Editor’s note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the number of coronavirus deaths in Canada. The error has been corrected.
As the number of coronavirus cases worldwide surpassed 25 million on Sunday, Canada’s total grew by 267 cases.
The number of COVID-19 fatalities rose by four.
The coronavirus pandemic has claimed 9,117 lives in Canada overall, and 127,870 cases have been diagnosed, according to figures released by provincial and territorial governments.
The vast majority of people diagnosed — about 89 per cent — have recovered from the viral illness.
More than 6.3 million tests have been conducted since late January.
Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, said that in the last week just 0.7 per cent of tests administered across the country were positive — roughly one COVID-19 case for every 140 people tested.
But Tam also highlighted a dramatic uptick in cases among young people in recent weeks — nearly 50 per cent of those diagnosed were between 20 and 39.
“There is a very real possibility of the virus reaching higher risk individuals, populations and settings,” she said in a statement Sunday.
Get weekly health news
Nationally, the number of new cases has been largely trending downward since peaking in early May, but western Canada has seen an uptick in new cases in recent weeks.
There has been a 13 per cent increase in the average daily case count over last week, Tam said.
Since three provinces — B.C., Alberta and P.E.I. — as well as the territories do not release new daily figures on the weekend, Sunday’s numbers paint an incomplete picture.
The number of coronavirus cases in Quebec grew by 120 on Sunday, and the death toll rose by three. Officials said those deaths didn’t occur during the last 24 hours, but happened sometime between Aug. 23 and Aug. 28.
Quebec continues to be the province hardest hit by the virus by far, with 62,352 confirmed cases and a death toll of 5,758.
Ontario added 112 cases of the virus, and officials announced that one additional person lost their life to the illness. Since January, 42,195 people in Ontario have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and 2,810 people have died.
Manitoba announced 35 new cases on Sunday, three that are linked to an outbreak at a hospital in Brandon. Among the Prairie provinces, Manitoba has diagnosed the fewest COVID-19 cases, with a total of 1,186 cases and a death toll of 14.
At least 15 of those cases are considered presumptive rather than confirmed through laboratory testing.
Saskatchewan did not report any new cases Sunday. The province’s total stands at 1,615 and 24 COVID-19 fatalities have occurred.
There were also no additional cases diagnosed in Atlantic Canada.
Overall, Newfoundland and Labrador has had 269 coronavirus cases — only one of which is active — along with three fatalities. New Brunswick has had 189 cases, along with two fatalities. In Nova Scotia, there have been 1,083 cases and 65 fatalities.
P.E.I., which last provided an update on Tuesday, has had 44 cases of the virus.
On Friday, Alberta recorded 158 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the number of total infections to 13,476. No new deaths were recorded in the province.
British Columbia added 123 lab-confirmed cases of the virus on Friday — its highest ever single-day jump — raising the provincial total to 5,426 cases, plus 70 considered “epidemiologically linked.”
All of Yukon’s 15 confirmed cases have recovered, as have the five cases in the Northwest Territories. No cases have been diagnosed in Nunavut.
According to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University, the number of people around the world diagnosed with COVID-19 surpassed 25 million on Sunday, though experts believe the true number of cases could be significantly higher.
Nearly 844,000 people have succumbed to the illness.
–With files from David Lao, Global News
Comments