Canada’s cases of COVID-19 now tally over 804,000, after another 3,203 cases were reported on Sunday.
Another 65 deaths were tallied by health authorities on Sunday as well, pushing the country’s death toll from the virus to 20,767. Over 738,700 people diagnosed with the disease have since recovered, while more than 22.7 million tests and 1.09 million vaccine doses have been administered.
Sunday’s snapshot in new cases paints an incomplete picture of the virus’ spread across Canada, however, as B.C., P.E.I., the Yukon and the Northwest Territories did not report case data on the weekend.
The country’s new total also comes just ahead of the year’s annual Super Bowl, which public health experts and authorities have warned of being a potential superspreader event.
In a series of puns from Saturday and Sunday, Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam continued to ask Canadians to be vigilant and protect themselves against the virus.
“No matter who you’re rooting for in this year’s #SuperBowl, don’t let #COVID19 win,” wrote Tam in tweet.
“We need to maintain a strong defensive front with #WashMaskSpace, #PhysicalDistancing, #AVOID3Cs while keeping up our team spirit #VirtuallyTogether.”
According to Tam, both new and active cases of the virus have seen a relative decline due to government-enacted measures, but said that the trend could potentially reverse should restrictions be lifted too early.
A majority of the day’s cases were detected by health authorities in Quebec and Ontario, where new infections of the virus have been on a decline over the last two weeks.
In Ontario, another 1,489 new infections were reported by the province as well as 22 new deaths.
Quebec measured another grim milestone in its fight against the pandemic on Sunday, as the province became the first in the country to surpass over 10,000 COVID-19 deaths following an announcement of 32 fatalities. Another 1,081 new cases were reported by the province on Sunday as well.
Alberta added another 351 infections on Sunday, as well as four more deaths.
Manitoba and Saskatchewan reported 79 and 194 cases, as well as four and three new deaths, respectively.
Several provinces also reported new cases in Atlantic Canada.
Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia both reported one new case, while New Brunswick added seven.
Nunavut did not add new cases during its daily update on Sunday.