Canada's Covid-19 cases surpass 1.8 mn

Ottawa, Dec 4 (IANS) Canada reported 2,538 new Covid cases on Friday afternoon, raising the cumulative total to 1,801,405 cases with 29,747 deaths, according to CTV.

Ontario, the most populous province with 14 million residents in Canada, reported 1,031 new cases and four deaths, Xinhua news agency reported.

The last time the province reported more than 1,000 new cases in a single day was on May 30 when 1,033 new cases were confirmed.

Of the 1,031 new cases, 589 involved people who were unvaccinated, partially vaccinated or their vaccination status was unknown. The remaining 442 infections involved people who had been fully vaccinated.

The province reported 788 new cases on Monday, 687 new cases on Tuesday, 780 new cases on Wednesday and 949 new cases on Thursday.

Friday's report brought the cumulative cases to 621,260, including deaths and recoveries.

Up to date, six cases of the Omicron variant have been identified in Ontario.

Quebec, another populous province with 8.3 million people, reported another significant jump in daily new Covid-19 cases, with 1,355 new infections on Friday.

Up to Friday, the province confirmed a total of 451,868 cases and 11,585 people were dead.

On Wednesday, the province reported 1,196 cases, the highest since April 24, and those numbers dropped only slightly on Thursday, to 1,146.

Hospitalisations went up slightly, with a net increase of three people in hospital and four more in intensive care units (ICU) in the province, bringing those totals to 230 in hospital and 57 in ICU.

The total number of active cases rose above 9,000 for the first time since May 7, with a total of 9,297.

The province had administered 13,695,097 doses of Covid-19 vaccines, including 27,893 doses in the last 24 hours.

Some 86 per cent of the eligible population in the province had received one dose of vaccine, and 81 per cent had received two doses.

The Quebec government has warned that it is preparing for a new wave, after it announced on Monday that one case of the Omicron variant had been confirmed in the province.