Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he plans to talk to U.S. President Donald Trump about White House orders to Minnesota-based 3M to stop exporting its surgical grade face masks. Trudeau says he is not looking at measures that are retaliatory or punitive. Rather, he says the countries can come up with a diplomatic solution. Much of the pulp for the masks that protect against COVID-19 spread comes from a mill in Nanaimo, B.C. He says his message to Trump in the coming days will be that working together benefits both countries.

British Columbia medical health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says she's heartened by a decrease in the number of people being diagnosed with COVID-19. There have been 29 new cases since Friday, and Henry says if the province had continued to see the previous acceleration of about 25 per cent she would have been very concerned. She says the curve in the number of cases in B.C. appears to be flattening, which could allow for health care for those who need help both for COVID-19 and other illnesses. The province has recorded three more deaths for a total of 38 deaths among the 1,203 people diagnosed

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says only essential workers should leave home unless it's for getting groceries or other absolutely necessary reasons. To drive home the message, Ford says another emergency alert will go out on Saturday. Ford says tens of thousands of lives are at stake. Ontario is projecting between 3,000 and 15,000 lives will be lost to the pandemic even with stiff stay-at-home restrictions. Ontario is reporting 27 more deaths from COVID-19. The provincial total is now 94 deaths. Ontario also reports another 375 cases of COVID-19 for a new total of 3,630. The province lists

Quebec is announcing 14 more deaths connected to COVID-19, bringing the province's total to 75. Deputy Premier Genevieve Guilbault said today the province recorded another 896 cases of the virus compared with the day prior, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in Quebec to 6,997. Guilbault adds that another 49 people have been hospitalized, for a total of 478, including eight more patients in intensive care out of 130 severe cases of the virus. The deputy premier also announced that the province is restricting non-essential travel to two more areas: the region of Charlevoix and the ci

Nurses protested against state government over lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits in hospitals. According to a nurse, there is lack of PPEs in her hospital and also demanded PPE kits for every staff member of the hospital so that they can treat patients without worrying about the COVID-19 infection. The number of coronavirus cases in Punjab rose to over 40. A total of 51 people have been confirmed positive for coronavirus in Punjab and five people have died due to the infection till now, said the state health department on Friday. "The COVID-19 cases surge to 51 in Punjab. Five p

There are 12,547 confirmed and presumptive cases in Canada. Quebec: 6,101 confirmed (including 61 deaths, 306 resolved) Ontario: 3,255 confirmed (including 67 deaths, 1,023 resolved) British Columbia: 1,174 confirmed (including 35 deaths, 641 resolved) Alberta: 1,075 confirmed (including 18 deaths, 196 resolved) Saskatchewan: 220 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 36 resolved) Nova Scotia: 207 confirmed (including 21 resolved) Newfoundland and Labrador: 195 confirmed (including 1 death, 11 resolved) Manitoba: 164 confirmed (including 2 deaths, 11 resolved), 18 presumptive New Brunswick: 95 confir

Provincial health officer Doctor Bonnie Henry is reporting another 53 cases of COVID-19, bringing the total in BC to 1,174 cases. Henry says four more people have died, including three linked to clusters at two long term care homes in the Vancouver Coastal health region. 35 deaths have now been recorded in BC from COVID-19. Henry says the good news is that hospitalizations have dropped slightly from yesterday but people must remain committed to following orders aimed at slowing the spread of the virus.

CIBC says it is offering reduced interest rates on personal credit cards for Canadians in financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The bank says credit card clients who request to skip a payment and are experiencing financial difficulties will receive a temporary lower annual interest rate of 10.99 per cent. It says for the 80,000 Canadians who have already received CIBC credit card relief, the temporary lower rate will be retroactively applied to March 15.

Canada's top public health official is urging people to have caution when looking at provincial models for how COVID-19 will develop. Ontario released its projections for the best and worst case scenarios of the crisis. Dr. Theresa Tam says people should remember they are just that, projections, and not real data. She says both must be examined to get an accurate picture of where the virus is headed.