Finance Minister Bill Morneau says wage subsidies for large and small businesses will cost about $71 billion. The program is expected to offset the cost of emergency benefits for workers, and reduce spending on those benefits to $24 billion. The wage subsidy will be available to large and small businesses who have lost significant revenue due to COVID-19. Morneau has encouraged businesses to rehire employees they may have laid off in the wake of COVID-19, and says the wage subsidy will be available in six weeks.

Quebec Premier Francois Legault says the number of COVID-19 cases in the province is now 4,611, an increase of 449 over yesterday. There were also two new deaths, bringing the provincial total to 33. Legault says there are 519 seniors' residences with at least one case, which he described as a source of concern for the province.

Six planes carrying Canadians stranded in Africa and Europe are to touch down today in the government's effort to repatriate travellers stranded by COVID-19. Global Affairs Canada says the planes will arrive from Algeria, Ecuador, Senegal, Democratic Republic of Congo, Hungary and Spain. The department says the government is planning more flights from Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Peru, Algeria, Poland and Pakistan in the coming days. Plans are also being made for several fights from India, starting on April 4 and continuing for the next four days until April 7. The government is rei

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer says confusion over who is eligible for the government's promised wage subsidy must be cleared up. Scheer says the legislation as written and hastily passed by Parliament last week doesn't jibe with the Liberals' pledge. The government has said that all companies will get 75 per cent of salaries covered, if they've lost 30 percent of their revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That's a departure from the original plan to cover just 10 per cent of salaries for small businesses. Scheer says his party is ready to return to Parliament to amend the law if needed bu

U.S. officials are warning COVID-19 could kill between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans, even with social distancing measures. Experts made the prediction at a media briefing yesterday with President Donald Trump, who warned that the country is heading for ``a very tough two weeks.'' Trump has extended social distancing guidelines through April 30th. New York is the deadliest hot spot in the U.S. with more than 15,000 deaths state wide, most of them in New York City.

As a precautionary measure, 30 Army officers have been put under quarantine at Kolkata as they came in contact with the Colonel-rank Army Doctor who has tested positive for COVID-19. The total number of coronavirus cases in the country climbed to 1397 on Tuesday after 146 new infections were reported in the past 24 hours across the country. The death toll due to the COVID-19 rose to 35, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on TuesdayThere are 1,238 active coronavirus cases while 124 have been cured or discharged after treatment.

The B.C. government has formally extended the provincial state of emergency to support the provincewide response to the COVID-19 pandemic, through the end of the day on April 14, 2020. “The next 14 days are critically important in our province’s unprecedented fight against COVID-19. What we do today will affect what our doctors, nurses and first responders face in the days and weeks ahead,” said Premier John Horgan. “Today, we’re asking all British Columbians to re-commit to doing their part. There are early signs that our actions are making a difference, and we can’t stop no

Provincial health officer Doctor Bonnie Henry says there are 43 new cases of COVID-19 in BC. Henry says there were also five more deaths in the Fraser and Coastal Health regions, which means 24 people have died from the disease in BC. The total number of cases is 1,013, with 61 people in intensive care. Henry says outbreaks have now been reported at 19 long term care centres, but there are still only two major outbreaks with most other facilities reporting just one case.

Alberta is reporting 64 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the province's total to 754. The province's chief medical health officer, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, says another resident has also died at Calgary's McKenzie Towne Continuing Care Centre. She says up to 75 of the total number of cases appear to have been caused by community transmission, and that is concerning.