Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reports 373 new cases of COVID-19, six deaths; Russia, once again, reports record infections and deaths

“We’re ready, we’re responsible people, we’re all vaccinated and we just want to be able to try to get back to normal a little bit and have some fun,” he said.

Blair issued a series of tweets saying the government approved the request in order to support Saskatchewan residents as the province faces a surge of COVID-19 cases.

The minister says on Twitter that Ottawa is also in talks with the province to provide additional help from the Canadian Red Cross and other health resources.

Eight critical care nurses with the Canadian military began work at an Edmonton hospital earlier this month after the Alberta government also requested help with its surging numbers of COVID-19 infections.

The province reported 40 new cases of COVID-19 and 81 recoveries on Saturday, leaving a total of 689 active infections.

Of the 43 people hospitalized due to the virus, 22 are unvaccinated, two are partially vaccinated and 19 are fully immunized.

The province says 13 people remain in an intensive care unit, 12 of whom are unvaccinated and one of whom is partially vaccinated.

12:33 p.m.: Quebec is reporting 451 new cases of COVID-19 and four additional deaths due to the virus.Hospitalizations in the province declined for a fifth straight day, with an overall drop of five to 255.

Health Minister Christine Elliott tweeted that 264 cases are in individuals who are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status and 109 are in fully vaccinated individuals.

Hospitalizations stood at 269, up eight from the previous day — 233 are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status and 36 are fully vaccinated.

There are 135 people in ICU (a decrease of 13), with 120 not fully vaccinated or with an unknown vaccination status; and 96 on ventilators (an increase of two); 419 cases were listed as resolved.

9:57 a.m.: A former politician who called for the overthrow of the French government has been charged with terrorism in connection with what authorities have said was an extreme-right plot to attack vaccination centres, a masonic lodge and other targets.

Most federal and provincial parties are open about the immunization status of their members, even though not all legislatures have adopted a rule requiring that members be fully vaccinated.

Mandatory vaccination rules have also been announced for admittance to Nova Scotia’s Province House and Quebec’s National Assembly.

8:28 a.m.: Russia is reporting a record high number of coronavirus infections and COVID-19 deaths as the country approaches a week of nonworking days aimed at stemming the sharp surge in cases.

The national coronavirus task force said Saturday that 1,075 people had died from the virus in the past day and that 37,678 new infections were tallied — the largest single-day numbers of the pandemic.

The daily death toll is about 33% higher than that recorded in late September and infection cases have risen by about 70% in the past month.

Only about one-third of Russia’s 146 million people have been vaccinated, frustrating officials and placing a strain on the country’s health-care system.

8:26 a.m.: Ukraine’s coronavirus infections and deaths reached all-time highs for a second straight day Friday, in a growing challenge for the country with one of Europe’s lowest shares of vaccinated people.

So far, 59% of the 22 million population have been vaccinated, and the Health Ministry expects the rate to rise to 70% within three weeks.

Saturday 8:21 a.m.: Federal regulators evaluated for the first time Friday the safety and efficacy of a coronavirus vaccine for children ages 5-11, saying that the benefits of staving off COVID-19 with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine generally outweighed the risks of the most worrisome possible side effects in that age group.

The analysis came on the same day that the Food and Drug Administration posted data from Pfizer showing that the vaccine had a 90.7% efficacy rate in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 in a clinical trial of 5- to 11-year-olds.