Canada reports over 2,000 new coronavirus cases for first time since start of pandemic

Canada reported 2,122 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Friday, of which 2,049 were diagnosed in the last 24 hours.

It was the highest daily case total Canada has seen, though 2,777 cases were recorded on May 3 due to Quebec adjusting its total by more than 1,300 because of a computer issue.

However, testing has increased dramatically since then, with Canada administering 101,985 tests on Friday compared to the 29,855 on May 3.

A total of 89 deaths were also reported by health authorities across the country, of which only eight had occurred in the last 24-hours.

The virus has now claimed the lives of 9,409 people in Canada, while a total of 162,490 infections have been identified across the country.

A total of 137,614 patients have since recovered from the virus as of Friday, and over 8.9 million tests have been administered.

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In an update Friday, Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam warned of the country’s continued increase in new COVID-19 cases, with Canada averaging 1,634 new cases every day over the past week.

“Accelerated epidemic growth, particularly in high-incidence areas of Quebec and Ontario, is driving the ongoing increase,” said Tam at a press conference Friday.

“New cases reported from these provinces account for almost 80 per cent of the national case count. More recently, we are seeing an increase in severe outcomes of COVID-19, which we’re keeping a really close eye on.”

Quebec announced the highest increase in COVID-19 cases among all provinces Friday, with 1,052 newly confirmed infections. The new case data, which brings Quebec’s total infections to 76,273, is the highest increase in lab-confirmed infections since the province reported an additional 1,110 cases on May 1.

Another seven deaths were also reported by authorities in the provinces, though they had occurred sometime in September. The province remains the hardest-hit area in Canada, and has seen a total of 5,857 fatalities to date.

Ontario added 732 new coronavirus cases and 76 more deaths on Friday, though 73 of the infections and 74 of the fatalities had occurred over the spring and summer and were added as a result of a data cleanup.

The data brings the province’s total infections to 52,980, and its death toll from the virus to 2,927. A total of 44,850 patients have since recovered from the virus. in Ontario.

Manitoba announced 43 new cases on Friday. The province, which has to date seen 21 deaths from the virus, now has 2,072 COVID-19 cases — of which an unknown number are considered probable cases.

Alberta reported 122 new COVID-19 infections on Friday, bringing its total lab-confirmed cases to 18,357. Another three deaths were reported by health authorities Friday, raising the official death toll to 272.

Saskatchewan added 13 new cases during their daily update Friday, increasing its overall virus cases to 1,940. The province’s death toll stands at 24. Friday marks the third day in a row the province recorded a double-digit increase of new cases.

British Columbia announced 161 new cases on Friday. The cases include two that are considered “epidemiologically-linked,” which are patients who exhibit COVID-19 symptoms and were in close proximity to people who tested for the virus, but were never diagnosed.

The province has seen a total of 9,212 lab-confirmed cases and another 169 that are considered “epi-linked.” Another three deaths were reported Friday, raising the death toll to 238.

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Nova Scotia reported one new case on Friday, raising its total COVID-19 infections to 1,089. No other provinces in Atlantic Canada reported additional infections on Friday, however.

Global deaths linked to the virus have since surpassed 1 million, according a running tally kept by Johns Hopkins University. Over 34.4 million have been diagnosed with the disease worldwide.

The U.S., India and Brazil continue to lead in both cases and deaths.