Canada reported 2,206 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Monday, marking the country’s highest single-day increase since the pandemic began.
Provincial health authorities also said another 23 people have died after testing positive for COVID-19.
However, not all of the deaths occurred in the last 24 hours.
The new infections come as Canada’s Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said provinces must “test smartly” as they work to stave off the second wave of the virus.
“We have to test smartly, obviously making sure right now if there is congestion, et cetera, that those with symptoms or those who have a risk of exposure be the ones lining up and not just (those who are) worried,” she said.
In Ontario, 615 new cases of the virus were reported on Monday, and health authorities said five more people had died.
The new deaths bring the province’s death toll to 2,980.
However, 46,360 people have recovered after contracting the virus and 4,127,315 have been tested in Ontario.
Meanwhile, in Quebec, 1,191 new infections were reported, bringing the province’s total case count to 79,650.
Monday marked the fourth straight day the province’s daily case count topped 1,000.
Health authorities also reported six more deaths, two of which occurred in the last 24 hours.
A total of 66,180 have recovered from the virus in Quebec, while 2,480,577 tests have been administered.
In Manitoba, 51 new cases were detected, but health officials said the death toll remained at 23.
Since the pandemic began, the virus has infected 2,191 people in the province.
Saskatchewan saw nine new cases of the virus on Monday, but the province’s death toll remained at 24, health officials confirmed.
The new infections bring the province’s total case count to 1,968.
Meanwhile in Alberta, 218 new cases of the virus were reported, and health authorities said eight more people had died since Friday, bringing the province’s death toll to 280.
However, 16,872 have recovered after contracting the virus and 1,424,946 have been tested.
Health officials in British Columbia reported 120 new cases of COVID-19 were detected, and said four more people had died over the last three days.
The new cases bring the province’s case load to 9,563. So far 242 people have died in B.C.
In New Brunswick, two new cases of the virus were detected, but no new deaths have occurred.
Since the pandemic began, 196 people have recovered from COVID-19 infections in the province, while 80,455 tests have been administered.
No new cases were reported in Nova Scotia on Monday, and health officials said the death toll remained at 65.
A total of 1,021 people have recovered after contracting the respiratory virus, and 98,698 tests have been conducted in Nova Scotia.
Newfoundland did not report any new cases of the virus or deaths associated with COVID-19 either.
Prince Edward Island (PEI) did not release any new COVID-19 data on Monday, however, two new cases reported on Sunday brought the province’s total case count to 61.
The island has not yet seen a death related to the virus, and 58 of the confirmed cases are considered to be resolved.
Territories
Health officials in the Yukon said no new cases of the virus were detected on Monday, adding that all 15 cases in the territory are considered to be resolved.
No new cases of the virus were detected in the Northwest Territories either.
What’s more, all five confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the territory are considered to be resolved.
So far, 5,393 tests for the virus have been administered.
Nunavut has confirmed nine positive cases of COVID-19 at the Hope Bay gold mine in the western part of the territory.
The Nunavut government announced the positive cases in a news release Monday evening.
Another four presumptive positive cases have also been identified and are pending testing at a lab in southern Canada.
Last week, the territory declared eight presumptive positive cases of COVID-19 at the mine.
According to the release, release the government is still working to determine whether the cases at the mine will count as the first in the territory.
Global deaths near 1,040,000
Since the virus was first detected late last year, it has infected 35,346,526 people around the world, according to a tally from John’s Hopkins University.
As of 7:30 p.m. ET, the virus had claimed 1,039,199 lives globally.
The United States remained the epicentre of the virus on Monday, with more than 7.4 million cases.
The virus has killed 210,109 people in the U.S. so far.
— With files from Global News’ Emerald Bensadoun and The Canadian Press
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