Coronavirus (COVID-19) National News

OTTAWA — A contagious new strain of the virus that causes COVID-19 has infiltrated two more regions of Canada, health officials said Sunday, a day after announcing the country's first cases of the variant had been detected.

Ontario on Saturday confirmed its two first cases of a variant of COVID-19 first identified in the United Kingdom, marking the first time the more contagious strain had been detected in Canada.

OTTAWA — Canada's employment minister says plans to revamp the employment insurance system have been put on a faster path thanks to COVID-19.

Advocates say inmates should have speedy access to the COVID-19 vaccine, given how susceptible prisons and jails have been to outbreaks and how prevalent chronic disease is in that population.

OTTAWA — Canadians received an early Christmas present on Wednesday as Health Canada declared a new COVID-19 vaccine from U.S.

The agency is urging people to stop using supplies purchased from the company and dispose of them.

One of his earliest memories is sitting next to Hartley on the sofa as she rubbed his back, her hands so tender that Doroshenko can still feel their touch at age 52.

"Vaccination access should be based on one thing: vulnerability," NDP health critic Don Davies said. "When we see Indigenous communities who are vulnerable all across this country and experiencing outbreaks at the highest levels in this country, then we must respond."

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency authorization for the Moderna vaccine late last week, becoming the first country to approve it.

Nearly one in four respondents was close to someone who had died of COVID-19.