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The federal government is ordering more than 75 million syringes, alcohol swabs and bandages so it can inoculate Canadians as soon as a COVID-19 vaccine is ready. Procurement Minister Anita Anand says Ottawa intends to stockpile enough vaccine supplies to give at least two doses to every Canadian whenever a vaccine is available.

More people are testing positive for COVID-19 in British Columbia, including a baby in a neo-natal intensive care unit in a Vancouver hospital.

Gym owners warn that it won't be fitness as usual as many Ontario facilities implement new measures to keep members safe while they get back in shape after months of COVID-19 languor. Fitness centres in much of Ontario are set to reopen Friday as part of Stage 3 of the government's COVID-19 restart plan. However, exercise enthusiasts in regions stuck in Stage 2, such as Toronto and Peel, will have to sweat it out on their own for a bit longer.

Federal health officials are extending the U.S. ban on cruise ships through the end September as coronavirus infections rise in most U.S. states, including Florida. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday that it was extending a no-sail order that had been scheduled to expire July 24.

Another record for monthly overdose deaths related to illicit drugs has been set in British Columbia, prompting the former provincial health officer to call for radical steps to reduce fatalities including access to pharmaceutical-grade heroin produced in Canada. Dr. Perry Kendall, now interim director at the BC Centre on Substance Use, said access to injectable diacetylmorphine needs to be ramped up after a sharp rise in overdose deaths four years after he declared a public health emergency.

Canada, Britain and the United States denounced Russian hackers on Thursday for trying to steal research on COVID-19 vaccines from organizations in all three countries and around the world. Thursday's joint declaration, led by Britain, said the hackers were almost certainly working for Russian intelligence and accused them of disrupting the global efforts to find a vaccine for the novel coronavirus.

lberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro says it's not true that doctors are quitting or withdrawing services in large numbers because of changes to fees and billing. Shandro says in a statement that the reports are nothing more than a bargaining tactic in the pay dispute between the government and physicians

Although the Canadian border has been closed since March 21 to limit the spread of COVID-19, the number of international travelers counted at Canadian airports has increased considerably in recent weeks. Between June 29 and July 12, 91,300 travelers entered Canada, according to the Canada Border Services Agency. About 40,000 of the 91,000 passengers were neither Canadian citizens nor permanent residents of the country.