Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland is asking Canadians for patience as the Liberal government hammers out the details of the major moves they are making to respond to the global pandemic of COVID-19. She says officials are doing things that would normally take several months in a matter of days and that they are aiming for speed, rather than perfection. She says that sometimes means making an announcement about the actions they are taking and then filling in the details after the fact. Freeland says that is not how they would normally operate, but she hopes Canadians understand the extra

Alberta has reported 49 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total in the province to 195. Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, says 10 people are in hospital. Three of those patients are in intensive care. She says three people who tested positive have since recovered. Alberta reported its first death on Thursday.

There are 1,085 confirmed and presumptive cases in Canada. British Columbia: 348 confirmed (including 8 deaths, 5 resolved) Ontario: 318 confirmed (including 2 deaths, 5 resolved) Alberta: 195 confirmed (including 1 death) Quebec: 139 confirmed (including 1 death, 1 resolved) Saskatchewan: 8 confirmed, 18 presumptive Manitoba: 9 confirmed, 8 presumptive Nova Scotia: 5 confirmed, 10 presumptive New Brunswick: 7 confirmed, 4 presumptive Canadians quarantined at CFB Trenton: 10 confirmed Newfoundland and Labrador: 3 confirmed, 1 presumptive Prince Edward Island: 2 confirmed The Territories: No c

The Saskatchewan government plans to open daycares for children of workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 23-hundred spaces will be made available and the change will take effect starting Monday. Meantime, Ontario is rolling out an online learning plan while the province's schools are closed amid the outbreak of COVID-19. The resources offer interactive activities for elementary students and a focus on STEM courses for high school students.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada and the United States have reached a reciprocal agreement under which they will now be sending back migrants who attempt to cross illegally anywhere at the border. Trudeau called it an exceptional measure that will protect Canadians amid the pandemic. It addresses concerns about the difficulty of screening refugee claimants for the new virus. Thousands of migrants have fled north to Canada since 2017. Trudeau also confirmed that all non essential travel between Canada and the United States will end at midnight Friday. The two countries announ

The federal government is unveiling a plan to have companies quickly produce supplies of needed medical equipment to cope with the rapidly multiplying cases of COVID-19 across Canada.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the plan will provide support to manufacturers that want to retool their assembly lines to build ventilators, masks and other personal protective gear.And it will also help those already producing the products to quickly scale up.Ottawa has been working in close collaboration with provinces and territories, who deliver health care, to determine where gaps exist in the system and

Sobeys grocery stores are taking further steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among customers and staff.The company began installing Plexiglas shields for cashiers in select stores last night and plan to have them in every store as quickly as possible.Sobeys is also mandating that employees wash their hands every 15 minutes and will reduce store hours to allow more time for sanitizing.

A union official says Air Canada is laying off more than 5,000 flight attendants as the country's largest airline cuts routes and parks planes due to COVID-19.Wesley Lesosky, who heads the Air Canada component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), says Air Canada is laying off 3,600 mainline flight attendants as well as all of Air Canada Rouge's 1,549 flight attendants.The layoffs are set to take effect by next month.Air Canada announced Wednesday it will suspend the majority of its international and American flights by the end of the month.Its stock has plummeted 76 per cent in t

It's about way more than flattening the curve. That from the nation's top physician, who wants Canadians to harden their resolve and make every effort to stop the spread of COVID-19. Theresa Tam says the case count is expected to continue to rise and efforts at social distancing need to continue. The effort is underway to make sure there isn't a sudden sharp increase in the number of cases, so the spread of the virus is slowed over time. Public health experts call it ''flattening the curve.'' Tam is calling for Canadians to not just flatten the curve but her words ''plank it.''