Ontario setting up checkpoints at borders with Manitoba and Quebec to limit entry amid surge of COVID-19 cases

The latest:

• Ontario government announces new restrictions late Friday.
• Moderna to slash vaccine deliveries to Canada, but Pfizer steps up.
• Nunavut reports 12 new cases aftertracingof territory's first case.
• Women seem more at risk of rare blood clots after COVID-19 vaccines,but experts warn it's too early to know.
• Track how many people have been given the COVID-19 vaccine across Canada.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said his province is "losing the battlebetween thevariants and vaccines" as his government introducednewpandemic-mitigationmeasuresFriday that included extendinga stay-at-home order andlimitinginterprovincial travel with Manitoba and Quebec.

Ontario Solicitor General Sylvia Jones said the changes along the provincial borders would take effect at 12:01 a.m. on Monday.Jones said incoming travellers not meeting a list of prescribed exceptions will be turned back. Quebec has since signalledthe province will be closed to travellers coming in from Ontario.

The province will also extend an existing stay-at-home order to last six weeks, instead of the planned four.

Ontario is also giving police new powers to enforce public health orders, allowingofficersto ask anyone outside their residence to indicate their purpose for leaving home and to provide their address. That includes stopping vehicles.The new police measures drew immediate condemnation from civil liberties activists.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said the measures the government announcedappeared too weak to flatten the curve of coronavirus infections. She also expressed concern about the impact the restrictions, and the new enforcement powers, could have on "front-line essential heroes."

Earlier Friday, Adalsteinn Brown, the co-chair of the expert groupthat advises the government on thepandemic, presented the table's latest modelling the same day officials reported a new daily record of 4,812 COVID-19 cases.

Brown urged Ontarians to strictly follow public health measures and to get vaccinated as soon as they are eligible.

WATCH |COVID-19 and Ontario's most vulnerable:

Ontario doctor describes how 'catastrophic' state of COVID-19 pandemic is affecting most vulnerable

3 years ago

Duration 11:41

Ontario critical care physician Dr. Kali Barrett describes how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting vulnerable people and outlines some of the dramatic challenges facing hospitals in the province.

Also Friday, theCanadian Medical Association(CMA) calledfor a "truly national approach" in fighting COVID-19 as the third wave of the pandemic wreaks havoc on the health-care system.

Health-care resources should be deployed "where they are most needed to save the most lives," the CMA said.

More Pfizer doses

After word earlier Fridaythat Canada's incoming vaccine supply from Moderna will be slashed in half through the rest of April, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saidOttawasigned an agreement with Pfizer for additional doses of its COVID-19 vaccine.

He saidPfizer will deliver four million additional doses in May, two million additional doses in June and two million more in July.

Trudeau saidfor next month alone, the number of Pfizer doses will be double what Canada wasexpecting.

-From CBC News and The Canadian Press, last updated at 7:30 p.m.ET

What's happening elsewhere across Canada

WATCH | ICU nurse describes what it's like to treat COVID-19 patients:

'This is the most unnatural environment ever'

3 years ago

Duration 7:23

Clare Fielding, a nurse manager at the Toronto General Hospital, describes what it's like in the intensive care unit.

As of 6:30p.m.ET on Friday,Canada had reported 1,106,068confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 86,279considered active. A CBC News tally of deaths stood at23,541.

InQuebec, health officialsreported 1,527 new cases of COVID-19and sevenadditional deaths on Friday.

In Atlantic Canada,Nova Scotia reported six new cases of COVID-19 on Friday and one additional death.Newfoundland and Labrador reportedthree new cases andNew Brunswick reportednine new cases.

WATCH |The 3rd wave in Canada

COVID-19 3rd wave takes hold across much of Canada

3 years ago

Duration 2:02

The third wave of COVID-19 has taken hold across most of Canada, with provinces trying to fight back by tightening restrictions, keeping children out of the classroom and some considering mask mandates.

P.E.I. reported no new casesFriday, but the province saw its first COVID-19 hospitalization.

In the Prairie provinces,Manitoba reported 127 new cases on Friday, as a health official warned that tighter restrictions were a possibility for the province amid thespread of highly contagious COVID-19 variants.

Saskatchewanreported 221 new cases Friday and twoadditional deaths, while Alberta reported 1,616 new cases and no additional deaths.

In British Columbia, 1,005 new cases and six additional deaths were reported Friday.

Nunavut reported 12 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, two days after Iqaluit's first case was confirmed. Officials had identified 10 people as contacts of someone who became symptomatic.Premier Joe Savikataaqsaid all the additional cases arein Iqaluit, where all non-essential businesses, including government offices and schools, were ordered closed.

WATCH | Iqaluit declares COVID-19 outbreak:

Iqaluit declares COVID-19 outbreak as infections jump to 13

3 years ago

Duration 0:59

At least 12 more people in Iqaluit have contracted the coronavirus, some of whom may have been exposed at the Storehouse Bar & Grill on or after April 8, says Nunavut's Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Michael Patterson.

No new cases were reported Friday inNorthwest Territoriesor Yukon.

-From CBC News and The Canadian Press, last updated at 6:30 p.m.ET

What's happening around the world

As of early Friday evening, more than 139.5million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to a Johns Hopkins University database. The reported global death toll approached threemillion.

Around the world, cases and deaths are increasingat "worrying rates," the head of the World Health Organization said Friday.

WATCH |Doctor offers reassurance for those hesitant to get vaccinated:

Calgary doctor with expertise in vaccine hesitancy answers questions about COVID-19

3 years ago

Duration 8:38

Dr. Cora Constantinescu from the Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary says the risk of getting blood clots from COVID-19 is much higher than from a vaccine.

"Globally, the number of new cases per week has nearly doubled over the past two months. This is approaching the highest rate of infection that we have seen so far," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

He said some countries that had previously avoided widespread transmission are now seeing steep increases in infections such as Papua New Guinea.

"Until the beginning of this year, Papua New Guinea had reported less than 900 cases and just nine deaths. It has now reported more than 9,300 cases and 82 deaths," Tedros said.

In the Americas, it was announced Friday that the World Bank hadapproved additional financing of $50 million for El Salvador and $20 million for Honduras forCOVID-19 vaccines and strengthen their health-care systems.

In Europe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged legislatorsFriday toapprove new powers that would allow her to force lockdowns andcurfews on areas with high infection rates.

The legislation seeks to end the patchwork of measures that have characterized the pandemic response across Germany's 16 states.Passing the bill is an uphill battle, with state governments reluctant to cede any authority over health care to the federal government.

"We are slamming on the brakes nationwide," she told Germany'sparliament.

Herspeech came as the country recorded 25,831 new cases of COVID-19 overnight and 247 additional deaths.

In Asia, India closed museums and tourist sites on Friday, including the iconic Taj Mahal, for a month to curb the country's second coronavirus wave.

India's 217,353 new cases marked the eighth record daily increase innine days and took total cases to nearly 14.3 million. India's case count is second only to the United States, which has reported more than 31 million infections.

Deaths from COVID-19 in India rose by 1,185 over the past 24 hours the highest single-day rise in seven months to reach a total of 174,308, the health ministry reported.

InAfrica, South Africa took the first step in its mass vaccination campaign on Friday by starting online registrations for the elderly to receive shots beginning next month.

South Africa's inoculation drive is dependent upon millions of Pfizer vaccine doses arriving in the country within weeks. So far, South Africa has vaccinated290,000 of its 1.2 million health-care workerswith the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

-From The AssociatedPress andReuters,last updated at 7:45 p.m. ET