Coronavirus: What’s happening in Canada and around the world on Thursday

The province reported 363 new cases and four additional deaths.

The province hasn’t announced that many cases in one day since Dec. 11 (excluding a day during the holidays when multiple days of new cases were released). Manitoba’s daily caseloads over the past week ranged from 230 to 295.

Health officials say the total COVID-19 patients in hospital rose slightly to 185 and the number in intensive care increased from 47 to 52.

In neighbouring Saskatchewan, 156 new COVID-19 were reported on Thursday.

-From CBC News, last updated at 3:40 p.m. ET

What’s happening across Canada

WATCH | Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine approved for kids 12 and up:

Health Canada has approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for those 12 and up. It’s a shot of hope for children and parents, and some provinces will start giving out doses in the coming days and weeks. 3:28

As of 3:40 p.m. ET on Thursday, Canada had reported 1,262,406 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 81,049 considered active. A CBC News tally of deaths stood at 24,488.

Health Canada on Wednesday also gave the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine the green light for a new, younger age group.

Health officials in the Northwest Territories said they would begin offering the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to youth aged 12-17 as of Thursday. Several provinces, including British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador, have also announced initial details of how they plan to roll out the vaccine to people over the age of 12. 

In Ontario on Thursday, health officials reported 3,424 cases and 26 additional deaths. Hospitalizations stood at 1,964, with 877 people in ICU as a result of COVID-related illness.

Quebec on Thursday reported 907 new cases of COVID-19 and seven additional deaths. According to the province, COVID-19 hospitalizations stood at 580, with 144 people in intensive care.

WATCH | Quebec teens urged to get vaccinated:

Dr. Horacio Arruda, Quebec’s public health director, urged the province’s teenagers to get the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as it’s available to end the terrible isolation they’ve suffered during the pandemic. 0:36

Also Thursday, Quebec approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for teens and plans to make first doses available to people between the ages of 12 and 17 before the end of the school year.

WATCH | Dr. Cora Constantinescu of the Alberta Children’s Hospital talks about kids and COVID-19 vaccines:

Not only is it safe to vaccinate young people against COVID-19, but it’s also a necessary step towards lifting public health restrictions, says Dr. Cora Constantinescu of the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary. 10:09

Across the North, Nunavut reported 12 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, as Dr. Michael Patterson, the chief public health officer, said that visiting and social gatherings are the main causes of coronavirus spread in Iqaluit right now.

Health officials in Yukon and the Northwest Territories have not yet provided updated figures for the day.

In Atlantic Canada, six new cases were reported in Newfoundland and Labrador on Thursday, while New Brunswick reported 11 new COVID-19 cases and one additional death. Nova Scotia reported 182 new cases on Thursday.

No new cases were reported in Prince Edward Island on Wednesday.

Alberta on Wednesday reported 2,271 new cases of COVID-19 and three additional deaths. According to a provincial dashboard, COVID-19 hospitalizations stood at 666, with 146 people in ICU.

In British Columbia, health officials reported 572 cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, the lowest daily case number since March 20. Hospitalizations in the province stood at 481, with 161 in intensive care.

–From CBC News and The Canadian Press, last updated at 3:45 p.m. ET

What’s happening around the world

As of Thursday afternoon, more than 155.4 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 tracking tool. The reported global death toll stood at more than 3.2 million.

In the Americas, Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro said that U.S. President Joe Biden will soon send doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to the South American country, which has recorded the world’s second-deadliest coronavirus outbreak.

In the Asia-Pacific region, infections in India hit another daily record on Thursday as demand for medical oxygen jumped sevenfold and the government denied reports that it was slow in distributing lifesaving supplies from abroad.

The number of new cases breached 400,000 for the second time and pushed India’s total past 21 million.

In Africa, South Africa reported 2,000 cases overnight, WHO Africa representatives said Thursday. The country has seen more than 1.5 million cases and more than 54,500 reported deaths.

In the Middle East, Iran’s reported COVID-19 case number was approaching 2.6 million, with more than 73,500 reported deaths.

In Europe, British officials are looking at which vaccines would offer the best booster shot for vulnerable people later this year and no decisions have been taken yet.

Sweden has passed the threshold of one million coronavirus cases, or 10 per cent of its population. The country has reported 14,158 confirmed deaths. More than 33 per cent of the population has had at least one vaccine dose.

-From The Associated Press and Reuters, last updated at 3:15 p.m. ET

Have questions about this story? We’re answering as many as we can in the comments.