The Canadian Press
OTTAWA — The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada (all times eastern): 12:55 p.m. Nova Scotia is placing major restrictions on travel to the province for the next month as variant cases continue to mount. Premier Iain Rankin announced today that as of Friday at 8 a.m., people from outside Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador will not be allowed to enter the province unless their travel is essential or they are permanent residents of the province. Essential travel includes Nova Scotians whose primary employer is in another province, federally approved temporary foreign workers and people who need to participate in a legal proceeding. There are also exceptions for post-secondary students coming to study or returning to their residence, and parents picking up a student to bring them home. New residents can only move into a new home in the province if it was purchased before Friday morning, with the travel ban being reassessed a month from Friday. --- 12:45 p.m. British Columbia is examining the use of periodic roadblocks to limit travel in the fight against COVID-19. Mike Farnworth, minister of public safety and the solicitor general, says the checks would be set up at locations like ferry terminals or along major highways leading out of Metro Vancouver. In a statement, Farnworth says the goal is to discourage recreational travel, but there will be no random, individual stops. --- 12:40 p.m. The governments of Manitoba and North Dakota have struck a deal to help ensure essential workers who have to cross the Canada-U.S. border are vaccinated against COVID-19. North Dakota has agreed to start providing vaccines to commercial truckers from Manitoba who cross the border. Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister says the program is the first of its kind between Canadian and U.S. jurisdictions, and he hopes to expand it to other essential workers who cross the border for work. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum says because the U.S. has more vaccines, the state wants to ensure that Canadian truckers who frequently travel through the area are vaccinated. Pallister says up to 4,000 Manitoba truckers could be eligible for the shots and the doses will be delivered at a rest stop south of the border. --- 12:30 p.m. The federal government is extending hotel quarantine rules for international air travellers until May 21. All people arriving on an airplane from another country must quarantine at a designated hotel for three days pending the results of a COVID-19 test. --- 12:10 p.m. Toronto says it will temporarily close any non-essential businesses that have had five or more COVID-19 cases in the previous two weeks. Public health officials say the closures will be in effect for a minimum of 10 days, and workers are required to self-isolate during that time. They say workplaces considered essential, such as health-care facilities and schools, may be exempt. The announcement comes hours after neighbouring Peel Region — another COVID-19 hot spot — issued a similar order. --- 12 p.m. Nova Scotia is reporting nine new cases of COVID-19 today and now has 68 active cases. Six of the cases are in the Halifax area, with five close contacts of previously reported cases and the other under investigation. Officials say two cases have been identified in the western zone and one in the eastern zone with all three linked to travel outside of Atlantic Canada. As of yesterday, the province has administered 216,018 doses of COVID-19 vaccine with 32,877 people having received their required second dose. --- 11:35 a.m. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland both say they are seeking appointments at a pharmacy to get vaccinated with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for COVID-19. Both Trudeau, 49, and Freeland, 52, became eligible today when Ontario dropped the age to get that vaccine to 40 and above. Trudeau says he is still working out the details for getting his shot, while Freeland says she has her children online trying to get her an appointment and is now on a waitlist. --- 11:15 a.m. Quebec is reporting 1,136 new cases of COVID-19 today and 17 more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus, including four in the past 24 hours. Health officials say hospitalizations rose by eight, to 694, and 177 people were in intensive care, a drop of six. The province says it administered 47,799 doses of vaccine Monday, for a total of 2,448,409. Quebec has reported a total of 339,180 cases of COVID-19 and 10,833 deaths linked to the virus. --- 10:40 a.m. Ontario is reporting 3,469 cases of COVID-19 and 22 more deaths linked to the virus. Health Minister Christine Elliott says there are 1,074 new cases in Toronto, 775 in Peel Region, and 406 in York Region. There were 90,409 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine administered in the province since Monday's report. However, the Ministry of Health says that due to a Rogers outage on Monday, some vaccine clinics were forced to use paper-based reporting and so today’s reported vaccine numbers are an underestimate. --- 10:15 a.m. Nunavut is reporting five new cases of COVID-19. There are now 33 active cases in the territory, 31 in Iqaluit and two in Kinngait. Chief public health officer Dr. Michael Patterson says the two cases in Kinngait are not related to the ongoing outbreak in Iqaluit. Both Iqaluit and Kinngait are under a strict lockdown, with all schools, non-essential businesses and workplaces closed. This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2021. The Canadian Press
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