Another 2,676 people in Canada have contracted the novel coronavirus, pushing the total number of infections in the country to 810,802.
Health officials in the provinces also reported 74 new fatalities associated with COVID-19.
That means to date, 20,909 people have died in Canada after contracting the disease.
The new cases and fatalities come as the federal government announced new rules for those seeking to cross into Canada via the country’s shared border with the United States.
Speaking at a press conference in Ottawa on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said beginning Feb. 15, anyone who arrives at the land border will be required to have taken a PCR COVID-19 test 72 hours before seeking entry into Canada.
Trudeau also announced that Canada will receive “tens of thousands” of the COVID-19 vaccines manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech this week.
“This is good news for so many people who will be getting their dose,” he said.
Trudeau said Canada is “still very much on track” to receive “tens of millions of doses into the spring.”
The prime minister reiterated that every Canadian who wants a vaccine will have access to one by September.
Trudeau said in the coming weeks and months, Canada is going to get “even more doses, even faster.”
“Next week marks the start of a major ramp-up in vaccine shipments,” he said. “Starting on the 15th we’re expecting hundreds of thousands more doses each week — and that’s just from Pfizer.”
He said there are other vaccine candidates “currently in the approval process.”
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Canada has faced a number of hurdles in its vaccine rollout plan in the last few weeks, as both Pfizer and Moderna announced temporary delays to the country’s shipments.
According to Health Canada’s website, as of Feb. 4, a total of 1,198,200 doses of the two vaccines approved by the agency had been distributed across the country.
Of those, 1,140,946 doses have been administered, accounting for approximately 1.53 per cent of the Canadian population.
New cases in the provinces, territories
In Ontario, health officials said 1,022 new cases and 15 more fatalities were reported.
To date, the province has recorded 280,494 coronavirus infections and 6,555 deaths related to the virus.
Meanwhile, in Quebec, 826 new cases of COVID-19 were detected, pushing the total number of infections to 271,737.
Thirty-two more fatalities mean to date, 10,078 people have died after testing positive for the disease.
Saskatchewan detected 80 new cases of the virus, for a total of 25,654, while five new fatalities push the province’s death toll to 346.
In Manitoba, 75 new cases of COVID-19 were reported, bringing the total number of infections to 30,360.
Another three people have died after contracting the virus, authorities said, bringing the total death toll to 853.
In Atlantic Canada, 47 new cases of the virus were detected.
New Brunswick health officials said 15 more people have fallen ill, for a total of 1,361.
The province also reported one new death. So far, 21 people have died in New Brunswick after falling ill.
Meanwhile, Newfoundland and Labrador authorities said another 30 people have tested positive for the virus.
To date, the province has seen 457 confirmed cases of the virus.
Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island each reported one new case of COVID-19 on Tuesday.
In western Canada, 630 new cases of the coronavirus were detected.
Alberta health officials said 195 more people have contracted the disease, and another 12 have died.
So far, the province has seen 127,231 cases of COVID-19 and 1,722 fatalities.
In British Columbia, 435 more infections were detected for a total of 71,387.
Four new deaths mean to date, the virus has claimed 1,263 lives in B.C.
No new cases or deaths related to COVID-19 were reported in Canada’s territories on Tuesday.
Global cases top 106 million
Globally, more than 106.8 million people have been infected with the novel coronavirus, according to the latest tally from Johns Hopkins University.
To date, the virus has claimed 2,338,004 lives around the world.
The United States remained the world’s viral epicentre on Tuesday, with over 27.1 million confirmed cases, and more than 467,000 fatalities.
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