Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reports 811 new infections, three more deaths; NDP says it would spend $1 billion to remove barriers to getting a jab - Toronto Star

The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Sunday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.

1:50 p.m.: Quebec is reporting 778 new COVID-19 cases today and one more death attributed to the virus.

Health authorities say the number of patients in hospitals rose by two to 142, while the number in intensive care climbed by four to 56.

The seven-day average for new cases stands at 628.

The province administered 22,061 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine on Saturday, including more than 6,423 first shots.

12:35 p.m.: Ontario is reporting another 811 COVID-19 cases and three more deaths, according to its latest report released Sunday morning.

The province says two of those deaths actually happened more than two months ago but are only reported now because of a cleanup of data.

The Star’s Ashima Agnihotri has more details.

12:30 p.m.: NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says his party is ready to immediately tackle the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic with a plan to increase vaccination rates.

The party's plan is aimed at improving vaccine uptake in remote areas of Canada and within vaccine-hesitant groups.

He says the party would put up $1 billion as a part of the strategy to remove barriers preventing the unvaccinated from getting a jab.

He also says he's campaigning on the safety of the country's health care workers and has called for changes to the Criminal Code to protect people in the sector.

His proposed changes to the law would make it an aggravating offense to impede or assault a healthcare worker in the course of their duties.

This comes after several protests against proof-of-vaccination measures were held outside hospitals across Canada over the past week.

10:20 a.m.: There are 811 new COVID-19 cases in Ontario, Health Minister Christine Elliott tweeted Sunday.

She reports that 643 cases are in individuals who are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status and 168 are in fully vaccinated individuals.

7:56 a.m.: NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh starts off Day 22 of the federal election campaign with an announcement in Ottawa.

He’s due to speak about pandemic safety at 9:30 a.m., after lambasting Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau on Saturday for what Singh says has been a lacklustre attempt to boost vaccination rates.

Trudeau is also due to make an announcement this morning after taking a day off from campaigning Saturday.

He’s scheduled to speak in Markham at about 10:30 a.m.

Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole is continuing a stint in British Columbia.

He’ll appear in Vancouver at 10 a.m. local time.

The three main federal parties traded fire Saturday over their responses to gun violence and to the resurgence of COVID-19.

7:55 a.m.: Alberta’s health delivery body says it’s turning to staffing agencies for nurses as “a last resort,” saying its local supply of nurses is “close to being exhausted” as intensive care units approach capacity.

Alberta Health Services says in an emailed statement that a “critical staffing challenge” is limiting its ability to open additional beds, which it says is “placing strain” on its ability to care for patients.

The news follows announcements Friday of another round of surgery cancellations as ICUs reached 95 per cent full, as well the return of a province-wide mask mandate.

Alberta has seen a surge in COVID-19 cases averaging more than one-thousand a day for the past week — the most in Canada.

The United Nurses of Alberta says AHS has told them it is dropping an unfair labour practice complaint against the union from last month, which alleged the union falsely claimed nurses were being recruited through a third party for higher pay while contract talks were going on.

Sunday 7:54 a.m.: Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole is the latest federal party leader to promise a national system for proving residents have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

The move was among a number of pandemic-related campaign pledges O’Toole unveiled Sunday during a stop in Coquitlam, B.C.

O’Toole says he would work with provinces to devise a national proof-of-vaccination system, adding such a setup would help Canadians during international travel.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has called for a national system and criticized Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau for not implementing one sooner.

Trudeau says Ottawa would certify provincial vaccine passports but that it could take a year to create a full federal program.

O’Toole says he wants 90 per cent of eligible residents vaccinated against COVID-19, and is pledging to cover the cost of time off for employees to get a shot, free transportation to vaccine clinics and a national booster shot strategy that would initially target seniors and the immunocompromised.

Read Saturday’s coronavirus news.

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Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reports 811 new infections, three more deaths; NDP says it would spend $1 billion to remove barriers to getting a jab - Toronto Star
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