Health authorities across the country also said 92 more people have died after testing positive for COVID-19.
A total of 2,243 people are in hospital after contracting the respiratory illness, while 277,232 have recovered.
In a statement Wednesday, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said “more and larger” COVID-19 outbreaks are occurring in long-term care homes, congregate living settings and hospitals and in Indigenous communities and remote areas.
“These developments are deeply concerning as they put countless Canadians at risk of life-threatening illness, cause serious disruptions to health services and present significant challenges for areas not adequately equipped to manage complex medical emergencies,” she said.
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Tam also said the number of Canadians across the country experiencing “severe illness continues to increase.”
“This situation is putting pressure on local health-care resources and forcing hospitals to make the difficult decision to cancel elective surgeries and procedures in several areas of the country,” she said.
Tam said “collective effort” from individuals and public health officials is needed “to support and sustain the response through to the end of the pandemic, while balancing the health, social and economic consequences.”
Between Ontario and Quebec 2,473 new cases of the virus were reported.
Ontario saw 1,373 new infections, while health officials in Quebec said 1,100 new cases had been identified. The provinces also reported 35 and 28 additional fatalities respectively.
In Saskatchewan, 164 new cases of COVID-19 were detected, but health authorities said no new deaths associated with the virus were reported.
Meanwhile, Manitoba saw 349 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday and eight new fatalities, pushing the provincial death toll to 256.
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In Atlantic Canada, 21 new novel coronavirus infections were detected.
New Brunswick saw three new cases, while Nova Scotia added 16 new cases. Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador each saw one new case, bringing the provincial totals to 70 and 324 respectively.
None of the maritime provinces saw any new deaths associated with the respiratory illness on Wednesday.
In Alberta, 1,265 new cases were reported, and health officials said eight more people had died.
The province has now seen 50,801 infections and 500 fatalities related to COVID-19.
British Columbia saw 734 new cases and 13 new deaths, bringing the total number of confirmed COVID-19 infections to 28,770 and the death toll to 371.
Nunavut added 11 new cases of the virus on Wednesday, pushing the territory’s total case load to 155. The territory has not yet seen a fatality related to COVID-19. So far two people have recovered after falling ill.
Meanwhile the Yukon reported one new case of COVID-19, but no new deaths.
The Northwest Territories has not reported any new cases of the virus since Nov. 13, and health officials say all 15 confirmed cases are considered to be recovered.
Global cases top 60 million
The number of cases of the novel coronavirus worldwide topped 60 million on Wednesday.
By 6:30 p.m. ET, there were a total of 60,207,001 cases globally, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University.
Since the virus was first detected, it has claimed 1,417,906 lives around the world.
The United States remained the epicentre of the virus with more than 12.7 million cases and 261,874 fatalities to date.
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