Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario is reporting 1,940 cases of COVID-19; Ontario says it will administer the province's first COVID-19 vaccination Monday
The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Monday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
10:52 a.m. London and surrounding areas will be placed under the highest level of coronavirus restrictions from Wednesday as infections rise rapidly in the capital, the British government said Monday.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the government must take swift action after seeing very sharp, exponential rises" in Greater London. He said that in some areas, cases are doubling every seven days.
Under Tier 3 restrictions, the toughest level in England's three-tier system, people can't socialize indoors and bars, pubs and restaurants must close except for takeout.
In November, London was among areas with the lowest regional infection rates in England. But some areas in and around London have now become virus hotspots.
10:15 a.m. Ontario is reporting 1,940 cases of COVID-19 and nearly 57,100 tests completed. Locally, there are 544 new cases in Toronto, 390 in Peel, 191 in York Region, 134 in Hamilton and 114 in Windsor-Essex County.
9:46 a.m. Michigan legislative offices are closed because of threats of violence as presidential electors prepare to gather in the state capitol to cast their votes for Democrat Joe Biden.
The 16 electors will meet Monday afternoon in the Senate chamber, at a ceremony chaired by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Biden won the state by 154,000 votes, or 2.8 percentage points, over President Donald Trump.
The Capitol building is closed to the public due to coronavirus restrictions except when lawmakers meet for session. A spokesperson for Republican Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey says legislators' offices in the statehouse and nearby buildings also are closed based on recommendations from law enforcement.
Spokesperson Amber McCann says, The decision was not made because of anticipated protests but was made based on credible threats of violence."
Lawmakers from both parties have reported receiving threats amid Trump's futile bid to overturn the election results with baseless allegations of widespread fraud.
9:14 a.m. (updated) Ontario says it will administer the province's first COVID-19 vaccination Monday.
Premier Doug Ford's office says a health-care worker will receive the first dose at a hospital in Toronto.
The first shots will be administered at the University Health Network.
The province was to receive 6,000 doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine this weekend, and plans to give them to approximately 2,500 health-care workers in the first phase of its immunization plan.
Half the shots will be administered this week and the other half will be intentionally held back to give the same workers a required second dose 21 days later.
Ford has said health-care workers, long-term care residents, and their caregivers will be among the first to receive the vaccine.
9 a.m. It's not unusual for Audrey Birklid and Bob McMinn to turn heads when they're out on a date.
The octogenarian couple seems to radiate happiness when they're together - and it rarely goes unnoticed. They remember once after dancing at a pub in Prague about five or six years ago, a patron approached and said after careful consideration, she'd come to the conclusion there was no way they could be married.
(She said) You can't be married because you're having too much fun,'" Birklid said with a laugh.
Read the full story from the Star's Omar Mosleh
8:50 a.m. This past week, the province's top public health official had bad news and a strong warning. COVID-19 cases are continuing to rise despite weeks of restrictions. To control the second wave, Ontarians must stop being so casual with social contacts - especially with December holidays upon us.
But cellphone mobility data suggests this message - one Ontario's top officials and politicians have stuck to for months - is ignoring a critical driver of new infections.
In the GTA, neighbourhoods with bigger proportions of essential workers have higher levels of mobility post-lockdown, suggesting the problem is less likely to be rule-flouting social butterflies and more likely people slipping through cracks in the province's plan. On holidays, many residents are already heeding public health advice.
Read the full story from the Star's Jennifer Yang Kate Allen and Andrew Bailey
8:15 a.m. A downtown business was allegedly operating as a bar, in violation of lockdown orders on Sunday after midnight according to Toronto police.
The police received a radio call regarding a noisy party" at a business in the Queen Street West and Portland Street area. When officers arrived, they could hear the sound of the music inside the building.
All the doors were locked, windows were covered and music was playing inside," Toronto police said in a press release.
They asked for those inside the area to unlock the door but were allegedly refused. Investigators further allege that there was up to 30-40 customers seen inside the business, and none were following physical distancing or wearing masks.
Read the full story from the Star's Rhythm Sachdeva
8 a.m. Royal LePage is forecasting that Toronto area home prices will rise 5.75 per cent next year to a median of $990,300 across all housing categories from condos to detached homes.
That growth will continue to be led by two-storey detached houses that are expected to climb 7.5 per cent to $1.19 million.
But condo prices that went negative in the city of Toronto in November, are expected to remain flat next year, according to the real estate company's Market Survey Forecast, published Monday.
