The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada

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

5:45 p.m.

Alberta continues to record more than 500 new COVID-19 cases per day.

The province’s chief medical health officer says in a series of tweets that 555 new cases have been identified.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw says that 184 of those are variants of concern.

Hinshaw says the new cases were identified from 11,405 tests, for a test-positivity rate of 4.8 per cent.

She says there are two additional deaths today.

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4:30 p.m.

Saskatchewan health officials say the province will get 5,850 fewer doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine due to a damaged thermal shipper.

The news comes as the province reports 178 new COVID-19 cases, driven in large part by 105 new cases in the Regina zone where variants of the virus have been spreading.

The province’s daily pandemic update says the remaining 30,420 vaccine doses that were part of the same shipment as the one where the thermal shipper was damaged are still expected to arrive in the coming days.

The update says the Ministry of Health and the Saskatchewan Health Authority are reviewing distribution plans to minimize any impact.

Saskatchewan also reported one additional virus-related death today.

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2:50 p.m.

Newfoundland and Labrador is down to just five active cases of COVID-19 after a weekend without any new infections.

All five are in the eastern zone of the province, meaning much of the province outside of the Avalon peninsula currently has no active cases.

Meanwhile, Labrador-Grenfell Health will start vaccinations for first responders Monday after the rest of the province held clinics for these groups over the past week.

Pre-registration is underway for people 70 years of age and older for vaccinations.

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2:40 p.m.

New Brunswick is stepping up a program to vaccinate high school teachers against COVID-19.

It’s expected that this week 4,500 staff from high schools provincewide will receive a first dose at a clinic in one of 16 locations.

Schools will be closed to students on the days that local clinics are being held to allow for high school staff to be vaccinated and plan for the full return to school.

The province reported one new case of COVID-19 today, with 49 active cases in the province.

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2:20 p.m.

Manitoba is reporting seven additional deaths in people with COVID-19, some of which date back as far as November.

The province’s daily pandemic update explains that the deaths were reported to public health officials this month.

Today’s update says there were 90 new cases of COVID-19 in Manitoba as of 9:30 this morning.

Manitoba’s five-day test-positivity rate is five per cent provincially and 3.6 per cent in Winnipeg.

There are 135 people in hospital who either have COVID-19 or had it but are no longer infectious.

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11:15 a.m.

Quebec is reporting 648 new cases of COVID-19 as well as five more deaths linked to the pandemic.

Three people died in the last 24 hours, while the other two died between March 14 and 19.

Hospitalizations declined by four to 501, but the number of people in intensive care increased by three to 102.

Health workers gave 28,543 doses of vaccine on Saturday, for a total of 944,793 since immunizations got underway.

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10:50 a.m.

Six new cases of COVID-19 are being reported in Nova Scotia today as March break winds down in the province.

Four of the cases are in the province’s central zone, which includes the Halifax area, and two are in the eastern zone.

All of the infections are related to travel or previous cases, with those infected going into self isolation.

As of today, Nova Scotia has 21 active cases of COVID-19.

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10:45 a.m.

Ontario is reporting 1,791 new COVID-19 cases and 18 more virus-related deaths today.

Toronto and nearby Peel Region — two COVID-19 hot spots — account for nearly half of the new infections.

Looser pandemic measures allowing restaurants to open their patios took effect in both regions yesterday.

Ontario’s immunization campaign is set to ramp up tomorrow, with the provincial vaccine booking portal slated to start taking appointments from those 75 or older.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2021.

The Canadian Press