in quebec) had been infected. also on that day, doug ford announced that ontario had a heat map of the outbreak locations, and that brampton, north etobicoke, scarborough, peel region, windsor and essex county were "lighting up like christmas trees". it was disclosed that toronto-area public health units account for 65% of cases in ontario. june on june 18, 2020, canada reached 100,000 coronavirus cases, a little over three months since the suspension of parliament for the same reason. a cbc news tally of reported deaths from covid-19 on the same date was 8,348. on june 24, fitch ratings inc., a bond ratings agency, downgraded canada's credit rating from triple-a to double-a-plus. the government had sported a triple-a credit rating with fitch since the martin government. on june 25, former clerk of the privy council of canada michael wernick predicted that the one of the side-effects of the covid-19 pandemic would be the shrinkage of the number of paid civil servants of canada. he drew analogies to the debt problem in the 1980s which led "to a 1995 austerity budget that saw 45,000 public service jobs slashed, the elimination of 73 federal agencies, a 21 percent reduction in foreign aid and the privatization of canadian national railways." wernick said that: one of the consequences of all this work from home experience is that ministers will figure out it really doesn't matter where those public servants are, they can be brought together for work teams and projects... the federal service, it will be smaller, it will be less concentrated in ottawa. july the western provinces reported a surge in cases around the middle of july. ontario reported 203 new cases in one day, quebec reported 180 new cases in 24 hours, alberta reported 368 new cases over the weekend, and saskatchewan reported 120 in a previous week. august on august 26, a 72 year-old new zealand mariner named peter smith was threatened by transport canada as his kiwi roa sailed through the northwest passage, because the government "prohibited pleasure craft from operating in arctic waters" from june 1 "to better protect arctic communities" from covid-19. smith opined that the bureaucracy is "out of control and gone mad." september in early september, federal minister of transport marc garneau remarked that airline passengers face a $1000 penalty fine if they refuse to wear a mask. the penalty was imposed in separate incidents (in june then july) on the first two passengers in september in order for others to reflect on the punished behaviour. face coverings have been mandatory on flights since april 20. "federal transport officials" were charged with issuing the fines "under the federal order". the same week, westjet announced a new policy that include a 12-month long ban for passengers who ignored aircrew instructions to don masks. the phac stated that 378 domestic and 595 international flights between march 2 and august 24 had travellers on board who may have had the disease during their trip. on september 7, hajdu ordered an "independent review" of the "early warning system" after media reports in july documented how the global public health intelligence network (gphin), formerly a phac subgroup, was deemed by a senior bureaucrat to be unnecessary. on september 18, 2020, conservative party leader erin o'toole tested positive for covid-19, after a staffer in his office tested positive. the same day, bloc quebecois leader yves-françois blanchet also tested positive. on september 23, in a speech from the throne, prime minister trudeau declared canada was currently in the second wave of covid-19. october on october 4 a west african man who had travelled onwards from toronto to halifax and thence to deer lake, newfoundland died of covid-19. health officials decided to raise the alarm and request that passengers on the final leg of his flight "self-monitor for symptoms". on october 19, air transat announced the closure of its vancouver base and laid off half of its remaining flight attendants. prior to the pandemic, the airline had employed 2,000 flight attendants. as of november, it planned to employ 117 flight attendants. on october 20, aviation workers gathered to protest at parliament hill. on october 22, the european union cancelled the covid travel corridor that allowed canadians to enter any european territory without quarantine lockdown. in june 2020, canada had been as one of 14 countries that were allowed to enter by the eu. the reversal of status was caused by the resurgence in coronavirus cases that canada began to experience in late october. on october 23, apparel retailer le chateau, which had 123 locations across canada and employed 1,400 people, announced it was filing for ccaa protection, blaming covid-19. november on november 6, nunavut confirmed its first case in sanikiluaq. on november 10, as manitoba went under lockdown, trudeau "urged premiers and mayors across the country not to loosen restrictions for the sake of the economy and suggested localized shutdowns are needed in areas seeing a surge in cases", saying i would hope that no leader in our country is easing public-health vigilance because they feel pressure not to shut down businesses or slow down our economy. on november 23, a report said that the atlantic bubble was defunct under pressure from increasing covid-19 sightings. on november 29, public safety minister bill blair and health minister patty hajdu extended the ban on international travellers who had non-essential purposes. the rules were first imposed in march, and were to be extended until january 21, 2021 "for travellers entering canada from a country other than the united states. among the rules is a requirement for anyone entering the country to self-isolate for 14 days upon entry into canada." december prime minister justin trudeau announced on december 7, that the first of 249,000 doses out of a total of 4 million doses of the pfizer–biontech covid-19 vaccine will arrive before the end of the year. on december 9, the vaccine was approved by health canada for use. on december 14, the first tranche of vaccinations began across the nation. some sources initially indicated that anita quidangen, a personal support worker from toronto, who was the first canadian to receive a dose, but later it was determined that it was gisèle lévesque, an 89-year-old resident of a long-term care home in quebec city who was the first. effective at 12:01am on december 21, canada halted flights from the united kingdom due to concerns over the variant of concern 202012/01 variant of sars-cov-2. on december 23, health canada approved the mrna-1273 covid-19 vaccine developed by moderna. canada will receive up to 168,000 doses of the vaccine by the end of 2020, the first tranche of a total 40 million doses currently ordered for 2021. on december 30, the federal government announced all air travellers entering the country from outside of canada must now provide a covid-negative pcr test within 72 hours of boarding their flight into the country effective january 7, 2021. this is in addition to the mandatory 14-day quarantine mandated by the quarantine act. additional rules also mean the traveller will have to spend time in a federal facility if officers find their self-isolation plans unsatisfactory. 