That number could rise throughout the day Friday as other provinces release their new daily tallies. 

Overall, Canada reported more than a thousand new cases and 69 new deaths, bringing national figures to 84,686 cases -- including more than 43,000 recoveries -- and 6,424 deaths.

Montreal is the hardest hit, with nearly 20,000 cases -- almost as many as all of Ontario -- and more than 1,850 deaths.

Quebec counted 142 more deaths in 24 hours, bringing the COVID-19 death toll in the province to 2,928 on Sunday.

1,274 new cases were also announced on Tuesday, bringing the country's total to 62,035.

The death of an elderly person returning from a cruise marks the first fatal case outside Washington state.

COVID-19’s global creep had some countries warning people to obey containment measures.

The infections found in the two jails made up most of the 258 newly confirmed cases outside the central province of Hubei, the epicentre of the virus.

New infections in China have been falling for days, although changes in how it counts cases have caused doubts about the true trajectory of the epidemic.