Who is popular today?

The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada (all times Eastern):
12:05 p.m.
Nova Scotia is reporting two new cases of COVID-19.
One case is in the province's northern zone and is related to travel outside Atlantic Canada.
The second was recorded in the central zone, which includes Halifax, and it is under investigation.
The province now has 41 active cases of COVID-19.
---
11:45 a.m.
Canada's chief public health officer says the spread of more contagious COVID-19 variants is driving a strong resurgence of the virus in many parts of the country.
Dr. Theresa Tam says Canada saw average daily increases of more than 6,800 new cases and 30 deaths over the past week.
Tam says an average of more than 2,500 patients were treated for COVID-19 in hospitals last week, a seven per cent increase compared to the previous week.
She says the number of cases linked to more contagious variants of the virus has almost doubled over the past week.
---
11:40 a.m.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says stricter measures are needed in several parts of the country to curb the third wave of COVID-19.
Trudeau says more contagious variants of the virus are sending young people to hospital.
He says the federal government has delivered more than 10.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the provinces and territories.
The prime minister says Canada is expectingto receive at least 44 million doses from Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca by the end of June.
---
11:15 a.m.
Quebec is reporting 1,683 new COVID-19 cases today and eight more deaths attributed to the virus, including five in the previous 24 hours.
Health officials say hospitalizations rose by three to 569 over the pats 24 hours, while the number of intensive care patints rose by two to 134.
The Quebec City area continues to be the region reporting the highest daily cases, with 449.
Montreal reported 392 new infections while the Chaudiere-Appalaches region, south of the provincial capital, logged 218.
The province administered 69,148 doses of COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday, for a total of 1,754,749.
---
11:05 a.m.
Ontario hospitals are being instructed to ramp down elective surgeries and non-urgent procedures in order to treat a growing number of COVID-19 patients.
Ontario Health's president and CEO sent a memo Thursday night instructing hospitals to make the move to preserve critical care and human resources, starting Monday.
Hospitals in northern Ontario are exempt, but Matthew Anderson says they should prepare to ramp down quickly in the near future.
The memo from the body that oversees the province's health system also asks hospitals to identify staff who could be redeployed to other sites if necessary.
---
11 a.m.
Ontario is reporting 4,227 new cases of COVID-19 today and 18 additional deaths from the virus.
Health Minister Christine Elliott says there are 1,218 new cases in Toronto, 762 in Peel Region, and 532 in York Region.
She also says there are 247 new infections in Durham Region and 246 in Ottawa.
More than 61,410 tests were completed since the last report.
---
11 a.m.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford received his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine today.
Ford received a shot of the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine at a pharmacy in Toronto's west end.
Ford says he wanted to take the shot in front of media to help encourage people to get immunized and combat vaccine hesitancy.
The premier set a goal of getting 40 per cent of Ontarians -- or five million people -- their first dose over the next month.
---
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 9, 2021.