Canada added 1,739 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Monday, as health officials scramble to contain the outbreak.
Provincial health authorities also confirmed another 10 people had died after contracting COVID-19, bringing the country’s total death toll to 9,278.
The new cases come as officials urge Canadians to comply with public health measures in order to stave off the second wave of the virus.
Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada’s four largest provinces are already experiencing the second wave.
He urged Canadians to stick to social bubbles, wear masks, wash their hands frequently and continue practicing social distancing.
Ontario reported 700 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Monday, marking the province’s highest daily increase ever.
Health officials also said one more person had died.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Monday confirmed the province is experiencing a second wave of the virus.
“We know that this wave will be more complicated, more complex,” he said at a press briefing. “It will be worse than the first wave we faced earlier this year.”
Since the outbreak began, 43,127 people have recovered from COVID-19 infections in Ontario, and 3,849,337 tests for the virus have been administered.
Meanwhile, in Quebec — the province hit hardest by the pandemic — 750 new infections were reported.
Health authorities also said one more person had died, bringing the province’s death toll to 5,826.
On Monday, Quebec Premier François Legault announced parts of the province — the Greater Montreal area, the Capitale Nationale area in Quebec City and the Chaudières-Appalaches region — are now in the ‘red zone,’ meaning additional, more stringent restrictions to curb the spread of the virus will be put in place.
A total of 61,629 people have recovered from the virus in Quebec, and 2,278,145 tests have been conducted.
Thirty-nine new COVID-19 cases were detected in Manitoba, and health authorities confirmed there had been one more fatality.
The province has now seen a total of 1,919 infections and 20 deaths.
But 1,281 have recovered after falling ill and 180,750 people have been tested.
Saskatchewan health authorities reported 14 new cases of the virus on Monday, but said the province’s death toll remained at 24.
The new cases bring the province’s case load to 1,892.
However, 1,719 people have recovered from COVID-19, and more than 188,068 tests have been administered in Saskatchewan.
Further west in Alberta, 162 new cases of the virus were reported and health officials said four more people had died over the last 72 hours.
Thus far, 265 have died after testing positive for the novel coronavirus in Alberta.
However, 15,935 people have recovered from infections, and the province has administered 1,320,550 tests.
British Columbia saw 68 new cases of the virus on Monday, bringing the province’s total case load to 8,908.
Provincial health officials said three more people have died in the last 72 hours, pushing the death toll to 233.
Since the outbreak began, 7,346 have recovered after contracting the virus in British Columbia, and 528,207 people have been tested.
Nova Scotia did not see any new cases of the virus or deaths associated with COVID-19 on Monday.
So far, the province has seen 65 deaths related to the pandemic.
A total of 1,021 people have recovered after contracting the virus in Nova Scotia, and 94,126 people have been tested.
Newfoundland did not report any new cases or deaths related to COVID-19 either.
The province, which has seen 273 infections, has conducted 41,130 tests.
Thus far, 268 people have recovered from the virus in Newfoundland.
In New Brunswick, no new cases were detected, and health officials said the death toll remained at two.
Since the pandemic began, 191 people have recovered from the virus in New Brunswick and 75,355 people have been tested.
Prince Edward Island did not release new COVID-19 data on Monday.
According to the latest numbers, released on Tuesday, the island had seen a total of 58 cases of the virus.
Fifty-seven of those cases are considered to be resolved.
No new confirmed cases in the territories
Nunavut has seen three cases of the virus, however, each have been tied to workers from other parts of the country.
Therefore, the territory says those infections will be counted in the totals for the workers’ home jurisdictions. This means Nunavut still considers itself free of COVID-19 cases.
However, on Monday the territory said seven presumptive cases of COVID-19 had been detected at a mine in the western region of the territory.
Dr. Michael Patterson, the territory’s chief public health officer, said in a news release that the seven cases are at Hope Bay gold mine, 125 kilometres southwest of Cambridge Bay.
Patterson’s office is waiting for test results to come back from a southern lab.
All five confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the Northwest Territories are considered to be resolved.
The territory has administered 5,109 tests for the virus thus far.
The Yukon has seen 15 cases of the virus, all of which are considered recovered.
A total of 3,342 tests have been administered in the territory.
Global deaths surpass 1 million
The novel coronavirus pandemic hit a grim milestone on Monday, with the number of deaths worldwide surpassing 1 million.
Since the novel coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan, China late last year it has claimed a total of 1,000,555 lives, according to a tally from John’s Hopkins University.
By 9 p.m. ET, the total global case count had reached 33,273,720.
The United States remained the epicentre of the virus on Monday, with more than 7.1 million cases.
So far, the virus has claimed 205,003 lives in the U.S.
–With files from The Canadian Press