Buoyed by demand for larger 905-area condos, it predicts only a 0.5 per cent price growth in that segment to a median of $600,800.
That lull won't last, however, said Royal LePage CEO Phil Soper, citing COVID-19 vaccines on the horizon, followed by a return of immigration and post-secondary students starting in January.
Read the full story from the Star's Tess Kalinowski
7:45 a.m. Six additional schools in the Toronto District School Board are closing their doors beginning Monday for Toronto Public Health to investigate COVID-19 cases at the schools.
The TDSB announced Sunday afternoon that until Jan. 4, City Adult Learning Centre, Humewood Community School, RH McGregor Elementary School, David Lewis Public School and Grenoble Public School will be closed to students and staff.
Later on Sunday evening, the TDSB announced that Oakridge Junior Public School, located in Scarborough, would also be shutting down.
TPH has also advised for Thorncliffe Park Public School and Fraser Mustard Early Learning Academy to continue to be dismissed until the end of the winter break.
Read the full story from the Star's Libaan Osman
7:36 a.m. The very first Canadians will receive the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in Ottawa and Toronto hospitals this week.
It's a moment most of us - and even many experts - could never have imagined last spring when the virus shut down much of the world. And it comes less than a year after reports of a mysterious viral pneumonia in the central Chinese city of Wuhan began trickling in.
Following the fastest vaccine development in history, Health Canada has approved the Pfizer/BioNTech shot, the first of a handful of leading vaccines under review. Thirty thousand doses are slated to arrive this week and be administered to the most vulnerable, followed by millions more in the new year, according to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Read the full story from the Star's May Warren
6:48 a.m.: Family doctors in England are set to start COVID-19 inoculations this week, in the latest stage of the U.K.'s mass vaccination program.
The National Health Service said hundreds of general medical clinics across England are taking delivery of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine on Monday, and some will start offering the shots by the afternoon. The majority, though, will begin on Tuesday, it said.
Priority will go to people who are 80 and older, as well as staff and residents of care homes.
Britain launched its vaccination program this month after becoming the first country to give emergency approval to the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine, and authorities plan to dispense 800,000 doses in the first phase.
6:08 a.m.: Germany's health minister expressed impatience Monday that the European Union was still waiting for its regulatory agency to approve a coronavirus vaccine, while other officials urged Germans to forgo Christmas shopping two days before a new hard lockdown will close schools and shut most stories.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and the governors of Germany's 16 states agreed Sunday to step up the country's lockdown measures beginning Wednesday and running to Jan. 10 to stop the exponential rise of COVID-19 cases. Merkel said existing restrictions imposed in November failed to significantly reduce the number of new infections. Germany has been hitting records of new daily infections and virus deaths in recent weeks.
Health Minister Jens Spahn said in a series of tweets that Germany, which has built up more than 400 vaccination centres and has activated about 10,000 doctors and medical staff to start mass vaccinations as early as Tuesday, was hamstrung by the lack of regulatory approval.
6:05 a.m.: The first of many freezer-packed COVID-19 vaccine vials made their way to distribution sites across the United States on Sunday, as the nation's pandemic deaths approached the horrifying new milestone of 300,000.
The rollout of the Pfizer vaccine, the first to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration, ushers in the biggest vaccination effort in U.S. history - one that health officials hope the American public will embrace, even as some have voiced initial skepticism or worry. Shots are expected to be given to health care workers and nursing home residents beginning Monday.
Quick transport is key for the vaccine, especially since this one must be stored at extremely low temperatures - about 94 degrees below zero. Early Sunday, workers at Pfizer - dressed in fluorescent yellow clothing, hard hats and gloves - wasted no time as they packed vials into boxes. They scanned the packages and then placed them into freezer cases with dry ice. The vaccines were then taken from Pfizer's Portage, Michigan, facility to Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, where the first cargo plane took off amid what airport officials called a jubilant" mood.
6:01 a.m.: Julie Berridge is planning to spend Christmas with her cats, so she won't be in any danger of facing fines for violating provincial law - which in a locked-down Toronto can be as high as $100,000.
Until a couple of years ago, the Toronto lawyer and her mother hosted their extended family for Christmas dinner in their Toronto condominium, bringing about a dozen relatives together to celebrate the holiday.
When Berridge's mother passed away in 2018, she turned the hosting duties over to her children.
This year, however, Berridge will not be visiting her son in St. Catharines, or any other family, for that matter.
