Wednesday marked the second time in less than a week that Canada’s daily case count surpassed 4,000.
Health officials also confirmed 24 more people have died after testing positive for the novel coronavirus.
In a series of tweets Wednesday afternoon, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said as national case counts continue to increase, and as the proportion of cases of the new, more transmissible variants of the virus continues to rise, it is a “crucial time.”
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“We must remain vigilant!” she wrote.
According to Health Canada, a total of 6,325 cases of the new variants have been identified in Canada.
Tam urged Canadians to aim to have the fewest interactions possible, for the shortest amount of time at the greatest distance possible, all while wearing a well-fitting mask.
The new cases on Wednesday come as Canada continues to work to vaccinate those most vulnerable to the disease.
So far, over 4.3 million doses of the shots to protect against COVID-19 had been administered across the country.
That means 5.82 per cent of the total population has been inoculated.
Provinces report hundreds of new infections
In Ontario, 1,571 new cases of COVID-19 and 10 more fatalities were reported.
Meanwhile, in Quebec, 783 more people have fallen ill and eight more have died.
Health officials in Saskatchewan said 190 new cases were detected in the province and one more fatality has occurred.
In Manitoba, 81 more people have tested positive for COVID-19, but no one else has died.
Atlantic Canada saw 16 new cases of the disease on Wednesday.
Twelve new cases were reported in New Brunswick, while five more people have fallen ill in Nova Scotia.
Meanwhile, health officials in Newfoundland and Labrador said one new case was reported.
Prince Edward Island did not release any new COVID-19 data on Wednesday.
In western Canada, more than 1,400 new cases of the novel coronavirus were detected.
British Columbia added 716 new infections and three new deaths, while 692 more people are now ill in Alberta.
Alberta authorities also confirmed two more people have died after testing positive for the virus.
No new cases or deaths related to COVID-19 were reported in any of Canada’s territories.
Since the virus was first detected in late 2019, it has infected 124,584,006 people globally, according to the latest tally from Johns Hopkins University.
So far, 2,740,112 people have died around the world after testing positive for COVID-19.
The United States remains the viral epicentre, having reported more than 30 million infections and over 545,000 fatalities to date.
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