The latest developments on COVID-19 in Canada

Advertisement

Advertise with us

The latest news on the COVID-19 global pandemic (all times Eastern):

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/04/2020 (2315 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The latest news on the COVID-19 global pandemic (all times Eastern):

6:45 p.m.

Alberta is reporting four new deaths from COVID-19.

A police officer is shown at Maison Herron, a long term care home in the Montreal suburb of Dorval, Sunday, April 12, 2020, as COVID-19 cases rise in Canada and around the world. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
A police officer is shown at Maison Herron, a long term care home in the Montreal suburb of Dorval, Sunday, April 12, 2020, as COVID-19 cases rise in Canada and around the world. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

The province says two were residents at the McKenzie Towne continuing care facility in Calgary, bringing the home’s coronavirus death toll to 20.

The other two were residents at Manoir du Lac, an independent living and assisted living facility for seniors in McLennan, in northern Alberta.

It brings the total number of deaths at Manoir du Lac from COVID-19 to four.

Alberta’s total number of COVID-19 cases now stands at 1,651, including 44 deaths.

1:50 p.m.

A man is apologizing after facing a backlash over a video of him appearing to spit on a Vancouver condo elevator.

The video, posted to Twitter, shows the man spitting on the elevator’s control panel before disembarking.

In a statement released by his lawyer, the man says the incident was fuelled by a dispute he had with other owners in the building.

The man — who has not been identified — says the incident occurred eight days ago and he has no health issues related to COVID-19.

He says he will also seek counselling.

1:25 p.m.

Quebec has registered 39 new deaths due to COVID-19, for a total of 328.

The province reports 554 new cases, for a total of 12,846.

There are a total of 824 in hospital in Quebec, including 217 in intensive care, while 1,745 people are listed as recovered.

The Quebec government has not scheduled a briefing today, after weeks of daily updates on the progression of COVID-19.

1 p.m.

Health officials in Newfoundland and Labrador are reporting one new confirmed case of COVID-19, bringing the province’s total to 242.

The new case is in the province’s Eastern Health region.

Seven people are currently in hospital due to the virus, with three of those patients in intensive care.

To date, the province has tested 4,812 people and registered three deaths, while 129 people have recovered after contracting the virus.

12:20 p.m.

Public health officials in New Brunswick are reporting two new cases of COVID-19, bringing the provincial total to 114.

The new cases involve a person in their 60s and a person in their 70s — both in the Saint John health zone.

Officials say 12 people have been hospitalized and five have since been discharged, with three of the remaining seven patients in hospital in intensive care.

To date, 70 people have recovered.

12:10 p.m.

Nova Scotia is reporting 17 new cases of COVID-19 for a total of 445 confirmed cases.

Health officials say the province has registered 14,295 negative test results and two deaths.

Nine people are currently in hospital, with four of those patients in intensive care.

Officials say 97 people have now recovered and their cases of COVID-19 are considered resolved.

11:15 p.m.

The Quebec coroner’s office will investigate the deaths of 31 seniors at a private long-term care facility west of Montreal.

The office says in a statement that it will probe the circumstances surrounding the deaths and issue recommendations if needed.

Premier Francois Legault said yesterday that at least five of the deaths at the Residence Herron in Dorval, Que., were due to COVID-19.

A police investigation was launched after regional health authorities obtained an order to access patient files at the residence and learned of the dozens of deaths that had occurred since March 13.

10:45 a.m.

Ontario is reporting 401 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the province’s total to 7,049.

The province now has 274 deaths after 21 were reported today.

Ontario says 261 people are in intensive care, while 3,121 cases have been marked as resolved.

Report Error Submit a Tip

More Stories

Inman launching new album at WECC

Ben Waldman 5 minute read Preview

Inman launching new album at WECC

Ben Waldman 5 minute read 2:01 AM CDT

Give Richard Inman a moment and a surface, and he’ll cover it with a story.

“I’ve scribbled down lyrics on paper plates, McDonald’s bags — whatever you got,” says Inman, who grew up in southern Manitoba but now lives in a three-bedroom ranch house near Twin Butte, Alta., so close to the American border that he says he can spit into Montana from his backyard.

“The other day I had a line in my head for seven hours before I wrote it down,” says the songwriter, who managed to remember the phrasing after driving home from a music festival in Idaho. “That certainly was lucky.”

Though Inman, 35, first starting sharing his Americana concoctions with crowds at Winnipeg’s Times Change(d) High & Lonesome Club in the late 2000s, learning how to play his compositions with his band, the Mad Trappers, he has spent the bulk of the past decade out west, splitting time between the stage and the sale barn.

Read
2:01 AM CDT

City charter ties council’s hands in wake of criminal allegations against Transcona councillor

Joyanne Pursaga 6 minute read Preview

City charter ties council’s hands in wake of criminal allegations against Transcona councillor

Joyanne Pursaga 6 minute read Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026

In the wake of additional criminal charges laid against Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt, several council members say the city should explore options to impose leaves of absence on elected officials who face serious allegations in the future.