6 a.m.: Singapore has approved the use of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine, and the first shipment will arrive by the end of this month, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Monday.
Lee said Singapore, with a budget of over 1 billion Singapore dollars ($750 million) for vaccines, has placed multiple bets" by signing advance purchase agreements with vaccine makers including Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, Moderna Inc. and China's Sinovac.
Lee said the vaccines will be given on a voluntary basis and will be free for citizens and long-term residents. He said he and some older Cabinet ministers will be vaccinated early as a demonstration that the vaccines are safe.
The 52-year-old Dlamini, who had been prime minister since 2018, announced in November that he had tested positive for the virus and was being treated at a hospital in neighbouring South Africa.
The government of Eswatini, the country formerly known as Swaziland, announced Dlamini's death on Twitter.
Eswatini, a small mountain kingdom northeast of South Africa, has recorded almost 7,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 127 deaths.
5:40 a.m.: South Korea was opening dozens of free COVID-19 testing sites in the greater Seoul area, as the country registered additional 718 new cases Monday amid a surge in infections.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said the additional cases took the country's total since the pandemic began to 43,484 infections with 587 deaths. It said about 65% of the new cases were found in the Seoul area, which has been at the centre of a recent viral resurgence.
The additional cases were a drop from the 1,030 cases reported a day earlier, the highest daily increase since South Korea confirmed its first patient in January. Observers say the lower figures for Monday are a result of fewer tests taken over the weekend and that the country's caseload is expected to surge again this week.
5:34 a.m.: The German government called on citizens Monday to forgo Christmas shopping, two days before the country heads into a hard lockdown that will shut most stores, tighten social distancing rules and close schools across the country.
I wish and I hope that people will only buy what they really need, like groceries," Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said late Sunday. The faster we get these infections under control, the better it is for everyone."
Chancellor Angela Merkel and the governors of Germany's 16 states agreed Sunday to step up the country's lockdown measures beginning Wednesday and running to Jan. 10 to stop the exponential rise of COVID-19 cases. Merkel said existing restrictions imposed in November failed to significantly reduce the number of new infections. Germany has been recording steadily higher confirmed cases and deaths in recent weeks.
5:08 a.m.: The first shipments of the COVID-19 vaccine have arrived in Canada.
Some of the country's initial 30,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines touched down last night, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Twitter, sharing a photo of a plane being unloaded.
This is good news," he said. But our fight against COVID-19 is not over. Now more than ever, let's keep up our vigilance."
The plane touched down at Mirabel International Airport in Montreal.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are bound for 14 distribution sites across the country, across all 10 provinces, and more doses are expected to cross the border today.
Quebec is expected to be the first province to administer the vaccine, saying it's prepared to start inoculating residents of two long-term care homes as early today.
Other provinces say they'll vaccinate long-term care residents and front-line health-care workers later in the week.
5 a.m.: The very first Canadians will receive the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in Ottawa and Toronto hospitals this week.
It's a moment most of us - and even many experts - could never have imagined last spring when the virus shut down much of the world. And it comes less than a year after reports of a mysterious viral pneumonia in the central Chinese city of Wuhan began trickling in.
So when will this end? And will it get worse before it gets better? The Star's May warren has all of the milestones that could be make-or-break moments from now to the end of 2021.
5 a.m.: Donald Trump says he's reversing an administration directive to vaccinate top government officials against COVID-19 while public distribution of the shot is limited to front-line health workers and people in nursing homes and long-term care facilities.
The U.S. president made the announcement in a tweet last night, hours after his administration confirmed that senior U.S. officials, including some White House aides who work in close proximity to Trump, would be offered vaccines as soon as this week under federal continuity of government plans.
It was not immediately clear what effect Trump's tweet would have on the government's efforts to protect top leadership.
4:01 a.m.: Public health officials in Quebec plan to administer the first COVID-19 vaccines today.
Residents of two long-term care homes in the province will be the first to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Francine Dupuis of the Montreal regional health agency says health-care workers have been ready to administer the doses at Maimonides Geriatric Centre since Friday.
Dupuis says the agency expects to receive 1,950 initial doses, which will first go to residents, to Maimonides staff and then to health-care workers in other long-term care homes.
In Quebec City, residents of the Saint-Antoine long-term care home will receive the vaccine first, followed by health-care workers at that facility.
Officials say they hope the vaccine will help protect the most vulnerable people in the province while bringing the pandemic under control.
