Canada reported 2,364 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Tuesday, marking the highest single-day increase since the pandemic began.
The new cases come as health officials struggle to stave off a second wave of COVID-19.
On Tuesday, the federal government announced it has approved the use of Panbio COVID-19 Antigen rapid test, which can be analyzed on-site without additional equipment or a laboratory setting, and can produce results in as little as 20 minutes.
The government also announced it had signed an agreement to purchase up to 20.5 million antigen rapid tests.
In Ontario, 548 new cases were identified, and health officials said seven more people have died.
The new cases bring the province’s total case count to 55,362.
So far, 46,906 people have recovered after contracting the virus and 4,169,346 tests have been conducted in Ontario.
Meanwhile, in Quebec, 1,364 new infections were reported, and health authorities confirmed 15 more people had died.
Tuesday marked the fifth-straight day the province has seen a daily increase greater than 1,000.
The new fatalities bring Quebec’s death toll to 5,899.
Since the pandemic began, 66,180 people have recovered from COVID-19, and 2,500,916 tests have been administered.
Fifty-six new cases were detected in Manitoba, bringing the province’s total case count to 2,246.
Health authorities also said one more person had died.
To date, the virus has claimed 24 lives in Manitoba.
A total of 1,441 people have recovered from the virus, while 195,595 have been tested.
In Saskatchewan, 16 new cases of the novel coronavirus were reported on Monday, but health officials said the province’s death toll remained at 24.
So far, 1,801 people have recovered from the virus, and 203,733 tests have been conducted in the province.
Further west in Alberta, 276 new cases were confirmed, and health officials said one more person had died.
The virus has now claimed 281 lives in Alberta.
However, 17,030 people have recovered from COVID-19 infections, and 1,442,603 tests have been conducted.
In British Columbia, 102 new confirmed cases of the virus were reported.
One epidemiologically-linked case was also detected, meaning it has not yet been confirmed by a laboratory test.
Health officials said two more people have died, bringing the province’s death toll to 244.
However, 8,184 people have recovered from the virus, and 203,733 people have been tested.
New Brunswick added two new cases of the virus, but health officials said no more deaths had occurred.
Prince Edward Island did not report any new cases or deaths associated with COVID-19 on Tuesday.
The island has seen 61 cases so far, however, 58 are considered to be resolved.
More than 35,370 tests have been administered in PEI to date.
No new cases of the novel coronavirus were detected in Newfoundland, either.
The province has see 277 cases and four deaths associated with the virus to date.
Thus far, 269 cases are considered resolved, while 44,738 people have been tested.
Nova Scotia did not report any new cases or deaths associated with COVID-19 on Tuesday, keeping its total at 1,089 cases to date.
A total of 1,021 people have recovered after contracting the virus in the province, and 99,199 people have been tested.
Territories
Health officials in the Northwest Territories did not report any new cases or deaths associated with COVID-19 on Tuesday.
All five confirmed cases of the virus in the territory are considered to be resolved, and 5,442 tests have been administered.
No new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the Yukon, either.
Since the pandemic began, 15 cases of the virus have been confirmed, however, all are considered to be resolved.
A total of 3,522 tests for the virus have been administered in the Yukon.
On Monday, health officials said nine cases of the virus had been confirmed at a gold mine in western Nunavut.
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.
The government is still working to determine whether the cases at the mine will count as the first in the territory.
Global cases climb towards 36 million
Since the outbreak began late last year, the virus has infected 35,659,199 people around the world, according to a tally from John’s Hopkins University.
As of 7:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, the virus had claimed 1,046,831 lives globally.
The United States remained the epicentre of the virus on Tuesday, with more than 7.4 million confirmed cases of COVID-19.
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