The number of new coronavirus cases in Canada grew by 627 on Friday ahead of the Labour Day weekend, a significant uptick compared with recent weeks.
It’s the highest daily total Canada has seen since early June. The number of new COVID-19 cases is also about 19 per cent higher than the previous seven-day average of 525 new diagnoses per day.
The figures released Friday by the provinces and territories bring the national total to 131,039 cases.
Just a fraction of those remain active. Most cases — about 88 per cent — are considered resolved.
Though there were additional fatalities in Quebec and B.C., the national death toll remained unchanged Friday due to amendments to provincial data.
Overall, the pandemic has claimed 9,141 lives in Canada.
Quebec saw the greatest number of new diagnoses on Friday, with 184 additional cases.
Overall, the province has been hardest hit by far in terms of overall cases and deaths, with 63,117 people diagnosed with the illness and 5,767 fatalities attributed to the disease.
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One death occurred in the last 24 hours but the province’s total remains unchanged, because a death later determined to be unrelated to COVID-19 was removed from the data.
As Quebec continues to see an upward trend in novel coronavirus cases, the province’s health minister said the situation remains under control but urged citizens to be more vigilant over the long weekend.
The government published a list of the 47 schools with confirmed COVID-19 cases on Friday. Health Minister Christian Dubé said the majority of the cases didn’t originate in the school but outside the building.
“It’s not outbreaks in schools and that’s very good news,” Dubé told reporters in Montreal.
Alberta posted an increase of 164 cases on Friday, just over 1,400 of which are active. The death toll remains at 242 and 14,474 cases have been recorded in Alberta. The province also passed a milestone on Friday — more than one million tests have been now conducted.
Across the country, more than 6.6 million tests have been completed since January.
In Ontario, 148 cases have been newly confirmed. Overall, 42,834 cases have been diagnosed in the province.
The number of COVID-19-related deaths stands at 2,811, after the province removed one death from the total on Friday.
Meanwhile, in B.C., 121 cases were added to the province’s total.
The province says 6,077 of its cases are were lab-confirmed, while 85 are considered epidemiologically linked.
One other person succumbed to the illness, bringing the death toll to 211.
Manitoba saw nine new COVID-19 diagnoses, including six in the Winnipeg area. The total stands at 1,273 and 16 people have died overall.
Saskatchewan saw an additional four coronavirus diagnoses on Friday, bringing the cumulative total to 1,638. Two dozen people have lost their lives to the illness, a figure that remained unchanged on Friday.
In Atlantic Canada, P.E.I. was the only province to report a new coronavirus case for the second day in a row. The diagnosis announced Friday brings the province’s total to 47 cases.
In New Brunswick, 192 cases have been confirmed, and two people have succumbed to the virus.
Newfoundland and Labrador’s total stands at 269 cases and three fatalities.
Nova Scotia has had the most cases in the region, with 1,085 patients and 65 deaths overall.
There have only been 20 coronavirus cases in Canada’s North, all of which are resolved.
Yukon has had 15 in total, while the other five were in Northwest Territories.
No cases have been diagnosed in Nunavut so far.
— With files from Kalina Laframboise and Alessia Maratta, Global News
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