Canada's COVID-19 deaths surpass 20,000

Canada's COVID-19 deaths surpassed 20,000 on Sunday morning, hitting 20,016, reported Xinhua, quoting CTV.

As of Sunday morning, Canada reported a cumulative total of 778,119 COVID-19 cases.

Both Ontario and Quebec, the two most populous provinces in Canada, continue to tally the highest increases in cases and deaths across the country, though new numbers in the provinces and across Canada have seen a general decline for days.

The two provinces have recorded the most deaths amid the COVID-19 pandemic with nearly 16,000 deaths reported. More than 6,180 people died in Ontario while more than 9,700 died in Quebec.

The first Canadian death was reported on March 9, 2020, six weeks after the very first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Toronto.

So far, Canada has administered 952,296 COVID-19 vaccine doses while more than 22 million tests have also been administered across the country.

Sunday's fatalities come on the same day the Canadian government's new travel restrictions go into effect.

Last Friday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced new measures against non-essential travel to stem the spread of COVID-19 and its variants.

Under the new measures, all Canadian airlines -- Air Canada, WestJet, Sunwing and Air Transat -- have suspended all flights to Mexico and the Caribbean region starting from Jan. 29 until April 30 to discourage non-essential travel.

Starting from the coming Thursday, all international flights can only land at airports in Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, and Montreal in the country and all air inbound travelers will be required to stay for three days at a government-designated hotel for the COVID-19 test all at their own cost.

Canada is grappling with vaccine delivery delays from Pfizer-BioNtech and Moderna, which threaten to disrupt the country's goal of having a majority of the country vaccinated by September 2021.

Trudeau said a majority of Canadians should expect to be vaccinated by September, though Canadian medical experts have since warned of provinces in the country not being able to reach that target anytime soon should the country's current pace of vaccination continue.

On Saturday, Canadian Chief Health Officer Theresa Tam said that even though daily COVID-19 cases are trending down, it's still too soon to lift lockdowns and other protective measures if the country hopes to bring the pandemic under control.

The numbers from Our World In Data showed that the total number of vaccination doses administered per 100 people in Canada was 2.5 as of Jan. 30.

Canada has a population of 38 million.