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The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada (all times Eastern):
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7:34 p.m.
British Columbia’s provincial health officer is urging businesses to ensure they are in compliance with health and safety standards to protect employees from COVID-19.
Dr. Bonnie Henry says public health teams would provide guidance if a worker contracts the illness, but it’s up to businesses to make it easy for anyone who is unwell to stay away.
Henry says employees should be screened daily, tracked for where they’re working at a site and who they’re with, and meet virtually as much as possible.
B.C. has 110 new cases of COVID-19 for a total of 10,066 cases and one more death, amounting to 245 fatalities from the illness.
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6:06 p.m.
Alberta is reporting its highest daily number of COVID-19 cases, with 364 new infections.
Most of those — 276 — are in the Edmonton area.
The province’s chief medical health officer, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, has announced three voluntary public health measures in the capital region.
She wants people to limit family gatherings and social events, including weddings and funerals, to 15 people.
She says people should wear masks indoors at work, unless they are alone in cubicles or offices or separated from others with barriers.
And she wants people to limit their interactions to three cohorts: home, school and a social or sporting group.
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4:52 p.m.
The Northwest Territories says it will be requiring people to wear masks inside all airport terminal buildings.
The measure is to come into effect on Tuesday.
The territory says passenger traffic is increasing and masks will help keep everyone safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Transport Canada regulation in April already requires travellers to wear masks while going through security and boarding flights.
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4:37 p.m.
Quebec is moving several regions between Montreal and Quebec City to the highest COVID-19 alert level.
Health Minister Christian Dube said today the city of Trois-Rivieres, Que., along with several other cities in the surrounding area, will move to the maximum or “red” pandemic alert level.
That decision means bars and restaurant dining rooms in those regions will be forced to close starting Sunday and mask-wearing will be mandatory in high schools.
Dube said police will be installing checkpoints on the roads leading into some areas of the province, including parts of the Saguenay region north of Quebec City, to discourage non-essential travel.
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4:26 p.m.
New Brunswick is making mask-wearing mandatory in all public places beginning Friday as the province battles a rise in COVID-19 infections.
Authorities said Thursday that along with the mask order, non-essential day trips that had been allowed for residents of two Quebec border communities are prohibited.
The province reported three new infections Thursday.
Dr. Jennifer Russell, New Brunswick’s chief medical officer of health, said the new cases are not linked to the outbreak at the Notre-Dame Manor in Moncton, which is tied to 19 infections.
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3:22 p.m.
A northern Saskatchewan First Nation is on lockdown over concerns of COVID-19 transmission following a series of religious services where participants were unmasked.
The Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation has closed its three communities of Southend, Sturgeon Landing and an urban reserve in the city of Prince Albert.
Chief Peter Beatty says all vehicles entering the community will be searched and no parties would be allowed.
The band has also closed its two schools until at least Oct. 19, because of possible staff exposure to the virus.
Band education co-ordinator Greg Seib says the schools and school buses are being cleaned and sanitized.
The announcements came after the Saskatchewan Health Authority said it was investigating a community-transmitted COVID-19 outbreak that involves contact tracing more than 100 people linked to a series of Full Gospel Outreach events in Prince Albert from Sept. 14 to last Sunday.
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2:08 p.m.
Alberta Health Services says two units at an Edmonton hospital are dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak.
The agency says eight patients at the Misericordia Community Hospital have tested positive for the novel coronavirus and two health-care workers are infected as well.
It says 29 health-care workers are self-isolating as a result.
It is the second time the hospital has experienced an outbreak — over an eight-week period this summer, 58 people were infected and 11 of them died.
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2 p.m.
Nunavut’s chief public health officer says an outbreak of COVID-19 at a gold mine has been contained.
Dr. Michael Patterson says there are 10 positive cases and six presumptive cases at the Hope Bay mine, about 125 kilometres southwest of Cambridge Bay.
But he says the cases will not be counted as the territory’s, because the workers’ home jurisdictions have chosen to record them.
That means the territory has yet to record a positive case.
Patterson earlier said there was evidence of transmission at the mine, but now says that it’s not the case.
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1:59 p.m.
Manitoba is reporting 67 new COVID-19 cases, 57 of which are in Winnipeg, and the number of active cases continues to rise.
Chief public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin is recommending that people limit their Thanksgiving dinners this weekend to household members and not share serving utensils.
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1 p.m.
Dr. Theresa Tam says the second wave of COVID-19 is showing up in Canada as a series of regional epidemics.
Ontario and Quebec account for 80 per cent of recent new cases, but British Columbia and Manitoba are seeing more daily diagnoses than they did in the spring.
Tam says New Brunswick has been doing well, like the rest of Atlantic Canada, but has an outbreak in a long-term care home that it’s rushing to contain.
An increase in the number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals in Ontario and Quebec has her worried that they could be strained before long.
The Public Health Agency of Canada says the country has had an average of 2,052 new cases a day for the past week, with 18 deaths a day and 673 people in hospital.
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10:45 a.m.
Ontario is reporting 797 new COVID-19 cases today, marking a new daily high.
Health Minister Christine Elliott says 265 cases are in Toronto, 182 in Ottawa, 134 in Peel Region and 78 in York Region.
Elliott says 57 per cent of today’s cases are in people under the age of 40.
The province says there are four new deaths reported due to the virus today.
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10:35 a.m.
Canada Post is asking Canadians to start shopping for Christmas early to ensure their gifts are delivered on time.
The Crown agency says it is already experiencing a surge in parcel delivery business as consumers shift to online shopping in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s expecting the rapid escalation in parcel deliveries to continue into the holiday season.
And it warns a traditional holiday parcel surge has the potential to overwhelm its capacity to make timely deliveries.
Canada Post says it is scaling up operations in anticipation of demand, but that Canadians can avoid a late rush to get packages to loved ones by shopping sooner.
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10:15 a.m.
Premier Francois Legault says the province is reporting 1,078 new COVID-19 cases and nine new deaths.
Legault told reporters today hospitalizations increased by 16.
The premier says his government was correct to impose more strict measures on COVID-19 hot spots such as Montreal and Quebec City.
Those measures include as closing bars, gyms and by banning public gatherings.
Legault says the province is trying to increase contact tracing capacity and is calling on people to stay home this Thanksgiving long weekend.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2020.
The Canadian Press
