The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada for Friday, Feb. 12, 2021

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

9:37 p.m.

Less than 12 hours before polls were set to open in much of the province, Newfoundland and Labrador’s chief electoral officer has called off all in-person voting in response to a COVID-19 outbreak.

Bruce Chaulk announced voting in the provincial election set for Saturday will now be exclusively by mail, and ballots must be received by March 1.

Late Friday, the province’s chief medical officer of health confirmed the United Kingdom variant is behind the COVID-19 outbreak that hit the province this week.

Dr. Janice Fitzgerald said she is moving the entire province back to its highest alert level.

She said it is presumed that all of the 244 COVID-19 cases identified this week in the St. John’s area are related to the more infectious B. 1.17 variant of the virus.

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7:30 p.m.

Yukon is reporting two new cases of COVID 19 — one confirmed and the other a probable positive — just as the government was celebrating news that it was getting thousands of doses of the Moderna vaccine by the end of February.

A statement from Yukon chief medical health officer Dr. Brendan Hanley says one of the cases is linked to an industrial worksite outside the territory, while the other is connected to a previous case.

Both Whitehorse residents are self-isolating at their homes and are recovering.

The statement says people may have been exposed at the Save-On-Foods store on Feb. 11 or on Air North Flight 544 from Vancouver to Whitehorse on Sunday, Feb. 7.

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7:15 p.m.

Yukon has received word that it will be getting 16,100 doses of Moderna vaccine by the end of the month, enough to launch a mass vaccination campaign in Whitehorse for those 18 years and over.

A joint statement from Premier Sandy Silver and Health Minister Pauline Frost says their plan lines up with recommendations that the best way to protect the community is to immunize as many people as quickly as possible.

The statement says the territory has consistently pushed the federal government to recognize the importance of immunizing northern, remote and Indigenous communities.

It says planning teams area already at work to redesign clinic dates and deliver schedules so they can open the Whitehorse clinic to all residents when the COVID-19 vaccine arrives.

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6:15 p.m.

B.C. is reporting 445 new cases of COVID-19 as the provincial health officer urges residents to avoid travelling during the long weekend.

Dr. Bonnie Henry says the new cases bring B.C.’s total COVID-19 cases to 72,750.

There are 4,347 active COVID-19 cases across the province.

Henry says 10 people, most of whom were seniors in long-term care homes, have died in the past day.

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5:50 p.m.

Alberta health officials are reporting 314 new cases of COVID-19 and 16 new deaths.

They say there are 5,407 active cases in the province.

A total of 371 people are in hospital, with 66 in intensive care.

The province has also reported 171 cases of the more contagious COVID-19 variants.

There are 164 cases of the variant first reported in the United Kingdom and seven of the one first reported in South Africa.

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3 p.m.

The Saskatchewan government says the total number of vaccinations against COVID-19 in the province is 46,788 — all the vaccine that has been received to date.

It says it must now review its distribution plans because a shipment of Moderna vaccine the week of Feb. 22 will be less than originally expected.

The province is reporting 195 new cases of COVID-19 and two more deaths.

Some 1,900 cases are considered active and 182 people are in hospital.

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1:55 p.m.

Manitoba is reporting 81 new COVID-19 cases and four deaths.

Health officials say they have still found only one case involving a variant of concern — a case reported last week involving a traveller who self-isolated.

Health officials say that person’s household contacts have not tested positive.

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12:30 p.m.

Health officials in New Brunswick are reporting five new cases of COVID-19 today.

Three are in the Edmundston region while the Saint John and Bathurst regions each have one new case.

There have been 22 deaths in the province since the start of the pandemic, and the number of active cases is 156.

Six patients are hospitalized, including two in intensive care.

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11:45 a.m.

Strict new quarantine and testing measures for travellers arriving in Canada will begin Feb. 22.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the new measures are necessary to protect Canadians and help stop the spread of COVID-19, especially new variants.

The government had previously announced incoming travellers will have to pay the cost of a 72-hour hotel stay and a COVID-19 test.
More details of how that will work and who will be covered will come later today.

Trudeau says there will be exceptions for some essential workers but says no one should be travelling for any non-essential reason right now.

Those arriving in Canada are already subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine and many must show proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken within three days of their arrival.

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11:40 a.m.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada has purchased an extra four million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna.

He says Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla has also confirmed it will deliver on its contract to ship four million doses of its vaccine with BioNTech by the end of March.

Deliveries will then accelerate with 10.8 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine expected from April to June.

Trudeau says Canada is now set to receive 84 million doses from Pfizer and Moderna by the end of September – the only two vaccines approved by Health Canada so far.

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11:15 a.m.

Quebec is reporting 984 new COVID-19 cases and 25 more deaths linked to the novel coronavirus.

Health officials say hospitalizations dropped by 25, to 849, and 137 patients were in intensive care, a drop of six.

The province says it administered 7,927 doses of COVID-19 vaccine Thursday, for a total of 280,612.

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10:45 a.m.

Ontario says there are 1,076 new cases of COVID-19 in the province and 18 more deaths linked to the virus.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says that 361 of those new cases are in Toronto, 210 are in Peel Region, and are 122 in York Region.

The province is also reporting that 1,415 more cases were resolved since Thursday’s report.

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10:38 a.m.

Nova Scotia is reporting no new cases of COVID-19, keeping the province’s active case count at nine.

One person is currently in intensive care in hospital.

More than 22,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Nova Scotia, while nearly 7,500 people have received their second dose as required.

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10:25 a.m.

Canada’s chief public health officer says while COVID-19 case numbers are declining across the country, a growing presence of new variants threatens to derail that progress.

Dr. Theresa Tam says at least three provinces are reporting evidence of community spread of the new, more transmissible variants.

There are more than 429 cases of the variant first identified in the U.K., and 28 cases of the variant first identified in South Africa reported across eight provinces, she says.

So far there has only been one report of the variant first found in Brazil.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 12, 2021.

The Canadian Press