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Alberta has marked a new record for reported deaths from COVID-19 in a single day, as the province confirmed a fourth health-care worker has died from the disease after she was infected at work.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province’s chief medical officer of health, called it “a difficult day” as she reported 652 new cases and 38 more deaths at a news conference Tuesday. A total of 1,345 Albertans have now died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
“We must always remember that these figures are not just numbers but lives,” Hinshaw said.
Deaths from the illness are reported as Alberta Health compiles data, meaning not all 38 happened on the same day. The latest report includes deaths reported to the province from Dec. 30 to Tuesday.
But provincial numbers released over the last two days show that at least 21 people died from COVID-19 on Sunday alone.
One of those people was health-care aide Rose Vandelannoite, who worked for more than 10 years at Summerwood Village Retirement Home in Sherwood Park, outside Edmonton.
Vandelannoite died of complications from the disease on Sunday, her union wrote in a memorial post on Twitter. She was 63.
Rose Vandelannoite, a Health Care Aide and Chief Steward at Summerwood Village Retirement Home in Sherwood Park, Alberta, was infected with COVID-19 at work last December and fought valiantly for her life. She succumbed to COVID-19 complications on Sunday, January 10, 2021.
—@LiUNA3000
“Never too shy to stand up and speak her mind, she was a fighter and made sure that every worker and resident was treated compassionately, fairly and with respect,” her union, LiUNA Local 3000, wrote in the thread.
Alberta Health confirmed in a statement to CBC News that Vandelannoite was infected at work and is the fourth health-care worker in the province to die due to the disease.
While the number of active cases of COVID-19 in Alberta has slowly declined over the past four weeks, the hospitalization numbers are higher now than they were a month ago. On Tuesday, there were 819 COVID-19 patients in hospital — up from 716 on Dec. 13 — including 132 patients in intensive care.
WATCH | How close are Alberta’s ICUs to the breaking point?
Infectious disease specialist Dr. Lynora Saxinger discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospitals including what happens if ICUs run out of space and what restrictive measures might help. 2:54
In the face of the concerning numbers, Hinshaw said Alberta Health is extending the interval between first and second vaccine doses from three or four weeks, as it had been doing, to as many as 42 days so as many Albertans as possible get the protection of those first doses.
By end of day Monday, a total of 52,318 vaccine doses had been administered in the province.
What’s happening across Canada
As of 7 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Canada had reported 674,473 cases of COVID-19, with 80,957 cases considered active. A CBC News tally of deaths stood at 17,266.
The Canada-U.S. border will remain closed to non-essential travel until at least Feb. 21, after Public Safety Minister Bill Blair on Tuesday announced the latest extension to international travel restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The Canada-U.S. agreement bars entry to most travellers who are not Canadian citizens, permanent residents or people entering from the U.S. for “essential” reasons. It took effect in late March.
In Atlantic Canada, New Brunswick reported 17 new COVID-19 infections and two new deaths on Tuesday. Health officials said the deaths involve one person in their 70s and one in their 80s who were residents of a retirement facility in Saint John.
Nova Scotia announced one new case in the province on Tuesday. The province also announced mandatory testing for rotational workers returning to Nova Scotia after working in another part of the country.
The high number of cases, especially in Alberta where many Nova Scotians work, is concerning, Premier Stephen McNeil said at a press briefing.
Prince Edward Island reported one new case of COVID-19 on Tuesday. Along with one new recovery, the number of active cases in the province stayed at eight. Newfoundland and Labrador reported no new cases.
In Quebec, Premier François Legault stood by his decision to impose an overnight curfew, as well as to reopen elementary schools on Monday in spite of the recent surge in cases and hospitalizations.
“It’s a calculated risk,” Legault said. “It’s part of my job to make decisions, and I think there are more disadvantages than advantages to leaving children at home.”
Quebec reported 1,934 new cases and 47 new deaths on Tuesday. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 rose to 1,497 people, including 221 in intensive care.
Ontario declared a state of emergency due to a surge of COVID-19 cases and issued a stay-at-home order that takes effect Thursday at 12:01 a.m. ET.
As part of the new measures, outdoor organized public gatherings and social gatherings are further restricted to no more than five people with limited exceptions.
