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COVID-19 hotspots: 90% of new cases in last two weeks recorded in Ontario and Quebec

Two of Canada's three territories and Prince Edward Island have no community transmission and the third territory, Nunavut, has not had a single case

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OTTAWA — The spread of the novel coronavirus in Canada has slowed significantly, and 90% of the COVID-19 cases in the past two weeks have been in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, public health data showed on Thursday.

“The data shows that we are continuing to make progress in the fight against this virus,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in his daily news conference.

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“We’re not out of the woods. The pandemic is still threatening the health and safety of Canadians,” he said, adding that the situation in long-term care and seniors homes “remains serious.”

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Residents of long-term care and seniors’ homes accounted for 18% of total cases and 82% of deaths, the Public Health Agency said. Congregate living and working settings, including meat and poultry plants, continue to drive case counts.

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However, two of Canada’s three territories and the province of Prince Edward Island on the Atlantic coast currently have no community transmission, and the third territory Nunavut has not had a single case.

“Canada flattened the curve sooner than a number of countries such as the UK, Italy and U.S.,” the agency said.

The coronavirus-related death toll, which on Thursday was 7,635 deaths (according to The Canadian Press), will rise to between 7,700 and 9,400 by June 15, according to updated modeling released on Thursday.

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The total number of cases by June 15 was projected to be between 97,990 and 107,454. Total cases on Thursday were 93,441.

There was no updated projection for what the death toll would be at the end of the pandemic. At the end of April, it was projected at between 4,000 and 44,000.

As public health restrictions put in place in March are gradually lifted across the country, there will need to be increased efforts at maintaining physical distancing, testing and contact tracing or the epidemic could “rebound,” the agency said.

Trudeau’s remarks came as New Brunswick reported the province’s first death from COVID-19, raising the death toll in Canada to 7,635 people.

In social media posts, the family of a man in his 80s who had been living in the Manoir de la Vallee in Atholville, N.B., said he died from the virus Thursday.

The long-term care home in northern New Brunswick has experienced an outbreak and as of Wednesday had been linked to eight COVID-19 cases.

Michel Ouellette wrote that his father Daniel Ouellette lost his fight against COVID-19 early Thursday morning.

N.B. health officials announced two new cases of the virus Wednesday — increasing to 15 the number of cases in a cluster believed to have begun after a doctor travelled to Quebec and did not self-isolate upon return to New Brunswick.

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The latest numbers of confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 11:18 a.m. on June 4, 2020, according to The Canadian Press were:

Quebec: 52,143 confirmed (including 4,885 deaths, 17,098 resolved)

Ontario: 29,403 confirmed (including 2,357 deaths, 23,208 resolved)

Alberta: 7,076 confirmed (including 145 deaths, 6,587 resolved)

British Columbia: 2,623 confirmed (including 166 deaths, 2,243 resolved)

Nova Scotia: 1,058 confirmed (including 60 deaths, 993 resolved)

Saskatchewan: 647 confirmed (including 11 deaths, 602 resolved)

Manitoba: 287 confirmed (including 7 deaths, 282 resolved), 11 presumptive

Newfoundland and Labrador: 261 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 256 resolved)

New Brunswick: 135 confirmed (including 1 death, 120 resolved)

Prince Edward Island: 27 confirmed (including 27 resolved)

Repatriated Canadians: 13 confirmed (including 13 resolved)

Yukon: 11 confirmed (including 11 resolved)

Northwest Territories: 5 confirmed (including 5 resolved)

Nunavut: No confirmed cases

Total: 93,700 (11 presumptive, 93,689 confirmed including 7,635 deaths, 51,445 resolved)

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