Quebec becomes 4th province to confirm more contagious COVID-19 variant

by Carmen Reese
in Science
— Jan 1, 2021

The number of Canadians who have died from the illness since the pandemic began has reached 15,001 as of December 28, according to a new report from CTV News.

Canada surpassed 10,000 COVID-19 deaths on October 27 and passed the 5,000-mark on May 12.

Officials said 2,291 of the new COVID-19 cases and 12 of the deaths took place in the last 24 hours. Of those, 149 people were in intensive care, an increase of three.

With over 2,000 new cases per day for the past week in the province, Dubé was also concerned that hospitals wouldn't be able to keep up with the demand.

The move comes after Canada's first confirmed case of the variant was reported in Ontario over the weekend.

1,903 people official recovered, leaving 20,803 active cases in the province. Laval was next, with 127 new cases, and 27,304 total.

Meanwhile, COVID-19 vaccinations in Ontario are expected to return to full operations on Tuesday after being scaled down over the holidays.

Public Health Ontario announced Sunday that the couple had been in contact with someone who recently returned from the United Kingdom.

The Public Health Agency of Canada said while early data suggests the new variant may be more transmissible, there is no evidence the variant causes more severe symptoms or impacts vaccine effectiveness.

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