The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada for Tuesday, May 11, 2021

The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada (all times eastern): 

7:10 p.m.

British Columbia is reporting 515 new COVID-19 cases, continuing a downward trend at the same time that vaccinations are on the rise.

Health officials say in a news release that 6,020 people have active infections, 426 of whom are hospitalized, including 141 in intensive care.

Two more people have died, bringing the death toll to 1,624.

More than 2.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered, 110,516 of which were second doses.

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7 p.m.

Yukon is reporting two more cases of COVID-19, bringing the territory’s total case count to 84 since the pandemic began.

A statement from chief public health officer Dr. Brendan Hanley says case 83 is related to international travel.

He says the other case is a resident who acquired the infection out of territory and will remain out of Yukon until they are non-infectious.

Yukon said last week it will allow travellers into the territory starting May 25 if they can prove they’ve been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

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5:40 p.m.

Alberta is reporting 1,449 new cases of COVID-19 and three more deaths linked to the virus.

There are currently 24,998 active infections in the province.

There are 705 people in hospital due to COVID-19, with 163 in intensive care.

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4:50 p.m.

Ontario says it will stop giving out first doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for now due to an increased risk of a rare blood-clotting syndrome linked to the shot.

The province’s top doctor says the decision was made out of “an abundance of caution.”

Dr. David Williams says Ontario is preparing guidance for people who already received a first dose of AstraZeneca on what to do next.

He stressed that AstraZeneca recipients made the right decision, based on the advice available at the time, to get that vaccine.

Ontario’s move comes hours after Alberta said it won’t give out more first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine for the time being because there aren’t any confirmed shipments coming.

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3:45 p.m.

Saskatchewan is reporting 186 new cases of COVID-19, and four more people have died.  

Three of the people who died were in the northwest zone of the province and one was in the south central zone.

The province is now dealing with 2,064 active cases.

There are 162 people in hospital, 38 of whom are in intensive care.

As of Monday, 8,514 cases of variants of concern had been identified by screening in Saskatchewan. 

Of the variants of concern with lineages identified by whole genome sequencing in Saskatchewan, the majority have been the B.1.1.7 variant, which was first detected in the United Kingdom.

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1:40 p.m.

Manitoba is reporting 329 new COVID-19 cases and no new deaths. 

The five-day average test-positivity rate remains high at 12 per cent provincially and 14.2 per cent in Winnipeg. 

The province has also lowered to minimum age for vaccines among the general population to 24 from 30.

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1:25 p.m.

Quebec is lifting COVID-19 emergency measures Monday in the Outaouais region, located in the western part of the province by the border with Ontario.

Premier François Legault says schools in that region will reopen, the curfew will be pushed back to 9:30 p.m. from 8 p.m. and non-essential businesses can reopen.

The premier is asking police in the area to continue to watch for Ontarians who cross into Quebec illegally.

Legault says emergency measures will end Monday in Rimouski, northeast of Quebec City, but will remain in the rest of the Bas-St-Laurent region.

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1:20 p.m.

Nova Scotia is reporting 118 new cases of COVID-19 today, virtually all of them in the area that includes Halifax.

The province now has 1,591 active cases, with 64 people in hospital, including 10 in intensive care.

Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer of health, issued a brief statement urging residents to stick close to home.

Meanwhile, the Nova Scotia government says people aged 40 and older can now book appointments for the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.

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12:35 p.m.

Newfoundland and Labrador health authorities are reporting 15 new cases of COVID-19.

Officials say all of the infections identified are linked to travel or to previously known cases.

There are now 77 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, including one person in hospital due to the disease.

Meanwhile, authorities are advising all students and staff at a small all-grade school in western Newfoundland to get tested to determine if there has been transmission within the school.

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11:55 a.m.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government is working with the government of Nunavut after a spike in COVID-19 cases in the territory.

Trudeau says as soon as numbers started going up, the federal government moved quickly to keep people safe by sending more PPE and medical equipment.

But he says even more help is needed.

He says new funding will help with everything from food security for communities with active cases, to providing better IT equipment for students who need to do remote learning, to additional health supports to protect people.

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11:45 a.m.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says almost 50 per cent of eligible adults in Canada have received at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccine.

He says by the summer, Canada will have enough vaccines so that every eligible resident will have gotten their first dose, and by September, it will have enough doses for everyone to be fully vaccinated.

He says we can have a better, “one-dose” summer, as long as restrictions remain in place for case numbers to go down and more than 75 per cent of Canadians get their first dose.

And he says a one-dose summer sets us up for a “two-dose fall,” when Canadians will be able to talk about going back to school, back to work, and back to more normality.

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11:35 a.m.

The Manitoba government says it has issued more tickets to people for attending anti-mask rallies and breaking the limit on public gatherings. 

The province says 22 tickets have been issued in relation to a rally outside the Law Courts building in Winnipeg last week. 

Two tickets were issued related to a rally in Winkler May 1, and eight tickets have been handed out after a rally in Winnipeg the same day.

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11:25 a.m.

Quebec is reporting 660 new COVID-19 cases today and nine more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus, including one in the previous 24 hours.

Health officials say hospitalizations dropped by three, for a total of 540, and 128 people were in intensive care, a rise of five.

The province says it administered 61,051 additional doses on Monday; more than 43 per cent of Quebecers have received at least one dose of the COVID-19.

Quebec has reported a total of 359,456 COVID-19 cases and 11,002 deaths linked to the virus.

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11:15 a.m.

New Brunswick is reporting two new cases of COVID-19 today.

Health officials say one case is in the Fredericton area and the other is in the Bathurst region; both are under investigation.

New Brunswick has 136 active reported cases.

Seven patients are hospitalized with the disease in New Brunswick, including three in intensive care; four New Brunswickers are hospitalized with COVID-19 out of province.

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11:00 a.m.

Alberta says it won’t give out more first doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for the time being.

The provincial health department says the decision was made because there aren’t any confirmed shipments of AstraZeneca coming, and the province only has 8,400 doses of it left.

As such, they will save what they have for second doses.

The department says unlike with AstraZeneca, Alberta is receiving the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in large and consistent shipments, with more than 236,000 doses arriving this week alone.

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10:55 a.m.

There are 2,073 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Ontario today and 15 additional deaths from the virus.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says 685 of the new infections are in Toronto, 389 are in Peel Region and 231 are in York Region.

She says the numbers are based on more than 28,100 tests completed since the last daily report.

The province says there are currently 1,782 people hospitalized with COVID-19, including 802 in intensive care units.

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10:25 a.m.

Nunavut is reporting 14 new cases of COVID-19 today, all in the capital city of Iqaluit.

There are now 75 active cases in Nunavut, all in the city of about 8,000 people.

Three people have also been hospitalized in Ottawa since the first case was declared in Iqaluit on April 14.

Iqaluit remains under a strict lockdown, with all schools, businesses and workplaces closed and travel restricted.

To date, about 80 per cent of Iqaluit’s adults have received at least one dose of the Moderna vaccine and about 50 per cent have received both doses.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 11, 2021.

The Canadian Press