Wyatt, 56, was charged Monday with sexual assault and administering a noxious thing with intent to aggrieve or annoy in relation to an October 2023 incident. The councillor was previously charged with sexual assault and administering a noxious substance in March, based on allegations tied to a 2025 gathering.

Under the City of Winnipeg charter, a provincial law, a member of city council automatically forfeits their seat if they are convicted of certain serious criminal offences. It does not apply if they are simply charged.

Mayor Scott Gillingham and others have urged Wyatt to step away from his city hall duties voluntarily, while Gillingham has also suggested the province review the legislation.

Read
Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026

You’re not alone on journey of self-discovery

Maureen Scurfield 5 minute read Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I am bisexual. I was in love with another woman for half the summer, and now I’m not. How can that be? I thought she was perfect for me, and now a great guy has come along, and I’m in love with him.

I don’t mean to sound weird, but that’s how my crazy feelings are. I’m 17 now and in Grade 12 this fall. Maybe I’ll be totally different when I’m older. My parents just shake their heads and smile — they are no help at all. They are open-minded people, but they don’t totally get me, and they don’t seem to worry about it. I’m a weirdo with a new idea about who I should be every month.

My grandma, an old hippie, says she loves me the way I am, and with all my changes. The problem is I just don’t “get” me either, and I can’t talk to anybody else about me. She says it will “all come clear” in the end, but I’m not so sure about that.

— Totally Confused, West Kildonan

Fusion pop-up coming to street food festival

Tiago Resko 4 minute read Preview

Fusion pop-up coming to street food festival

Tiago Resko 4 minute read 2:01 AM CDT

After surviving breast cancer and watching her husband live through a brain tumour, Marilyn Magtoto decided it was time to take a chance.

Magtoto left her corporate job as a mortgage specialist in July to start M3 Cravings, a pop-up restaurant that blends the traditional Filipino cuisine she grew up on with Mexican street food.

“To me it was like, how much longer do I want to put on hold this thing I’ve been wanting to do for a while now?” Magtoto says. “People may think I’m crazy for leaving behind a corporate professional career I’ve been doing for 22 years, but you know what — it’s worth it.”

Magtoto will now have the chance to share her food at the Streat Feast Festival at The Forks to Sunday; the event brings together people from a variety of backgrounds to share their culture through food, art and performances.

Read
2:01 AM CDT

It’s one thing to climb aboard rail-relocation train, quite another to pay for the ride

Dan Lett 5 minute read Preview

It’s one thing to climb aboard rail-relocation train, quite another to pay for the ride

Dan Lett 5 minute read Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026

Anyone who wants a brighter, safer, healthier future for the city of Winnipeg should really want the renewed hopes of rail relocation to finally become reality. And the sooner, the better.

Premier Wab Kinew announced Wednesday the province was going to forge a plan to relocate the Canadian Pacific Kansas City central yards and many of other the lines that run through Winnipeg to a bypass that runs around the city.

This “plan to design a plan” strategy was devised by a task force headed up by former federal MP and cabinet minister Lloyd Axworthy, who in 2024 was given a two-year mandate to find the best way to rid the city of some or all of its rail infrastructure.

For the record, Kinew and Axworthy said a relocation would likely take 20 years to complete, which makes this week’s announcement an important statement of intent, but little more. The sobering reality is that this promising idea has been proposed by political leaders, and then abandoned, for decades.

Read
Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026

A message to Mark: Don’t. Back. Down.

Judy Waytiuk 5 minute read Preview

A message to Mark: Don’t. Back. Down.

Judy Waytiuk 5 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

When is a leak really a trial balloon? While Mark Carney currently enjoys huge favourability in Canada, there are nine federal byelections pending. If he stumbles on his pledge of “Elbows up’ against the U.S., votes could go against the Liberals; millions of Canadians have utterly lost patience with Trump’s madness — and with Carney appearing to pander to it.

Now we lift the booze bans? Meddle with our supply management dairy system? So say “sources” in the Carney camp. But journalists can be manipulated — a galling truth. Set up a leak from a couple of sources. Two is standard; what’s often forgotten is that those sources, especially if the story’s a hot one, should be verifiably unconnected.

If a story is really hot, more sources must be scraped up, but the temptation to run with it regardless of that is enormous. Many a drool-worthy story I ran across in my early days at the Free Press and later at CBC TV news was spiked because those standards could not be met. These days, it’s almost impossible to meet that bar. Everybody’s connected.

Well, appeasement doesn’t work; we all know it. We dropped the digital services tax. That achieved nothing. American trade envoy Jameson Greer noted we don’t get credit for lifting something Trump resented from the get-go. The digital giants who imposed news-sharing bans on Canada in retaliation for the tax did not lift those bans. We still can’t share news links on Meta platforms in Canada, and we have not a penny in digital tax to show for it.

Read
2:00 AM CDT