Ottawa, Dec 5 (IANS) Amid a raging second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, Canada reported 3,763 new cases in the past 24 hours, taking the overall infection tally to 400,031, according health authorities.

The Public Health Agency of Canada said on Friday that the country's death toll has also increased to 12,470, reports Xinhua news agency.

The spread of the pandemic across Canada has been accelerating.

The national average case count is now close to 6,200 cases reported daily over the last seven days, and 87 deaths each day, according to Public Health Agency of Canada.

The country recorded its 300,000th case on November 16.

It took six months for Canada to record its first 100,000 confirmed cases, four months to reach the 200,000 threshold and less than a month to hit 300,000.

The government has reiterated its call to remain vigilant in stopping the spread of the virus, despite promising vaccine news.

Canada expects the first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to be administered in January, which will go to the country's most vulnerable populations.

"The latest longer range modelling forecasts that if we stay on the same trajectory we could reach 10,000 cases daily by January," Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam said in a statement on Friday.

"The progression of the COVID-19 pandemic has been filled with difficult news as rapid epidemic growth continues and high infection rates are affecting more and more health regions," she said, adding "the impacts of ongoing community spread are increasingly being felt in high-risk populations and settings, including long term care homes and hospitals".

--IANS

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