The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada for Monday, April 5, 2021

The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada (all times eastern):

2:20 p.m.

Peel Region’s top doctor says he has ordered all schools to be closed.

Dr. Lawrence Loh says he is ordering schools in the southern Ontario region, including Brampton, Caledon and Mississauga, to close starting tomorrow.

The schools will move to online learning only and will remain closed until April 18.

Loh says the closure will allow students and staff at least two weeks out of schools to break any chains of transmission and protect them from exposure.

—

1:35 p.m.

Manitoba is reporting 135 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths over the last two days.

The current five-day test positivity rate is 5.1 per cent provincially and 4.3 per cent in Winnipeg.

The province says some 7,200 vaccination appointments set for Monday to Thursday of next week will have to be rescheduled.

It says a delay in supplies of the Moderna vaccine will affect appointments at so-called “pop-up” sites.

The sites are temporary vaccination clinics set up in smaller communities across the province, including Steinbach, Portage la Prairie, Dauphin and Swan River.

—

1:05 p.m.

Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting no new COVID-19 cases today.

Health officials in the province haven’t reported a new infection since April 1.

The province has four active reported cases.

It has reported a total of 1,020 COVID-19 infections and four deaths linked to the virus.

—

12 p.m.

New Brunswick is reporting 10 new cases of COVID-19 today.

Health officials say seven cases in the Moncton region are under investigation.

They say three cases in the Edmundston area involve contacts of a previously reported infection.

New Brunswick has 168 active reported COVID-19 cases and 14 people in hospital with the disease, including eight in intensive care.

—

11:45 a.m.

Toronto Mayor John Tory says the city is working on a plan to vaccinate high-risk people at their places of work.

Tory said today the plan would involve mobile vaccination units that are already being used in some hard-hit neighbourhoods.

He says the federal and provincial governments should work together to improve the paid sick day program to help workers stay home and isolate.

The Ontario government has said it will not duplicate the paid sick leave program run by the federal government.

—

11 a.m.

Quebec is reporting 1,252 new cases of COVID-19 today and four more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus, including one in the past 24 hours.

Health officials say hospitalizations rose by one, to 503, and 123 people were in intensive care, a drop of five.

The province says it administered 22,494 doses of vaccine Sunday, for a total of 1,552,215.

Quebec has reported a total of 317,364 COVID-19 infections and 10,697 deaths linked to the virus; it has 10,271 active reported infections.

—

10:45 a.m.

Nova Scotia is reporting three new cases of COVID-19 today in the Halifax area.

Health officials say one case is related to travel outside Atlantic Canada, one involves a contact of a previously reported infection, and one is under investigation.

Nova Scotia has 32 active reported infections.

The province says it had administered 113,471 doses of COVID-19 vaccine as of Sunday, with 29,532 people having received a booster shot.

—

10:40 a.m.

Ontario says it has had nearly 6,000 new COVID-19 cases over a two-day span.

The province is reporting 2,938 new cases of COVID-19 today and 3,041 cases for Sunday.

Data sharing was paused in Ontario on Sunday for the Easter holiday.

Ten deaths were linked to the virus on today’s report and 12 on Sunday’s update.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 5, 2021.