The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada (all times Eastern):
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6:51 p.m.
B.C.’s provincial health officer is once again appealing to residents to stay close to home and keep social circles small.
Dr. Bonnie Henry says contact tracing shows that the main source of transmission in B.C. is social events and now is not the time to have a big family gathering for Thanksgiving.
B.C. has seen 267 new cases of COVID-19 and three more people have died since the province’s last update on Friday.
Henry also reported three health-care outbreaks and one new community outbreak at a church in Kelowna, where five people have tested positive for the illness.
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6:28 p.m.
Nunavut is reporting seven presumptive cases of COVID-19 at a mine in the western region of the territory.
Dr. Michael Patterson, the territory's chief public health officer, says in a news release that the seven cases are at Hope Bay gold mine, 125 kilometres southwest of Cambridge Bay.
Patterson's office is waiting for test results to come back from a southern lab.
Nunavut confirmed two cases of the virus at Hope Bay on Sept. 19, but the government says there is no established link between them and the seven presumptive cases announced today.
The release says the presumptive cases and all known contacts are isolating.
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4:54 p.m.
An RCMP detachment and high school have closed in a city in southeast Saskatchewan because of COVID-19.
Mounties say a front-line officer at its Yorkton detachment contracted the virus and is isolating.
Fourteen other officers and six civilian employees are also in isolation.
RCMP say it is closing the detachment to the public for non-emergency issues for two weeks, based on advice from public health officials.
Yorkton Regional High School is also moving students to remote learning for the next few weeks, after four people connected with the school tested positive for COVID-19.
And the Saskatchewan Health Authority says three staff at the city's hospital have tested positive and their close contacts are isolating.
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2:31 p.m.
Manitoba is reporting 39 new COVID-19 cases, 22 of which are in Winnipeg, where numbers have spiked.
The province has also recorded its 20th death linked to the virus — a man in his 70s from the Prairie Mountain Health region.
Chief public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin says the government will be issuing specific guidelines for Halloween.
He says the number of interactions during trick-or-treating is a concern, and this year's Halloween will look very different.
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2 p.m.
The Quebec government has tightened criteria for who can get a COVID-19 test, announcing it will prioritize people who are showing symptoms or who have been in close contact with a positive case.
The provincial Health Department said in a news release that as cases rise, it's important to focus on testing those who are most likely to have COVID-19 in order to speed up contact tracing and prevent outbreaks.
Those who don't fall into either category can be refused testing, the government said.
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12:30 p.m.
Quebec is reporting 750 new COVID-19 cases today as well as one additional death linked to the virus.
The newest numbers come as Premier Francois Legault prepares to hold a news conference this afternoon amid expectations that some Quebec regions will soon enter the highest COVID-19 alert level.
In total, health authorities say the number of people infected in the province stands at 72,651, and 5,826 have died from the virus since mid-March.
Hospitalizations and intensive care cases were both down by four today to 212 and 37 patients respectively.
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10:40 a.m.
Ontario reported 700 new cases of COVID-19 today and one new death from the illness.
Health Minister Christine Elliott said 344 cases were reported in Toronto, 104 cases in Peel Region, 89 in Ottawa and 56 in York Region.
She says 60 per cent of the new cases are among people under the age of 40.
In total, 128 people are hospitalized in Ontario due to COVID-19, including 29 in intensive care.
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10:30 a.m.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault has called a news conference for this afternoon after his health minister said Sunday that some Quebec regions will soon enter the highest COVID-19 alert level.
Legault will be joined at the briefing by Quebec's director of public health, Dr. Horacio Arruda, and Health Minister Christian Dube.
On Sunday evening, Dube told Radio-Canada talk show "Tout le monde en parle" that the COVID-19 situation was alarming in Montreal and Quebec City, and both would soon enter the maximum-alert red level under the province's COVID-19 colour-coded system.
Quebec reported 896 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, the province's highest single-day tally in months, and authorities have said the increase in cases is primarily due to community transmission.
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9:20 a.m.
The Correctional Service of Canada is suspending visits to its institutions in Quebec to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 in federal prisons and community correctional centres.
The agency says it’s also stopping inmates' work releases and temporary absences except for medical and compassionate reasons.
The rules apply to 16 facilities in the province of Quebec.
The Correctional Service says work, health and rehabilitation programs inside its institutions will continue, and inmates can connect with their loved ones by phone and video conferences.
After outbreaks of COVID-19 in several prisons earlier this year, the service says there are no cases of the illness in the federal system now.
The Canadian Press