WATCH | Ontario issues stay-at-home order starting Thursday:
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has declared an immediate state of emergency and will impose a stay-at-home order as of Thursday at 12:01 a.m., in an effort to curb surging COVID-19 cases, which threaten to overwhelm the province’s health system. 1:12
“Our province is in crisis,” Premier Doug Ford said. “The system is on the brink of collapse. It’s on the brink of being overwhelmed.”
The province reported 2,903 new cases and 41 new deaths on Tuesday. The number of COVID-19 patients in hospital increased to a record 1,701. Of those, 385 were in intensive care and 262 required the use of a ventilator to breathe.
Manitoba public health officials announced 90 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, the fewest daily cases reported since Oct. 19, along with eight new deaths.
One of the province’s newest COVID-19 deaths is longtime folk musician and activist Curtis (Shingoose) Jonnie, who died Tuesday morning at the age of 74 after testing positive, his daughter said.
Shingoose, who is Ojibway from Roseau River Anishinaabe First Nation, had been living at the Southeast Personal Care Home in Winnipeg for the last decade, Nahanni Shingoose said.
Saskatchewan announced 248 new cases and five more deaths. The provincial government also announced it’s extending the public health rules until at least Jan. 29 due to current transmission rates.
The orders include a ban on household visitors and reduced capacity for businesses.
In British Columbia, health officials announced 446 new cases of COVID-19 and nine more deaths on Tuesday.
Nineteen more COVID-19 cases linked to the Big White Ski Resort near Kelowna were confirmed by Interior Health, bringing the total to 162 cases.
In the North, none of the three territories reported any new cases on Tuesday.
WATCH | Nunavut premier fights vaccine misinformation:
Premier Joe Savikataaq of Nunavut urged residents not to listen to ‘gossip’ and ‘untruth’ about the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine and pleaded with people to get the shot. ‘This vaccine is safe,’ he said. 1:12
What’s happening around the world
As of early Wednesday morning, more than 91.6 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, with more than 50.7 million of those considered recovered or resolved, according to Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 case tracking tool. The global death toll stood at more than 1.9 million.
In the Americas, nearly all air travelers will need to present a negative coronavirus test to enter the United States under expanded test testing requirements announced on Tuesday.
Under the rules taking effect Jan. 26, nearly all travellers including U.S. citizens must show a negative test within three days of departure or documentation of recovery from COVID-19, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.
All travellers aged two and older must comply except passengers who are only transiting through the United States. The CDC will also consider waivers of testing requirements for airlines flying to countries with little or no testing capacity, including some places in the Caribbean.
Mexico posted another high for its daily increase in coronavirus cases on Tuesday, with 14,395 newly confirmed infections and a near-record of 1,314 more deaths.
In Europe, German authorities in Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg say they’re holding off on using the first batch of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine over concerns it may have spoiled by not being kept cold enough during transport.
Berlin health authorities said Wednesday that the state’s first 2,400 doses of the vaccine arrived as planned on Tuesday but that after initial quality control assessments, there are “doubts as to whether the vaccine was transported and refrigerated properly.” Both the carrier and the manufacturer are being asked for clarification.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Japan expanded a coronavirus state of emergency for seven more prefectures Wednesday, affecting more than half the population amid a surge in infections across the country. Prime Minister Yoshide Suga’s announcement comes less than a week after he declared a state of emergency for Tokyo and three nearby prefectures.
Suga also said Japan will suspend fast-track entry exceptions for business visitors or others with residency permits, fully banning foreign visitors while the state of emergency is in place.
In Africa, a continental official said Tuesday the African Union has secured close to 300 million COVID-19 vaccine doses in the largest such agreement yet for Africa.
The 300 million doses are being secured independently of the global COVAX effort aimed at distributing COVID-19 vaccines to lower-income countries, said Nicaise Ndembi, senior science adviser for the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In the Middle East, Jordan has begun administering coronavirus vaccines with the goal of inoculating 10,000 people in the first two days.
Wael Hayajneh, the Health Ministry official in charge of combatting the virus, said Wednesday that the first doses will go to medical personnel, the elderly and those with chronic diseases. The country hopes to vaccinate 20 per cent of its population of 10.5 million by the end of the year.