Quebec reported 1,994 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, as well as 33 additional deaths linked to the virus - bringing its total to 163,915 infections and 7,508 deaths since the pandemic began.
4 a.m.: The latest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 4:00 a.m. ET on Monday Dec. 14, 2020.
There are 460,743 confirmed cases in Canada.
_ Canada: 460,743 confirmed cases (74,059 active, 373,253 resolved, 13,431 deaths).The total case count includes 13 confirmed cases among repatriated travellers.
There were 5,891 new cases Sunday from 73,361 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 8.0 per cent. The rate of active cases is 197.02 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 44,188 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 6,313.
There were 81 new reported deaths Sunday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 738 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 105. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.28 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 35.73 per 100,000 people.
There have been 12,559,324 tests completed.
_ Newfoundland and Labrador: 358 confirmed cases (22 active, 332 resolved, four deaths).
There were zero new cases Sunday from 389 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 0.0 per cent. The rate of active cases is 4.22 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of seven new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is one.
There have been no deaths reported over the past week. The overall death rate is 0.77 per 100,000 people.
There have been 66,920 tests completed.
_ Prince Edward Island: 89 confirmed cases (17 active, 72 resolved, zero deaths).
There were zero new cases Sunday from 1,364 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 0.0 per cent. The rate of active cases is 10.83 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of nine new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is one.
There have been no deaths reported over the past week. The overall death rate is zero per 100,000 people.
There have been 71,668 tests completed.
_ Nova Scotia: 1,415 confirmed cases (59 active, 1,291 resolved, 65 deaths).
There were six new cases Sunday from 773 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 0.78 per cent. The rate of active cases is 6.07 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 47 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is seven.
There have been no deaths reported over the past week. The overall death rate is 6.69 per 100,000 people.
There have been 160,794 tests completed.
_ New Brunswick: 557 confirmed cases (65 active, 484 resolved, eight deaths).
There were two new cases Sunday from 440 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 0.45 per cent. The rate of active cases is 8.37 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 23 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is three.
There were zero new reported deaths Sunday. Over the past seven days there has been one new reported death. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is zero. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.02 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 1.03 per 100,000 people.
There have been 109,159 tests completed.
_ Quebec: 163,915 confirmed cases (16,557 active, 139,850 resolved, 7,508 deaths).
There were 1,994 new cases Sunday from 12,502 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 16 per cent. The rate of active cases is 195.13 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 12,316 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 1,759.
There were 33 new reported deaths Sunday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 253 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 36. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.43 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 88.49 per 100,000 people.
There have been 2,328,062 tests completed.
_ Ontario: 140,181 confirmed cases (16,204 active, 120,028 resolved, 3,949 deaths).
There were 1,677 new cases Sunday from 56,288 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 3.0 per cent. The rate of active cases is 111.24 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 12,872 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 1,839.
There were 16 new reported deaths Sunday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 177 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 25. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.17 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 27.11 per 100,000 people.
There have been 6,734,965 tests completed.
_ Manitoba: 21,023 confirmed cases (5,728 active, 14,805 resolved, 490 deaths).
There were 273 new cases Sunday. The rate of active cases is 418.27 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 2,217 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 317.
There were seven new reported deaths Sunday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 95 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 14. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.99 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 35.78 per 100,000 people.
There have been 374,122 tests completed.
_ Saskatchewan: 11,971 confirmed cases (4,188 active, 7,694 resolved, 89 deaths).
There were 222 new cases Sunday from 1,605 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 14 per cent. The rate of active cases is 356.59 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 1,832 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 262.
There were three new reported deaths Sunday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 30 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is four. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.36 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 7.58 per 100,000 people.
There have been 282,570 tests completed.
_ Alberta: 80,099 confirmed cases (20,562 active, 58,818 resolved, 719 deaths).
There were 1,717 new cases Sunday. The rate of active cases is 470.38 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 11,533 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 1,648.
There were 22 new reported deaths Sunday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 104 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 15. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.34 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 16.45 per 100,000 people.
There have been 1,547,298 tests completed.
_ British Columbia: 40,797 confirmed cases (10,601 active, 29,598 resolved, 598 deaths).
There were zero new cases Sunday. The rate of active cases is 209.04 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 3,292 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 470.
There were zero new reported deaths Sunday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 78 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 11. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.22 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 11.79 per 100,000 people.
There have been 866,132 tests completed.
_ Yukon: 58 confirmed cases (three active, 54 resolved, one deaths).
