The latest:
Manitoba is in a “very precarious” place, the province’s top doctor said Monday, as officials announced stepped up restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19.
As of Wednesday, Manitobans will not be allowed to have any visitors at their homes, either indoors or outdoors, with some exceptions for people who live alone, the provincial government announced. As part of the stepped up measures, attendance at religious services and retail store capacity will also be lowered, Premier Brian Pallister announced.
Manitoba — which has seen an uptick in more transmissible variants of concern — on Monday reported 210 new cases of COVID-19 and two additional deaths.
Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin said at a briefing on Monday that case numbers and hospitalizations are rising.
Roussin said cases are increasing in “most age groups, but are rapidly advancing in those in their 20s and 30s.”
The majority of cases are in Winnipeg, but Roussin noted that case numbers are rising in all regions.
Meanwhile, in Saskatchewan, health officials on Monday reported 245 new cases of COVID-19 and one additional death. Health Minister Paul Merriman said on Monday that the province had allocated additional vaccine doses to Saskatoon as part of a plan to ensure the province has enough capacity for patients.
“The reason that we’re getting into Saskatoon a little bit more is to make sure that we’re protecting our provincial health-care capacity,” he said.
-From CBC News and The Canadian Press, last updated at 7:35 a.m. ET
What’s happening across Canada
WATCH | ‘We’re all linked to each other,’ says Ontario-bound nurse from N.L.:
A nine-member health-care team from Newfoundland and Labrador is headed to Toronto to give some relief to medics swamped by patients with COVID-19. 0:50
As of early Tuesday morning, Canada had reported 1,187,924 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 85,178 considered active. A CBC News tally of deaths stood at 24,024.
In Atlantic Canada, health officials reported 79 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, including:
- 66 cases in Nova Scotia — a new high for the province, which will see Halifax-area students move to remote learning for at least two weeks.
- 7 new cases in New Brunswick, as the province recorded its first case of the B1617 variant first detected in India.
- 4 new cases in Newfoundland and Labrador, all related to travel within Canada.
- 2 new cases in Prince Edward Island, with health officials saying one person travelled outside Atlantic Canada. The other person was a close contact, officials said.
In Quebec, health officials on Monday reported 889 new cases of COVID-19 and eight additional deaths. Hospitalizations stood at 664, with 167 people in intensive care, according to a provincial dashboard.
Ontario, meanwhile, reported 3,510 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday and 24 additional deaths.
The province — which will be receiving help from military medical teams and a team of health-care workers from Newfoundland and Labrador — reported 2,271 COVID-19 hospitalizations, including 877 people who were in ICU “due to COVID-related illness.”
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said Monday his government is working with the region that includes Fort McMurray on soaring cases of COVID-19.
Health officials in the province reported 1,495 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday and seven additional deaths. According to the province, hospitalizations stood at 616, with 145 people listed as being in ICUs.
WATCH | Premier Jason Kenney talks about case numbers, vaccination and the situation in Alberta:
As critics continue to call for tighter restrictions, Premier Jason Kenney says Alberta has done “a pretty good job” balancing risk management. 1:54
Across the North, Nunavut reported nine additional cases on Monday, as health officials said the B117 variant had been identified in the territory.
In Yukon, health officials reported a second death of someone with COVID-19, though officials noted in a news release that the person, who contracted COVID-19 “near the time of death” had “unrelated health conditions that caused their death.”
In the Northwest Territories, health officials on Monday reported one new case of COVID-19 in Inuvik related to out-of-territory travel.
British Columbia on Monday reported 2,491 new cases of COVID-19 since Friday and 17 deaths. Hospitalizations stood at 484, including 158 patients in intensive care.
-From CBC News and The Canadian Press, last updated at 7:10 a.m. ET
What’s happening around the world
WATCH | Life is returning to normal in parts of the post-COVID world:
Life is inching back to normal in some parts of the world where COVID-19 rates are low. It might still be early to make travel plans, but it’s closer than you might think. 2:04
As of early Tuesday morning, more than 147.8 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to a case-tracking tool maintained by Johns Hopkins University. The reported global death toll stood at more than 3.1 million.
The French pharmaceutical company Sanofi will help manufacture the Moderna coronavirus vaccine beginning in September, joining other companies assisting with production of one of the three vaccines now approved in the U.S.
Under the agreement announced Monday, Sanofi will handle final manufacturing steps, including filling, inspecting and labelling vaccine vials and packaging them. The deal involves up to 200 million doses of Moderna’s two-shot vaccine. Sanofi will do the work at its existing manufacturing plant in Ridgefield, N.J.
In the Americas, the Brazilian health regulator Anvisa on Monday rejected importing the Russian-made Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine requested by state governors battling a deadly second wave of the virus.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Sri Lanka on Tuesday closed schools in the capital and suburbs for four days and made work-from-home plans for state workers to contain a growing outbreak. After weeks of reporting fewer than 300 new cases daily, Sri Lanka confirmed 997 during the past 24 hours. Most were in the Colombo district that includes the capital.
In the Middle East, three cases of the coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa have been confirmed in Iran’s south, state television reported Tuesday. A state TV broadcast quoted Health Minister Saeed Namaki as saying, “We have received a report that said in one of our southern provinces we have found three cases of South African coronavirus variant for the first time.”
In Africa, health authorities are reallocating around 75 per cent of Democratic Republic of Congo’s 1.7 million AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses to other African countries to make sure they’re used before they expire, a UNICEF representative said on Monday.
In Europe, France is sending breathing machines, ICU gear and long-term oxygen equipment aimed at helping hospitals around India treat thousands of virus patients. The first aid shipment is expected to leave France later this week, bringing eight oxygen generators. Each generator can equip a hospital of 250 beds for several years, French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said.
-From The Associated Press and Reuters, last updated at 8:40 a.m. ET