The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada

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

6:55 p.m.

Alberta’s chief medical health officer is reporting 461 new COVID-19 diagnoses and eight related deaths in the past 24 hours.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw says there are 7,505 active cases across the province, with 561 patients in hospital and 101 in intensive care.

Hinshaw says the province’s test positivity rate is 5.3 per cent.

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3:45 p.m.

A second outbreak of COVID-19 continues to grow in the Nunavut community of Arviat.

The Nunavut government says there are 10 new cases in Arviat for a total of 27 active infections.

Arviat is the only community in the territory with active COVID-19 cases.

New cases began to appear in Arviat on Jan. 22 after the community had gone weeks without a new case.

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3:30 p.m.

Saskatchewan is reporting four additional COVID-19 deaths today, along with 238 new cases.

The province says in its daily COVID-19 update that 203 people are in hospital with the novel coronavirus.

The seven-day average of new daily cases in the province is 241, which works out to 19.7 cases per 100,000 people.

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2:20 p.m.

Public health officials in Manitoba are reporting four deaths of people with COVID-19 today, along with 119 new cases of the virus.

There have been 829 deaths of people with COVID-19 in Manitoba since the pandemic began, and the province has recorded 29,564 lab-confirmed cases.

There are 259 people with COVID-19 in the province’s hospitals, with 39 of those receiving intensive care.

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1:20 p.m.

New Brunswick is reporting 26 new cases of COVID-19, including two new cases in an elementary school in Moncton.

Health officials say more than half of the new cases — 16 in all — were reported in the Edmundston region of northern New Brunswick.

That area and the Moncton zone remain under lockdown restrictions to limit the spread of the virus.

Nine new cases were reported in Moncton and one was reported in the Saint John area.

The province has recorded 1,256 cases since the pandemic began, which includes 954 recoveries, 18 deaths and 283 currently active cases.

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12:10 p.m.

The federal government is reviewing a new COVID-19 vaccine that has been submitted for regulatory approval.

Maryland-based Novavax quietly applied on Friday for Health Canada to approve its vaccine, which studies have suggested is effective against the British and South African variants of the virus.

The application comes less than two weeks after Ottawa finalized an agreement with the company for 52 million doses of the vaccine, with an option to purchase another 24 million.

The regulatory review also comes as Ottawa continues pressing the European Union on new controls on the export of vaccines from the continent.

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11:20 a.m.

Quebec is reporting 1,223 new COVID-19 cases today along with 31 deaths linked to the virus. 

The latest fatalities from the province pushed Canada’s national death toll to 20,016 since the onset of the pandemic. 

Hospitalizations went down by 27 to 1,136, with 191 people in intensive care, which is 10 fewer than the day before.

The province gave only 84 vaccine doses yesterday, and has currently administered 238,227 of the 238,100 doses it has received.

The government says it is able to deliver extra vaccines because some vials contain a sixth dose instead of the promised five.

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11 a.m.

Canada’s national death toll from COVID-19 has surpassed 20,000. 

The country reached the bleak milestone this morning after Quebec reported 31 new fatalities related to the virus. 

Data shows 20,016 people have died of the virus since the onset of the pandemic last year.

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10:45 a.m.

Ontario is reporting 1,848 new cases of COVID-19 today.

It’s also reporting 43 more deaths from the virus.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says about 300 cases included in the latest numbers are from data catch-up work done by Toronto Public Health.

The province says 1,159 people are hospitalized with the virus as of today, with 356 people in intensive care and 252 on ventilators.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 31, 2021. 

The Canadian Press