There were zero new cases Sunday. The rate of active cases is 7.34 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of four new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is one.
There have been no deaths reported over the past week. The overall death rate is 2.45 per 100,000 people.
There have been 5,723 tests completed.
_ Northwest Territories: 20 confirmed cases (five active, 15 resolved, zero deaths).
There were zero new cases Sunday. The rate of active cases is 11.15 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of five new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is one.
There have been no deaths reported over the past week. The overall death rate is zero per 100,000 people.
There have been 7,031 tests completed.
_ Nunavut: 247 confirmed cases (48 active, 199 resolved, zero deaths).
There were zero new cases Sunday. The rate of active cases is 123.78 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 31 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is four.
There have been no deaths reported over the past week. The overall death rate is zero per 100,000 people.
There have been 4,804 tests completed.
12:36 a.m.: The federal government says the largest mass immunization effort in Canadian history is expected to begin this week. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Ottawa expects to receive up to 249,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German partner BioNTech. Health Canada has approved its use, and the first doses arrived Sunday night. The second vaccine in line for approval in Canada is from Moderna. The Canadian military will have a role to play in vaccine distribution. Various provinces have started spelling out their plans as well. Here's a look at what they've said so far:
-
Newfoundland and Labrador
Premier Andrew Furey says he anticipates receiving 1,950 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine at the St. John's receiving site this week.
Furey says the province expects another shipment of the vaccine later in the month.
-
Prince Edward Island
Health officials on Prince Edward Island say they are ready to administer the COVID-19 vaccine when the first shipment of the vaccine arrives this week.
Chief medical officer of health Dr. Heather Morrison says the province plans to begin by administering the Pfizer vaccine to priority groups, including residents and staff of long-term care homes, health-care workers and adults in Indigenous communities.
Morrison says she expects to receive 1,950 doses in the first shipment, and the clinic will have to be held at the storage location because the Pfizer vaccine must be kept frozen.
The owner of a bluefin tuna exporting company in the eastern part of P.E.I. has offered up two freezers to the provincial government to aid in the effort to store the vaccine.
-
New Brunswick
New Brunswick's health minister says its shipment of 1,950 doses of the Pfizer vaccine would be used to inoculate long-term care residents and staff, staff from rapid COVID-19 response teams, ambulance workers, health-care workers involved in COVID units, seniors 85 and older and First Nations nurses.
Dorothy Shephard says the vaccine plan would be carried out by the provincial Emergency Measures Organization.
The first round of vaccinations will be carried out Dec. 19 and 20 at the Miramichi Regional Hospital, which has an ultralow-temperature freezer to store the vaccine.
-
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia's chief medical officer of health says the province will receive 1,950 doses of Pfizer's vaccine for an initial test run beginning Tuesday.
Dr. Robert Strang says the first doses will be used to immunize front-line health workers in the Halifax area who are most directly involved in the pandemic response.
Strang says because the vaccine has specific handling requirements, Pfizer has stipulated that the initial round of immunizations take place near where the doses are stored.
Nova Scotia has one ultralow-temperature freezer to store the vaccine at the tertiary care teaching complex at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre.
Strang says the province is getting another freezer through Ottawa that will operate out of a central depot for vaccines at the public health office in Halifax. The province is also looking at securing freezers from the private sector.
-
Quebec
Quebec says the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine could be administered in the province as early as Monday.
Health Minister Christian Dube says the province plans to give its first doses of the Pfizer vaccine to about 2,000 people in long-term care homes in Montreal and Quebec City.
In a technical briefing before a news conference last week, public health experts said residents of long-term care homes and health-care workers would have first priority to receive the vaccine.
The groups next in line are people living in private seniors residences, followed by residents of isolated communities and then anyone aged 80 and over.
Dube says Quebec also expects to receive enough Pfizer vaccines between Dec. 21 and Jan. 4 to vaccinate 22,000 to 28,000 people.
-
Ontario
Ontario expects to receive 6,000 doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine on Monday and will give them to approximately 2,500 health care workers at a hospital in Toronto and another in Ottawa.
The rollout is scheduled to begin Tuesday.
Retired gen. Rick Hiller, who is leading Ontario's vaccine task force, says half the shots will be administered this week, and the other half will be intentionally held back to give the same workers a required second dose 21 days later.
Given the sort of information flow of what we know about the supply, which is very little at this time ... we decided it was better to err on the side of caution," he says.
