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

That’s up 40 per cent over the previous week and is nearly 10 times the low it reached last July.

Tam said the Public Health Agency of Canada is also seeing an upward trend in the number of COVID-19 patients being hospitalized.

In a statement, Tam said the increasing number and variety of COVID-19 tests available in Canada is a good step but that testing cannot replace basic health measures like physical distancing and wearing face masks.

What’s happening in the rest of Canada

As of 2:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Canada had 172,855 confirmed or presumptive coronavirus cases. Provinces and territories listed 145,410 of those as recovered or resolved. A CBC News tally of deaths based on provincial reports, regional health information and CBC’s reporting stood at 9,541.

Quebec reported 900 new cases and 17 more deaths on Wednesday.

As cases continue to rise in several Quebec regions, provincial officials are set to give an update on the COVID-19 situation.

Ontario reported another 583 cases on Wednesday, while the number of resolved infections outpaced new daily cases for the first time in months.

At a new conference on Wednesday, Premier Doug Ford urged Ontarians to spend the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday with people in their own household.

Manitoba reported three more COVID-19-related deaths and 32 more cases of the illness on Wednesday. Public health officials are also advising about possible exposures at two Winnipeg schools.

New Brunswick says there are 17 new cases as public health officials scramble to contain an outbreak at a special care home in Moncton.

The figures were revealed on an update of a provincial government website just before a news conference by Premier Blaine Higgs and Dr. Jennifer Russell, the province’s chief medical officer of health.

Newfoundland and Labrador is asking workers who returned to the province in the last two weeks from certain work sites in Nunavut and Alberta to self-isolate and get tested for COVID-19.

The Health Department issued three warnings on Wednesday about outbreaks at the Hope Bay gold mine in Nunavut; at Syncrude Canada’s Aurora mine site, close to Fort McMurray, Alta.; and at Methanex’s methanol plant in Medicine Hat, Alta.

Nova Scotia reported no new cases on Wednesday.

What’s happening around the world

According to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, the global total of confirmed coronavirus cases stands at more than 35.9 million. More than 1,050,000 people have died, while more than 25 million have recovered.

In Europe, coronavirus infections in the Czech Republic have hit a record high, surpassing 4,000 cases in one day for the first time. Slovakia also reported another record daily increase in coronavirus infections, reaching nearly 900.

The Scottish government is banning indoor drinking at bars and forcing restaurants to close in the evening for 16 days to help contain the coronavirus starting Friday. Similarly, Brussels will close all bars, dance halls and cafeterias in the Belgian capital for a month. 

In Africa, 15 clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines are underway across the continent, according to a comment published in the journal Nature by the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Five trials are occurring in South Africa and four in Egypt, with a single trial each in Guinea-Bissau, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

African nations have teamed up to combat the pandemic, with painful memories of millions of Africans dying in the decade it took for affordable HIV drugs to become available on the continent.

In the Americas, U.S. President Donald Trump’s physician said the president had been symptom-free for 24 hours and his vital signs have remained stable and in normal range. 

Dr. Scott Conley, in a memo, didn’t detail which medications the president was taking. He said Trump has not required any supplemental oxygen since returning to the White House late Monday. The president had also been fever-free for four days.

WATCH | White House nearly deserted because of COVID-19 outbreak:

U.S. President Donald Trump is back at the White House, but many staff stayed away as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to increase, something doctors blame on the reliance on testing instead of behavioural changes. 2:46

In Asia-Pacific, New Zealand has again eliminated COVID-19 in the community after the last six active cases associated with a minor outbreak in Auckland have recovered. From midnight Wednesday, limits on public gatherings and activities in the city will be lifted, though physical distancing is advised.

Iranian state TV on Wednesday reported 239 new deaths in the country, the highest number of daily deaths from the coronavirus. The previous high was 235 daily deaths.