The latest news on COVID 19 developments in Canada on Nov. 24, 2020

The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada (all times Eastern):

7:38 p.m.

British Columbia is reporting 941 new cases of COVID-19 today, along with 10 deaths.

Health officials say there are 7,732 active cases along with 248 hospitalizations.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix are reiterating their plea for residents to avoid social gatherings.

The province is also asking indoor physical activity sites, such as yoga studios and gymnastics centres, to suspend operations as health officials work to establish new guidelines.

—

7:37 p.m.

Alberta is bringing in tougher COVID-19 restrictions that include limits on social gatherings and less face-to-face class time for students.

Premier Jason Kenney says there are to be no indoor gatherings, but people who live alone can have up to two personal contacts.

He says students in Grades 7 through 12 will transition next week to at-home learning and the school holiday break will be extended from Dec. 18 to Jan. 11.

Banquet halls, conference centres and concert venues must also close.

Kenney adds that anyone who can work from home should do so and masks will be mandatory in workplaces in Edmonton, Calgary and surrounding areas.

The measures will be in effect for three weeks and re-evaluated after that.

The province reported 1,115 new cases on Tuesday and 16 more deaths.

—

3:10 p.m.

New Brunswick has revised the number of new COVID-19 cases it is reporting today.

It now says it has five new cases, three in the Saint John region and two in the Moncton region.

—

3 p.m.

Saskatchewan is reporting 175 new cases of COVID-19 for a seven-day average of 209.

Health officials say 105 people are in hospital, with 20 receiving intensive care.

Opposition leader Ryan Meili says because of the rising spread of the virus, Premier Scott Moe should convene a task force to develop a more co-ordinated approach to handling the pandemic.

Moe had been scheduled to provide an update Tuesday afternoon, but it was postponed until Wednesday.

His office says further public health measures are being developed which will be announced tomorrow.

—

2:20 p.m.

Nova Scotia is reporting 37 new cases of COVID-19 today, for a total of 87 active access across the province.

Premier Stephen McNeil said during an update the majority of cases were identified in the Greater Halifax Area.

The province is also announcing new restrictions in the Halifax Regional Municipality starting this Thursday at midnight.

The new restrictions include the closure of in-person dining for restaurants in the HRM as well as the closure of public libraries, museums and First Nation gaming establishments.

—

1:42 p.m.

Manitoba health officials have announced 471 new COVID-19 cases and 12 additional deaths. 

Chief public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin says the health-care system is near its capacity and the numbers must come down. 

He is urging people to stay home as much as possible.

—

1:40 p.m.

New Brunswick is reporting five new cases of COVID-19, most involving people under 30.

Three of the new cases are in the Saint John region, including two people under 20 and one person in their 30s.

The other two cases are in the Moncton region and both are people in their 20s.

New Brunswick now has 93 active infections, with 450 cases confirmed since the onset of the pandemic.

—

1:10 p.m.

Federal Procurement Minister Anita Anand says Canada is working on an “end-to-end” chain for handling new COVID-19 vaccines as soon as they’re delivered to Canada.

That includes buying 126 freezers, including 26 ultra-cold ones, to hold millions of doses of vaccines that need to be kept at extraordinarily low temperatures.

The government is also seeking private bidders to run the logistics, and determining whether the military has a role to play.

Anand says storing and transporting vaccines safely is a top priority, especially when they have short shelf lives.

Government officials say manufacturers of promising vaccine candidates are emphatic that their products not go to waste, which also means deliveries won’t start until Health Canada has approved them for use.

—

1 p.m.

Yukon is imposing a mandatory mask order, effective Dec. 1, as it tries to control the spread of COVID-19.

Premier Sandy Silver says the order will cover everyone using public indoor spaces, although children younger than two and people with certain medical conditions will be exempt.

The territory has had no new cases of the virus since announcing Monday that it had reached 38 total cases, with 14 considered active.

The territory’s chief medical health officer has told residents to prepare to see more cases in the coming weeks, although he says there is no plan for any sort of lockdown restricting movement within Yukon.

—

12:45 p.m.

Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting two new cases of COVID-19.

One is a woman in her 60s in the eastern region who is a close contact of a previously known case.

The other is a woman over 70, also in the eastern region, who is connected to a cluster of cases in the town of Grand Bank on the Burin Peninsula.

Health officials are also warning rotational workers of an outbreak at the LNG Canada project site in Kitimat, B.C.

Newfoundland and Labrador has 24 active cases of COVID-19, with 323 cases confirmed since the onset of the pandemic.

—

12:35 p.m.

Dr. Theresa Tam says wrestling COVID-19 back under control depends heavily on individual Canadians restricting their activities.

Canada’s chief public health officer says the country is facing outbreaks in places that didn’t have them during the first wave of the pandemic in the spring.

And after the current second wave hit younger adults first, more and more cases are being reported in older, more vulnerable people.

The Public Health Agency of Canada says on an average day in the past week, more than 2,000 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 and 70 people died.

Tam says we know more now about the virus that causes the illness, and especially how it spreads, but Canadians have to put that knowledge to use by running only essential errands and restricting their social interactions to their own households.

—

11:55 a.m.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is acknowledging countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany could have some of their citizens vaccinated against COVID-19 before Canadians can get their own shots.

He says that’s because those countries have their own vaccine-production facilities and Canada doesn’t.

Rebuilding that capacity will take years, but Trudeau says the federal government has started the work.

He says having pre-bought an array of vaccine candidates from foreign manufacturers will help get Canadians effective doses as soon as possible.

But he adds it’s premature to start circling dates on calendars for when the first doses will arrive.

—

11:45 a.m.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government has bought 26,000 doses of a treatment for COVID-19 from pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly.

At a news conference in Ottawa, Trudeau didn’t name the drug but said it had been co-developed with Vancouver’s AbCellera Biologics.

The two companies announced last March they were co-operating on developing a treatment using antibodies from a patient who had already had the illness.

Trudeau says the government has an option to buy thousands more doses.

He says vaccines against COVID-19 are on the way but until they’re widely available, Canadians need to do everything they can to avoid catching the novel coronavirus.

—

11:40 a.m.

The Manitoba government says it has issued one ticket and more are expected in connection with a church service on Sunday for allegedly violating the province’s ban on public gatherings.

The RCMP say they attended the church, in a rural area near Steinbach, and found more than 100 people inside.

The government also says 16 tickets have been issued to people who attended an anti-mask rally in Steinbach earlier this month, and more are expected.

—

11:15 a.m.

The Ontario government is reporting 1,009 new cases of COVID-19 today but a technical issue means the figure is an underestimate. 

Health Minister Christine Elliott says the issue also means Monday’s case numbers were an overestimate. 

Today’s figures include 497 new cases in Toronto, 175 in Peel Region and 118 in York Region. 

The province also reported 14 new deaths related to the virus.

—

11:10 a.m.

Quebec is reporting 45 more deaths attributed to COVID-19 and 1,124 new infections.

Health officials said today nine of the 45 deaths occurred in the past 24 hours.

Hospitalizations jumped by 21, to 655, and 96 people were in intensive care, a drop of two.

The province has reported a total of 134,330 cases and 6,887 deaths since the pandemic began.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 24, 2020.

The Canadian Press

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. In previous versions, it was reported that hospitalizations in Quebec increased to 665 and that New Brunswick had six new COVID-19 cases.