The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada

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

4:30 p.m.

Quebec says it is adding several cities in the Chaudiere-Appalaches region south of Quebec City to the list of municipalities on lockdown due to rising cases of COVID-19.

The government says in a news release that the curfew will be moved from 9:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the regional municipalities of Beauce-Sartigan, Bellechasse, Les Etchemins, Nouvelle-Beauce and Robert-Cliche.

Schools will close for in-person learning, while non-essential businesses and restaurant dining rooms will also be shuttered from tomorrow evening until at least April 12.

The Quebec government imposed the same restrictions on three other cities last week, including Quebec City and Gatineau.

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4 p.m.

Saskatchewan is reporting 321 additional COVID-19 cases, with 141 of them being identified through screening as variants of concern.

The province’s daily pandemic update also says three more people with COVID-19 have died.

Two of those people were in their 50s and were in the Regina zone, while the third was over 80 and was in the South East zone.

Saskatchewan says 2,196 COVID-19 cases in the province remain active, with 194 people in hospital.

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3:45 p.m.

Ontario has named the next head of its COVID-19 vaccine taskforce. 

The province says Dr. Homer Tien, a trauma surgeon who’s currently heading up the Ornge air ambulance service, will be taking over the vaccine effort
as it heads into its second phase. 

He succeeds retired General Rick Hillier, who declined an offer to stay on past the end of his contract which expired on March 31.

Ornge says Tien, who was already part of the taskforce  and helped oversee vaccine distributio to remote communities, will stay on as the service’s president as he takes on his new role.

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1 p.m.

New Brunswick has confirmed 11 new cases of COVID-19 today, bringing the active case count to 162.

Two of the new cases were identified in the Saint John region — one is a contact of a previous case and the other is travel related.

The remaining nine cases were found in the Edmundston region, and all but two are contacts of previous cases — the rest are under investigation.

Officials say 15 people are hospitalized due to COVID-19, seven of whom are in intensive care.

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12 p.m.

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

Health officials say three of the cases are in the central health region, which includes Halifax, and are either travel-related or a close contact of a previously reported infection.

Three cases are in the western region and are also close contacts of those with active infections, while the last case in the eastern region is connected to travel.

The province now has 34 active cases of the virus.

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11:15 a.m.

Quebec is reporting 1,154 new cases of COVID-19 and nine additional deaths linked to the pandemic.

One of the deaths occurred in the past 24 hours while the rest happened earlier.

Hospitalizations increased by one to 502, while the number of patients in intensive care rose by four to 128.

Health workers gave 41,073 doses of vaccine on Saturday for a total of 1,529,541 shots.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 4, 2021.

The Canadian Press