Canada added 1,157 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 18 new fatalities, as Canadians across much of the country celebrated Family Day on Monday.
To date, the virus has claimed 21,311 lives in Canada.
In a series of tweets on Monday, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam noted that the new variants of the coronavirus have now been detected in every province in Canada, but said Canadians should “rejoice” that the number of cases and deaths has decreased compared to the last seven days.
“We made progress together and yes, we can keep it going,” she wrote. “There is more to gain with #ShotofHope #CovidVaccine AND more to lose than ever; the best and only option is to continue doing what we know works & #VanquishTheVariants.”
Meanwhile, the country continues the effort to vaccinate those most vulnerable to the disease.
According to Health Canada, as of Feb. 11, a total of 1,443,400 doses of the approved vaccines had been distributed across the country.
To date, approximately 1.7 per cent of the Canadian population has been vaccinated against the virus.
The new cases and deaths also come as new rules were implemented for those seeking to enter into Canada through the country’s shared land border with the U.S.
Now, anyone looking to drive into Canada will have to provide a negative COVID-19 test which was taken within 72 hours.
What’s more, beginning Feb. 22, travellers arriving at the Canada-U.S. border must also take a COVID-19 test when they arrive.
Hundreds of new cases in the provinces
In Quebec, 728 new cases were detected, for a total of 277,518.
Health officials said another 15 people have died after testing positive for COVID-19, pushing the provincial death toll to 10,229.
Meanwhile, in Saskatchewan, 143 new cases mean, to date, 26,693 have contracted the coronavirus.
However, the province did not report any new deaths on Monday, meaning the total number of fatalities remained at 354.
In Atlantic Canada, nine new cases of the virus were detected.
Newfoundland and Labrador health officials said seven more people have contracted COVID-19, while Nova Scotia and New Brunswick each reported one new infection.
Health officials in New Brunswick also confirmed one more person has died, pushing the total number of fatalities in the province to 23.
Provincial authorities in Alberta said 251 more people have contracted the disease and two more have died after testing positive for COVID-19.
To date 129,075 people in Alberta have fallen ill and 1,782 have died.
Seven new cases were detected in Nunavut on Monday, pushing the total number of infections in the territory to 318.
Meanwhile, the Yukon added one new infection, bringing the total case load in the territory to 72.
No new cases of COVID-19 or fatalities linked to the virus were reported in the Northwest Territories.
Ontario, British Columbia, Manitoba and Prince Edward Island did not release any new COVID-19 data on Monday.
Global cases top 109 million
Globally, the virus has infected more than 109,000,000 people.
According to the latest tally from Johns Hopkins University, a total of 109,076,584 people have contracted the virus to date.
Since COVID-19 was first detected in Wuhan, China in late 2019, a total of 2,405,804 people have died.
The United States remained the world’s viral epicentre on Monday, with over 27.6 million infections and more than 486,000 fatalities.
India has seen the second-highest number of cases having reported more than 10.9 million confirmed COVID-19 infections.
To date, the coronavirus has claimed 155,732 lives in India.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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