Canada's COVID-19 case count surpasses one million

Photo: The Canadian Press

People line up at a COVID-19 testing clinic Wednesday, March 24, 2021 in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

Canada has recorded more than a million cases of COVID-19 since the virus arrived in the country more than a year ago.

The national tally inched past the bleak threshold on Saturday when British Columbia reported 2,090 new infections over the course of two days.

That brought the numbers to roughly 1,001,650.

Canada has been recording about 100,000 new cases every three to four weeks, surging past the 900,000 mark on March 13.

But case counts have begun rising again in several provinces, prompting officials to impose new public health restrictions in a bid to contain what health authorities are describing as the virus's third wave.

In Ontario, for instance, the government touched off a provincewide "shutdown" on Saturday when orders to close gyms, suspend all in-person dining and tighten capacity limits on both essential and non-essential retailers went into effect.

That province recorded 3,009 new infections on Saturday and 3,089 a day earlier, when the government didn't share data because of the Good Friday holiday.

Quebec, meanwhile, has seen daily cases back up over the 1,000 mark in the last few days after weeks of logging new infection rates in the triple digits, recording 1,282 cases on Saturday.

Alberta logged an estimated 1,100 cases Saturday, for the second day in a row, while Saskatchewan counted 280 and Manitoba reported 181 over two days.

Farther east, New Brunswick recorded nine new cases and Nova Scotia counted four.