Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look back at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week's list ...
The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada (all times eastern):
—
9:20 p.m.
The latest numbers on COVID-19 vaccinations in Canada show the country has surpassed one million doses given for the first time.
According to the federal government, the provinces reported 13,768 new vaccinations administered today for a total of 1,000,862 doses given.
The provinces have administered doses at a rate of 2,640.847 per 100,000.
There were 2,340 new vaccines delivered to the provinces and territories for a total of 1,157,381 doses delivered so far.
The provinces and territories have used 86.48 per cent of their available vaccine supply.
—
6:30 p.m.
British Columbia’s provincial health officer and health minister are urging businesses to closely follow businesses need to make sure that COVID-19 safety plans are being followed as the province deals with different variants of the virus.
The warning from Health Minister Adrian Dix and Dr. Bonnie Henry comes as the province reported that 81 students and eight educators at Garibaldi Secondary School have returned negative tests after a person tested positive for the COVID-19 strain that first emerged in the United Kingdom.
B.C. reported 414 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, for a total of 68,780.
The province also reported 16 new COVID-19-related deaths, bringing the death toll to 1,234.
—
5:45 p.m.
Alberta is reporting 259 new cases of COVID-19.
There have also been 11 additional deaths in the province due to the virus.
There are 539 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 94 in intensive care.
—
4:15 p.m.
Ontario will reopen most of its shuttered schools on Monday.
But those in three hot spots — Toronto, Peel Region and York Region — won’t resume in-person learning until the following week.
Students in 13 public health units, including Hamilton and Windsor, will return to physical classrooms on Feb. 8, whereas schools in those hot spots will reopen on Feb. 16.
All students in Ontario began January with online learning as part of a provincial lockdown.
The province then took a staggered approach to reopening schools, allowing those in northern Ontario and rural areas to resume in-person learning first.
—
4:05 p.m.
Starting Thursday, schools in two of Nunavut’s three regions will open full time to students.
Schools have been open part time to students since November after COVID cases started to rise in Nunavut.
Students in the territory’s Qikiqtani region in the east and Kitikmeot region in the west can now go back to class full time.
Schools in the Kivalliq region in central Nunavut will remain open to students part time as the region continues to see an outbreak in Arviat.
Schools in Arviat will stay closed to students.
There are 12 active cases in Nunavut, all in Arviat, and 294 total cases since the pandemic began.
—
3:10 p.m.
Saskatchewan says there are 194 new cases of COVID-19 and eight more deaths.
Health officials say the seven-day average of new daily cases is 233.
The province says there are 185 people in hospital, with 26 people receiving intensive care.
The Opposition NDP says the current slate of public health measures aren’t working because more people are dying from the virus.
It points to national data showing that over the past seven days, Saskatchewan has recorded the worst death rate of all the provinces and territories.
—
2:05 p.m.
There are three more deaths and 125 additional cases of COVID-19 in Manitoba today.
Health officials say Manitoba is prepared to start giving out up to 20,000 vaccine doses a day next month, but issues with the supply mean they don’t know how many the province will get.
The mass vaccination plans will largely rely on supersites in multiple cities, as well as pop-up clinics and special teams going directly to targeted groups.
Dr. Joss Reimer, medical lead for the vaccine task force, says Manitoba ranks second in the country for the number of people fully immunized per capita.
To date, 43,318 doses have been administered in Manitoba, including 10,466 of the second dose.
—
1 p.m.
Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting two new cases of COVID-19 today.
Health officials say one case involves a man in his 50s in the western health zone who travelled outside the country.
The other case involves a man in his 60s also in the western zone who had travelled to British Columbia.
Officials say the province has 14 active reported cases of COVID-19 and that one person is in hospital with the disease.
—
12:40 p.m.
The Northwest Territories has declared a COVID-19 outbreak at Gahcho Kué Mine, 280 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife.
There are now two confirmed cases of COVID-19 at the mine.
Both cases are non-resident workers.
The territory’s chief public health officer Dr. Kami Kandola says both active cases are self-isolating at the mine and doing well.
Kandola says an outbreak was declared because the second person acquired the virus at the mine.
—
12:30 p.m.
New Brunswick is reporting 14 new cases of COVID-19 today, including nine in the Edmundston region, which remains under lockdown
Health officials say four cases are in the Moncton region and one is in the Fredericton area.
Officials say there ae 264 active reporting infections in the province and that five people are hospitalized with the disease, including three in intensive care.
New Brunswick has reported a total of 1,302 infections and 18 deaths linked to the virus.
—
12:15 p.m.
Prince Edward Island is reporting no new cases of COVID-19 today.
Chief medical officer of health Dr. Heather Morrison says there are two active reported infections on the Island.
The province has reported 112 cases since the start of the pandemic and zero deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus.
Health officials say they have not identified a COVID-19 variant among the cases reported on the Island.
—
11:15 a.m.
Quebec has reported exactly 1,053 new COVID-19 infections for two consecutive days.
Health officials reported 37 more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus, including nine in the previous 24 hours.
They say hospitalizations dropped by four, to 1,106, and 177 people were in intensive care, a drop of one.
The province says 1,155 more people have recovered from the virus.
—
10:55 a.m.
Nova Scotia is reporting one new case of COVID-19.
Health officials say the case is in the Halifax area and is related to travel outside of Atlantic Canada.
The province currently has 11 active cases with two people in hospital, including one in intensive care.
Nearly 16-thousand doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the province with 3,457 people having received their second dose as required.
—
10:45 a.m.
Ontario is reporting 1,172 new cases of COVID-19 today but officials note that updates to the provincial case-management system are causing data fluctuations.
Public health officials say migration of the City of Toronto’s data to the provincial database is leading to data cleanup that’s affecting daily tallies.
Ontario is also reporting 67 more deaths linked to the virus.
—
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 2, 2021.
The Canadian Press
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said Manitoba reported 126 new cases. In fact, there are 125 new cases.
