The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada for Wednesday, Dec. 9

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

7:19 p.m.

As B.C.’s provincial health officer announced workers at long-term care homes would be the first to get the COVID-19 vaccine next week, she also said 16 people more died.

Dr. Bonnie Henry says they expect to be able to immunize as many as 400,000 residents with the Pfizer vaccine by March.

There were 619 new infections for a total of 39,337 cases since the pandemic started.

Henry says because the Pfizer vaccine needs to be stored at ultra-cold temperatures, they’ll be bringing people to get vaccinated instead taking the vaccinations out to the public.

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6:06 p.m.

Alberta is reporting 1,460 new cases of COVID-19.

That’s a few hundred less that the daily infection number the province has posted in recent days.

The province says 685 people are in hospital and 121 of those are in intensive care.

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5:39 p.m.

Alberta’s health minister says the government expects to give its first COVID-19 shots next Wednesday.

Tyler Shandro says 3,900 doses will first go to ICU doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists and long-term care staff.

Another vaccine shipment is expected to arrive later in December.

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3:08 p.m.

Nunavut is reporting nine new cases of COVID-19, all in the community of Arviat.

Chief public health officer Dr. Michael Patterson urged Arviat residents to follow public health measures and warned them not to take chances.

The community of about 2,800 is now the only community in Nunavut with active cases.

There are 48 cases of COVID-19 in Arviat.

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2:48 p.m.

Saskatchewan is reporting 302 new cases of COVID-19 and five more deaths from the virus.

The province says those who died were 80 and older.

The seven-day average for new daily cases sits at 273.

There are 140 people in hospital, with 27 patients receiving intensive care.

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2:03 p.m.

The government of the Northwest Territories says it has found COVID-19 in wastewater in Yellowknife.

Chief public health officer Dr. Kami Kandola says this means there is likely an undetected case of COVID-19 in the capital.

The virus was detected through a wastewater monitoring program, which analyzed samples taken between Nov. 30 and Dec. 2.

As a result, the government is asking anyone self-isolating in Yellowknife since Nov. 30 to get a COVID-19 test, even if they don’t have symptoms.

Essential workers who have been in Yellowknife since Nov. 30 should also get a test.

There are currently no recorded active cases of COVID-19 in Yellowknife; 15 people who were previously infected have recovered.

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1:55 p.m.

Manitoba health officials are reporting 279 new COVID-19 cases and 18 additional deaths. 

The latter is one shy of the daily record to date. 

The government says it will start receiving vaccines as early as next week, and will first target some 900 front-line health care workers. 

The province hopes to have more than 200,000 doses by March.

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1:06 p.m.

Public health officials in Newfoundland and Labrador say a COVID-19 case announced over the weekend indicates there was, or is, an unknown infection in the province.

Officials have not yet been able to identify the source of an infection in the central region of Newfoundland, where the town of Harbour Breton has been on partial lockdown since the cases were announced. 

Chief medical officer of health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says the case is now considered non-epidemiologically linked.

The province reported one new case of COVID-19 Wednesday and officials say it is related to travel.

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12:10 a.m.

Public health officials in New Brunswick are reporting one new case of COVID-19.

They say the case is related to travel and involves a person in their 30s in the Saint John area who is self-isolating.

There have been seven deaths in the province since the beginning of the pandemic, and the number of active cases is 74.

Three patients are hospitalized and are in intensive care.

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11:55 a.m.

The Saskatchewan government says it’s ready to begin immunizing critical health-care workers against COVID-19 starting next week.

The Ministry of Health says it expects to receive 1,950 doses of Pfizer’s vaccine by Tuesday.

The effort will begin with a pilot vaccination program at the Regina General Hospital for health-care workers in intensive and emergency care, COVID-19 units and testing and assessment centres.

The province plans to move into its first official stage of its vaccination program in late December as it receives more doses.

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11:30 a.m.

Health Canada has approved the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech, the first to be given the green light for national use.

Canada is set to receive four million doses of the Pfizer vaccine by March, including up to 249,000 doses this month, with the first shipment set to arrive next week.

The federal government has purchased 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which requires people to receive two doses each, and has the option to buy 56 million more.

Pfizer needs to store its vaccine at ultracold temperatures — below -70 C — and so the company is planning to ship the doses directly to provinces.

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11:15 a.m.

Quebec is reporting 1,728 new cases of COVID-19 as well as 37 more deaths.

Seven of the deaths occurred in the last 24 hours, 24 occurred between Dec. 2 and Dec. 7 and the rest were at earlier or unknown dates.

The province says hospitalizations increased by nine to 844, and the number of people in intensive care increased by seven, to 121.

One death that was previously attributed to COVID-19 was withdrawn from the total, for a sum of 7,349 deaths and 156,468 cases since the pandemic began.

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11:02 a.m.

Nova Scotia is reporting six new cases of COVID-19 today.

The number of active cases is now 71, down from 78 on Tuesday.

All of the new cases are in the Halifax area.

Four of the cases are close contacts of previously reported cases, while one is related to travel outside of Atlantic Canada and the other case is under investigation.

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11 a.m.

Ontario is reporting 1,890 new cases of COVID-19 today, and 28 new deaths due to the virus.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says 517 cases are in Toronto, 471 in Peel Region and 187 in York Region.

The province says it has conducted 48,546 tests since the last daily report.

In total, 811 people are hospitalized in Ontario due to COVID-19, including 221 in intensive care.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 9, 2020.

The Canadian Press

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. Manitoba says that due to a data error, there were 279 new cases, not 280.