The latest novel coronavirus news from Canada and around the world on Thursday:

Canada has a total of 148 cases (145 confirmed, three presumptive, and 11 resolved.

Ontario has seen a surge of 17 new coronavirus virus cases, including a baby boy, in the last day for a total of 59, five of which have recovered and been cleared. Seven of the new cases had travelled in the United States.

At least 144 people in Canada have now tested positive for COVID-19, including 53 in B.C., 19 in Alberta, one presumptive in Sakatchewan, three in Manitoba, 13 in Quebec and one presumptive in New Brunswick.

10:58 p.m. Durham College is cancelling classes at all of its campuses until Monday.

10:30 p.m. Ontario Tech University announces that Friday classes will be cancelled and midterms on Saturday will be cancelled. Campus tours for March Break are also being postponed.

9.52 p.m. ﻿The PMO announced Sophie Grégoire Trudeau had tested positive for COVID-19. Her symptoms are mild and Trudeau, who has no symptoms, will stay in isolation for 14 days.

He will address Canadians about the outbreak Friday morning and his office says he plans to continue to carry out duties from isolation.

8:12 p.m. Some EarlyOn drop-in centres are closing.

8 p.m. Western University in London, Ont. announces that classes will be cancelled between March 12 and 17. From March 18 onwards, classes will be held online.

7:37 p.m. Jury trials in Ontario have been suspended, said John Struthers, president of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association. Trials in progress will finish at the discretion of the trial judge.

6:55 p.m. Health officials in British Columbia are advising against all non-essential travel outside of Canada including to the United States, The Canadian Press reported.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says anyone who chooses to travel outside of Canada will be required to stay away from work or school for 14 days upon their return.

She is also recommending that organizers cancel any events for 250 or more people.

Henry made the announcement as the province recorded seven new cases of COVID-19

6.29 p.m. The Home Show in Toronto, including Canada Blooms, closed “in compliance with the province’s direction to help reduce possible risk regarding the spread of COVID-19/Corona virus.” This year’s Green Living Show, scheduled for March 13-15 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, was cancelled.

6 p.m. Researchers from Sunnybrook Hospital, the University of Toronto and McMaster University say they have isolated the virus that causes COVID-19.

5.54 p.m. All large gatherings of more than 250 people and international events (such as sporting events) are cancelled in Alberta. It’s recommended that Albertans don’t travel outside the country. Any Albertan returning should self-isolate, the province’s chief medical officer says.

5.42 p.m. Quebec Premier Francois Legault asked people returning from abroad to self-isolate for 14 days and cancelled large indoor gatherings Thursday as he called on the population to join the fight against the spread of COVID-19.

Currently, there are 13 confirmed cases in the province, and two people are hospitalized. All of the cases are linked to international travel, and the virus does not appear to be spreading locally, the province’s director of public health said.

4:20 p.m.: The NCAA has cancelled all its 2020 championships, including the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments known as March Madness.

4:08 p.m.: The TSX closed down more than 1,700 points or 12.34 per cent as the North American stock market rout continues. This is a bigger drop than the 11.3-per-ceent fall on Black Monday of 1987.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average posted its biggest loss since 1987, closing down at almost 10 per cent.

3:59 p.m.: Ontario schools will be shut down for two weeks following the March Break to help fight the spread of COVID-19.

The unprecedented move — believed to be a first for the province, and country — begins March 23 and impacts the province’s more than 4,800 schools and two million students.

This means that all publicly funded Ontario schools have been ordered to remain closed from Saturday through to April 5.

3:11 p.m.: Major League Baseball announces that it will delay Opening Day by at least two weeks over COVID-19 fears. The Blue Jays home opener was originally supposed to be March 26 against the Red Sox. Spring training games have also been suspended.

2:29 p.m.: Health Minister Patty Hajdu says Canadians looking at whether to travel for March break should consider staying home.

Speaking to reporters before question period in the House of Commons, Hajdu said her advice to Canadians considering travel during school spring break is that they should consider a “staycation.”

Canadians are being encouraged to continue to check travel advisories before leaving for any international trips.

2:16 p.m.: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says the state will ban all gatherings with 500 or more people in an effort to contain the virus.

Cuomo says the ban will start for most places on 5 p.m. Friday. Broadway theatres will be affected earlier.

Cuomo said Thursday that venues of under 500 people can only be filled to half their capacity.

The move comes after several major cultural institutions in New York City including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall announced they would temporarily close.

2:12 p.m.: Toronto Fire Chief Matthew Pegg, who is heading the city’s emergency operations centre, says planning has been underway since January. Currently looking at city-run meetings against mass gatherings guidance and that some may be postponed, going online. All non-essential business travel for City staff is now cancelled.

