Sylvia Rahman, a nursing student for the class of 2021, prepares to administer a COVID-19 vaccine to Dularie Disram at the Downsview Arena vaccination site in Toronto on April 16, 2021.Tijana Martin/The Canadian Press
Ontario’s daily COVID-19 case count is down from Friday’s single-day high, but the province has set a new record for virus-related hospitalizations.
There are currently 2,065 COVID-19 patients in hospital, marking the first time that figure has passed the 2,000 mark.
The province is reporting 4,362 new infections Saturday, down from the record-high 4,812 logged a day earlier.
A number of new public health measures have taken effect across the province Saturday, all of which are meant to contain the surging case counts.
Ontario’s government has walked back sweeping new police powers a day after they were announced.
Solicitor General Sylvia Jones says officers will no longer have the right to stop pedestrians or drivers to ask why they are out or request their home address.
Instead, she says, police will only be able to stop people who they have reason to believe are participating in an “organized public event or social gathering.”
Quebec is reporting 1,537 new COVID-19 cases and eight more deaths attributed to the virus, including five in the past 24 hours.
Health officials say hospitalizations rose by 28, to 692, while the number of patients in intensive care increased by eight to 175. Quebec has reported a total of 335,608 COVID-19 infections and 10,793 deaths linked to the virus since the onset of the pandemic.
The province says it administered 70,908 vaccine doses on Friday.
Elsewhere in Canada:
- Saskatchewan is reporting 249 new COVID-19 cases and two new deaths. One of the deaths was a person in their 40s from the province’s Central East zone, while the other was over 80 and from the North West zone. Nearly 10,500 new doses of vaccine have been administered in Saskatchewan since the last report on Friday, raising the total number to 334,063 since immunizations began.
- Manitoba is reporting 183 new COVID-19 cases Saturday and three additional deaths. According to the province’s daily pandemic update, a man in his 60s in the Northern health region and two men in 80s in the Winnipeg region have died. One of the Winnipeg deaths was connected to an outbreak on a unit at the city’s Health Sciences Centre. Manitoba has 128 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 32 in intensive care. Officials are reporting a test-positivity rate of 5.3 per cent provincially and 5.4 per cent in Winnipeg.
- Alberta’s chief medical officer says the province has confirmed a rare blood clot case in a patient who received the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Dr. Deena Hinshaw says the patient, who is in his 60s and is recovering, marks the second Canadian case of the blood clot disorder known as vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia, or VITT. More than 700,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been administered across Canada to date. Hinshaw says the second case does not change the province’s risk assessment, and that she continues to recommend the AstraZeneca vaccine for anyone 55 and older.
- Public health officials in New Brunswick are reporting 11 new cases of COVID-19 Saturday. They say eight of the new infections are contacts of previously reported cases, two are travel related and the other is under investigation. Seven of the new cases are in the Edmundston region, three are in the Saint John area and one is in the Moncton region. The number of active cases in New Brunswick is 150.
- Nova Scotia is reporting eight new cases of COVID-19, including a staff member at a long-term care home. Five of the new infections are in the Eastern zone, two are in the Halifax region and one is in the Western zone. Four cases are related to travel outside Atlantic Canada, two are related to international travel and two are close contacts of previously reported cases. Officials say a close contact case in the Halifax region is a staff member at Glasgow Hall, a long-term care home in Dartmouth, which has prompted all residents to be isolated and cared for in their rooms while all residents and staff are tested.
- Nunavut Premier Joe Savikataaq says the territory recorded six new cases of COVID-19 Saturday. The announcement brings the number of active infections to 19, all in Iqaluit. The premier says all patients are stable and isolating at home.
This content appears as provided to The Globe by the originating wire service. It has not been edited by Globe staff.