ Newfoundland and Labrador: 387 confirmed cases (24 active, 359 resolved, four deaths).
There were three new cases Sunday from 696 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 0.43 per cent. The rate of active cases is 4.6 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of five new cases. There have been no deaths reported over the past week.
_ Prince Edward Island: 94 confirmed cases (five active, 89 resolved, zero deaths).
There were zero new cases Sunday from 1,154 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 0.0 per cent. The rate of active cases is 3.19 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of three new cases. There have been no deaths reported over the past week.
_ Nova Scotia: 1,465 confirmed cases (36 active, 1,364 resolved, 65 deaths).
There were zero new cases Sunday from 2,572 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 0.0 per cent. The rate of active cases is 3.71 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 20 new cases. There have been no deaths reported over the past week.
_ New Brunswick: 592 confirmed cases (35 active, 549 resolved, eight deaths).
There were two new cases Sunday from 899 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 0.22 per cent. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 18 new cases. There have been no deaths reported over the past week.
_ Quebec: 192,655 confirmed cases (20,469 active, 164,163 resolved, 8,023 deaths).
There were 2,291 new cases Sunday from 12,235 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 19 per cent. The rate of active cases is 241.24 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 15,670 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 2,239.
There were 12 new reported deaths Sunday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 287 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 41.
There have been 2,448,998 tests completed.
_ Ontario: 171,416 confirmed cases (19,861 active, 147,178 resolved, 4,377 deaths).
There were 2,005 new cases Sunday from 62,479 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 3.2 per cent. The rate of active cases is 136.35 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 15,486 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 2,212.
There were 18 new reported deaths Sunday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 227 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 32. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.22 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 30.05 per 100,000 people.
There have been 7,344,277 tests completed.
_ Manitoba: 24,145 confirmed cases (4,488 active, 19,012 resolved, 645 deaths).
There were 521 new cases Sunday from 2,059 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 25 per cent. The rate of active cases is 327.72 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 1,286 new cases.
There were 28 new reported deaths Sunday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 76 new reported deaths.
_ Saskatchewan: 14,814 confirmed cases (3,398 active, 11,275 resolved, 141 deaths).
There were 198 new cases Sunday from 3,729 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 5.3 per cent. The rate of active cases is 289.32 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 1,259 new cases.
There were seven new reported deaths Sunday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 23 new reported deaths.
_ Alberta: 97,481 confirmed cases (21,521 active, 75,070 resolved, 890 deaths).
There were 500 new cases Sunday. The rate of active cases is 492.32 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 7,262 new cases.
There were zero new reported deaths Sunday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 39 new reported deaths.
There have been 1,547,298 tests completed.
_ British Columbia: 48,609 confirmed cases (10,017 active, 37,784 resolved, 808 deaths).
There were zero new cases Sunday from 9,393 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 0.0 per cent. The rate of active cases is 197.52 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 2,071 new cases.
There were zero new reported deaths Sunday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 48 new reported deaths.
_ Yukon: 60 confirmed cases (zero active, 59 resolved, one deaths).
There were zero new cases Sunday from nine completed tests, for a positivity rate of 0.0 per cent. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of one new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is zero.
There have been no deaths reported over the past week. The overall death rate is 2.45 per 100,000 people.
There have been 5,887 tests completed.
_ Northwest Territories: 24 confirmed cases (one active, 23 resolved, zero deaths).
There were zero new cases Sunday from 15 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 0.0 per cent. The rate of active cases is 2.23 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of zero new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is zero.
_ Nunavut: 265 confirmed cases (eight active, 255 resolved, two deaths).
There were zero new cases Sunday. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of six new cases.
Sunday 8:39 p.m.: The discovery of two more Canadian cases of the COVID-19 variant first identified in the United Kingdom underlines the importance of genome sequencing so the country is not flying blind if or when a new mutation arrives at our borders, experts say.
On Sunday, Ontario’s Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health Barbara Yaffe reported that a case of the COVID-19 variant had been detected in Ottawa, a day after the country’s first two cases were identified in Durham Region. The individual in Ottawa had recently travelled from the U.K.
Also on Sunday, British Columbia health officials reported the province’s first known case of the U.K. COVID-19 variant. The affected individual returned from the U.K. on Dec. 15 to their home in the Island Health authority.