2021 january on january 7, the new rule for air travellers requiring a negative pcr test before boarding their departing flight to canada came into effect. travellers caught unaware of the new rules were reportedly turned away from their flights in countries like cuba and mexico. the test requirement came at the end of the travel ban on flights from u.k., amid fears of the spread of variant of concern 202012/01 variant of covid-19. westjet was highly critical of the new rules, citing the lack of time they had to prepare for the new requirements. despite the new rules, passengers on 20 separate flights arriving from warmer climates (including united states, barbados, aruba, mexico, panama and the dominican republic) over the winter holidays were exposed to the virus before the new rules came into effect. following the new rules, on january 21, 2021, transport minister omar alghabra announced at least 50,000 flights were cancelled in canada. on january 8, amid rising cases across the country, prime minister trudeau promised a speed up of the vaccine rollout which has been criticized as being slow moving. the federal government supplies the vaccine doses, however it is up to the individual provinces to administer them. reports of canadian snowbirds travelling to the united states for quicker access to the vaccine have emerged. states like florida and arizona have lowered their requirements to include anyone over the age of 65 to have access to free vaccination. in mid-january pfizer notified canada of its intentions to retool its manufacturing plant in belgium in order to meet world-wide demands for the vaccine. initially canada was told it would receive less doses than anticipated, however, this was later changed to a significant drop in delivered doses and no doses the week of january 25. provinces who have nearly depleted their current vaccine stock have set back dates to administer second doses of the vaccines to those who have already received their first, with uncertain medical knowledge lengthening the time of said second dose would affect efficacy. on january 29, 2021, prime minister trudeau announced new national travel restrictions, including the suspension of flights by major airlines to and from the caribbean and mexico beginning january 31 until april 30. in the coming weeks, new foreign flights must only land in vancouver, calgary, toronto or montreal and travellers must undergo a covid-19 pcr test and isolate in an approved hotel while awaiting results at the traveller's expense. also on january 29, moderna announced delays of 20 to 25 percent delivery of product to the country for the month of february. february on february 2, 2021, trudeau announced a deal with novavax to produce covid-19 vaccines at the biologics manufacturing centre, making it the first to be produced domestically. the novavax covid-19 vaccine is currently awaiting approval by health canada. this is the first deal signed by canada that allows a domestic manufacturing of a foreign vaccine. the contract with novavax is for 52 million doses of the vaccine. following the recommendations of the covid-19 vaccine and therapeutics task forces and covid-19 joint biomanufacturing subcommittee, the federal government announced investment in two biomanufacturing companies—vancouver-based precision nanosystems incorporated (pni) and markham, ontario-based edesa biotech inc. (edesa). pni, biotechnology company, will receive up to $25.1 million to build a "$50.2 million biomanufacturing centre to produce vaccines and therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of diseases such as infectious diseases, rare diseases, cancer and other areas of unmet need". edesa will receive up to $14 million to edesa biotech to "advance work on a monoclonal antibody therapy for acute respiratory distress syndrome, which is the leading cause of covid-19 deaths. on february 3, covax published the country-by-country vaccine distribution forecast to covax participants—canada will receive 1,903,200 doses of the oxford–astrazeneca vaccine by the end of the first half of 2021. on february 9, prime minister trudeau announced a negative pcr test will be required within 72 hours of entering canada through the land border with the united states. the change will come into effect on february 15. on february 12, the canadian government announced additional details about the incoming international travel measures first announced in late january. effective february 22, all arriving international travellers will have to present a negative pcr covid-19 test 72 hours before boarding their departing flight, take a pcr test on arrival in canada and quarantine for three days at a supervised hotel for three days awaiting the results of their test at their own expense. additionally they will be required to take a third pcr covid-19 test at the end of their 14-day quarantine at home. essential workers such as transport workers continue to be exempt from mandatory testing and quarantine. on february 26, health canada approved the oxford-astrazeneca covid-19 vaccine for use. march on march 5, health canada approved the janssen covid-19 vaccine for use. the vaccine is the only approved vaccine to currently require one shot. also on march 5, pfizer announced an increase in vaccine delivery for the nation, adding an additional 1.5 million vaccines to its schedule by the end of march for a total of 8 million vaccines to be delivered.