Coronavirus (COVID-19) National News

The second Easter weekend of the pandemic has become an emblem of exhaustion over public health measures, some say, as politicians across much of Canada warn families not to gather in person for the holiday.

Canada will soon add another COVID-19 vaccine to its supply, with procurement minister Anita Anand announcing this week that initial shipments of Johnson & Johnson's single-dose jab are to arrive by the end of April.

TORONTO — The governments of Canada and Ontario are investing in a new influenza vaccine manufacturing facility in Toronto, sources tell The Canadian Press.

The deficit from April 2020 to January 2021 compares to a deficit of $10.6 billion over the same period one year earlier.

Longer-range forecast models predict a resurgence of COVID-19 infections unless public health measures are enhanced and strictly followed, Dr. Theresa Tam said in a written statement.

The legislation would provide an added $2.2 billion for municipalities and First Nations communities through the federal gas-tax fund, to be renamed the Canada Community-Building Fund.

Her audits flagged multiple moments when federal officials could have made program changes that may have prevented the wage subsidy from going to companies with unpaid tax bills, or the CERB from potentially going to known fraudsters.

"To date, over 4.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Canada," Njoo said in Ottawa on Thursday. "This marks an important milestone, with more than 11 per cent of eligible adult Canadians ... having received at least one dose."

Nearly 1.2 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are set to arrive this week, alongside 846,000 shots of the product developed by Moderna. 

AstraZeneca said its COVID-19 vaccine was 100 per cent effective in stopping severe disease and hospitalization, though it has not yet published full data so it's unclear if there were enough severe cases to make that finding significant.