Canada added another 2,224 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Saturday raising the country’s total COVID-19 infections to over 213,000.
Health authorities also reported another 34 deaths from the virus, though only 13 had occurred over the past 24 hours. To date, a total of 213,739 people have been infected with the virus, while 9,922 have since succumbed to it.
A total of 179,363 patients have also recovered from the virus, while over 11 million tests have since been administered.
Saturday’s data does not paint a complete picture of the virus’ spread across the country as all territories and several provinces like Alberta, B.C. and P.E.I. do not report new case data over the weekend.
Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam said that the daily average in newly reported cases stood at 2,488 over the last week.
Between Oct. 11 and 17, an average of 74,719 people were also being tested daily with 3.1 per cent testing positive.
“The number of people experiencing severe illness continues to increase. Provincial and territorial data indicate that an average of 1,010 people with COVID-19 were being treated in Canadian hospitals each day during the most recent seven-day period, including 209 of whom were being treated in intensive care units,” read Tam’s statement.
“As hospitalizations and deaths tend to lag behind increased disease activity by one to several weeks, the concern is that we have yet to see the extent of severe impacts associated with the ongoing increase in COVID-19 disease activity.”
Quebec — the hardest hit province in the country — saw its total COVID-19 infections raised to 99,235 after adding over 1,000 new cases on Saturday.
Provincial health authorities also reported another 26 deaths, though only five of those deaths had occurred within the past 24 hours.
The province’s death toll now stands at 6,132, while 83,819 patients have since recovered from the virus.
Ontario reported a record high number of new coronavirus cases on Saturday, with 978 more infections. Saturday’s report now stands as the highest single-day increase in COVID-19 cases to date, surpassing the province’s report of 939 cases on Oct. 9.
The province also added another six deaths, raising its total fatalities from the virus to 3,086. To date, Ontario has recorded over 63,000 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus.
“Locally, there are 348 new cases in Toronto, 170 in Peel, 141 in York Region, 89 in Ottawa and 51 in Durham,” said Health Minister Christine Elliott on Twitter.
“There are 625 more resolved cases.”
Cases in Manitoba pushed past 4,000 on Saturday after health authorities announced an additional 153 cases and two new deaths. An unknown number of infections in the province are considered probable, however, while a total of 2,116 patients have recovered.
Saskatchewan added 78 new virus cases on Saturday as well, pushing its total infections to 2,669.
Several provinces in Atlantic Canada reported new cases as well, with Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia adding one, two and three new cases, respectively.
Cases of the virus have now surpassed the 42,400,000 worldwide, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University. Virus deaths now sit at 1,147,479 worldwide, with the U.S., India and Brazil leading in both cases and fatalities.