An additional 90,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine are expected to arrive later this month and are to be provided to 14 hospitals in COVID-19 hot spots.
Hillier has said the province also expects to receive between 30,000 and 85,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine by the new year, pending its approval by Health Canada.
He says the start of the vaccination program this week will serve as a pilot that will help fine-tune the next step of the rollout.
Once that is finished, both (hospitals) will write a playbook on how they've done the vaccinations, how they've handled the Pfizer vaccine, what they've learned from it, and we will share that around Ontario with the hospitals for the next phase," he said.
Ontario's Solicitor General Sylvia Jones said that the hospitals receiving the first shots have made security arrangements to ensure the vaccine is safe from theft.
-
Manitoba
Premier Brian Pallister says some 900 health-care workers in critical care units will be the first to receive the vaccine after doses start to arrive this week.
As more shipments come in, priority will be given to other health-care workers, seniors and Indigenous people.
Manitoba hopes to start vaccinating on Wednesday.
The province hopes to vaccinate more than 100,000 people by March - that's roughly seven per cent of Manitoba's population.
Officials say they've been setting up a large-scale supersite" to deliver the vaccine. The first freezer able to store the Pfizer vaccine at low temperatures has been delivered and installed, with another four on the way.
The province says the vaccine will become more widely available at a larger number of sites, similar to a conventional vaccination campaign, such as the annual flu shot.
-
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan plans to start immunizing critical health-care workers against COVID-19 in a pilot project this week.
Premier Scott Moe says the province expects to receive 1,950 doses of Pfizer's vaccine by Tuesday. A pilot vaccination program at the Regina General Hospital will give the vaccine to health-care workers in intensive and emergency care, COVID-19 units and those working in testing and assessment centres.
The first official stage of Saskatchewan's vaccination program will be in late December when the province receives more doses.
It will target more health-care workers, staff and residents in long-term care, seniors over 80 and people in remote areas who are at least 50.
Some 202,052 doses of the Pfizer vaccine are expected to arrive within the first quarter of next year, and there are to be 10,725 weekly allocations.
Moe says vaccinations for the general population is expected to begin in April.
-
Alberta
Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro says the first Pfizer vaccinations will begin Wednesday, focusing on two hospitals in Edmonton and two in Calgary.
There will be 3,900 doses going to intensive care doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists and care-home workers.
Shandro says the vaccine must be administered at its delivery site, so it can't go to care homes.
The second batch is expected later this month.
The province says it eventually plans to roll out the vaccine from 30 different locations.
-
British Columbia
British Columbia's provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, says the province will start its immunization program this week with 4,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
She says the vaccine brings hope but the storm" of the pandemic has yet to pass as a large number of infections and deaths continue.
Because the Pfizer vaccine needs to be stored at ultracold temperatures, officials will bring people to the vaccine instead of the vaccine to the people, she previously said..
Henry says workers in long-term care facilities will be the first to get the doses starting this week.
She expects about 400,000 residents to be vaccinated by March.
Those recipients are to be health-care workers, people over 80, vulnerable populations, and front-line workers, including teachers and grocery workers.
-
Nunavut
Nunavut's premier says the territory will get the vaccine made by Moderna in the first quarter of 2021.
Joe Savikataaq says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has told him Nunavut will get enough doses to vaccinate 75 per cent of the population.
Chief public health officer Dr. Michael Patterson says Nunavut will prioritize elders and health-care workers first for the vaccine.
Savikataaq says his government is still working on its plan to roll out the vaccine once it arrives in the territory.
__
Northwest Territories
The premier of the Northwest Territories says N.W.T. will receive 51,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine in the new year.
Caroline Cochrane says that's enough to vaccinate 75 per cent of the population ages 18 and up.
The territory is creating a vaccine team made up of nurses and support staff to travel to smaller communities.
Health Minister Julie Green says two specialized freezers for storing the vaccines are on their way from the federal government and will be placed in Yellowknife and Inuvik.
Smaller, portable freezers are also on the way and will be placed in smaller communities.
_
Yukon
Yukon says it will get enough of the Moderna vaccine by spring to vaccinate 75 per cent of its residents.
A statement from the Yukon government says the territory's allocation is in recognition of it's large Indigenous populations and remote communities.
Premier Sandy Silver says getting vaccinated is the best thing residents can do to protect themselves and their loved ones.
Over time, widespread immunization will allow us to return to a life without COVID-19 restrictions."