Canada marks over 18M COVID-19 vaccine doses administered as cases persist

Canada added over 5,200 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday as infections in several provincial hotpots continued to persist.

The new cases bring the country’s total coronavirus infections to 1,323,680. Another 39 new fatalities linked to the virus were also announced, pushing Canada’s overall death toll to 24,908.

The country’s vaccine rollout also continued at a rapid pace, with Health Canada tallying over 2.44 million more COVID-19 vaccines administered in the past seven days. Over 18 million doses have been given across Canada as of May 15.

Despite the increased pace in inoculations across the country, new infections continued to remain high across many of Canada’s COVID-19 hotspots.

In a statement Saturday, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said that public health measures needed to be sustained, especially in areas where the virus is circulating.

“Until vaccine coverage is sufficiently high to impact disease transmission more broadly in the community, we must maintain a high degree of caution with public health and individual measures and not ease restrictions too soon or too quickly where infection rates are high,’ read Tam’s statement.

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Daily COVID-19 cases continued on a downward trend but remained especially high in provinces like Ontario and Alberta, which house some of the country’s hardest-hit virus hotspots.

Ontario added another 2,584 new cases and 24 more deaths. Alberta reported 1,195 new cases and three more deaths on Saturday.

Both Manitoba and Saskatchewan also continued to see an elevated number of cases across, with 428 and 205 new cases, respectively.

Quebec added 760 cases and eight new virus deaths.

All of the Atlantic provinces registered new COVID-19 cases on Saturday as well.

Nova Scotia reported the highest increase, with 86 more cases, while New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador added seven and five, respectively. P.E.I. reported just one additional case.

While Nova Scotia’s cases remained relatively high, Saturday’s tally saw new infections in the province dip below the 100-mark for the first time since May 1.

Nunavut added five more cases.