2:10 p.m.: Eileen de Villa, Toronto medical officer of health, stresses that those who have been in close contact with someone who does not have COVID-19 but who was exposed to someone with COVID-19 “do not require specific public health followup.” Monitor own health and practise good hygiene.

2:05 p.m.: De Villa asking if you travelled outside of Canada to carefully monitor themselves for 14 days. If they have any symptoms, asked to please stay home and contact public health. They should also avoid public events and contact with elderly people. Anyone who travelled in Italy, Iran, Hubei province in China asked to self isolate upon return. Canadians being asked to avoid all cruise ship travel. There have been 29 positive cases being monitored in Toronto, while four others are recovered.

2 p.m.: Organizers say Montreal is postponing its annual St. Patrick’s Day parade.

The United Irish Societies of Montreal announced that the 197th edition of the parade will not occur as scheduled on March 22 because of COVID-19 concerns.

The decision was made in conjunction with the City of Montreal not long after the Quebec government banned indoor gatherings involving more than 250 people.

Montreal joins Toronto, New York City, Chicago, Boston and Dublin in calling off St. Patrick’s Day parades.

1:30 p.m.: The National Hockey League suspended its season Thursday, following the lead of the NBA and other sports leagues in trying to mitigate the deadly spread of the coronavirus.

The announcement came just hours before the Toronto Maple Leafs were set to host the Nashville Predators and interrupts the season just weeks before the playoffs were set to begin.

All teams had cancelled practices and morning skates across the league on Thursday as commissioner Gary Bettman conferred with owners and the NHL Players’ Association about next steps.

1:14 p.m.: Manitoba has announced its first presumptive case of COVID-19 and officials are warning people to stop shaking hands, rethink travel plans and reconsider attending large public events.

Health Minister Cameron Friesen said a woman who recently travelled to the Philippines has tested positive for the novel coronavirus through the provincial lab. The test will now be sent to the national microbiology lab in Winnipeg.

The woman, who is in her 40s, self-isolated after returning to Winnipeg and went to a health-care facility wearing a mask a few days later. She continues to be isolated at home, Friesen said, adding that public health officials are connecting with people she may have contacted since her return.

12:53 p.m.: Conservative leadership candidate Peter MacKay says he is suspending all campaign events for the foreseeable future due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

12:47 p.m.: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s communications director tested positive for the new coronavirus, just days after travelling with Bolsonaro to a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida.

A statement from the president’s communications office on Thursday said director Fábio Wajngarten’s test results have come back positive, and that the presidency is adopting preventive measures to ensure Bolsonaro’s health.

Wajngarten joined Bolsonaro on a three-day trip to the U.S. and on Saturday was at the Mar-a-Lago resort, where he posted a photo of himself posing beside Trump. A video from the event also showed him standing directly behind both presidents as they addressed a crowd.

12:20 p.m.: A breakdown of Ontario’s 17 new cases: nine in Toronto, two in Peel region, two in Waterloo, one each in Ottawa, Hamilton, Halton and Muskoka. One of the cases is a baby boy, who was in close contact with another patient and attended North York General Hospital in Toronto.

The province says it doesn’t appear that any of the cases were due to community transmission.

The new patients are in regions across southern Ontario, including Toronto, Peel, Waterloo and Muskoka, and all have been released into self-isolation.

Some of the patients had recently travelled to places including the United States, Spain and Puerto Rico.

The province says it has tested more than 4,100 people for the virus so far, and the vast majority of the tests have come back negative.

12:13 p.m.: Quebec Premier Francois Legault is asking all people returning from travel abroad to self-isolate for 14 days.

The measure will be mandatory for all government employees.

He is also asking organizers to cancel all indoor events attracting crowds of more than 250 people and all other large gatherings that are not considered essential.

12:10 p.m.: Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh announces that he has been tested for COVID-19 because he has been unwell. He says his doctor doesn’t believe he has symptoms consistent with COVID-19. But he will limit contact with the public, on doctor’s advice.

11:59 a.m.: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife are in self-isolation over COVID-19 concerns, which has forced the cancellation of an in-person meeting of Canada’s first ministers. Sophie Gregoire Trudeau came down with flu-like symptoms after returning from a trip to U.K. She is being tested for COVID-19 and her symptoms have since subsided, the PMO said in a statement Thursday.

11:56 a.m.: Ontario announces that there are 17 more cases of COVID-19, including a baby boy under 1 years old. All are travel-related or had close contact. There have been 4,185 people tested to date, with 3,590 negative, 536 under investgation and 5 resolved.

11:51 a.m.: Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Health says the province has its first presumptive case of COVID-19.

The province’s chief medical health officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab, says the person recently travelled to Egypt.

The person, who is about 60, was tested in Saskatoon earlier this month and has been self-isolating at home.

11:45 a.m.: Halton Region announces its second COVID-19 case, an Oakville woman in her 40s who travelled to Colorado. She also travelled on WestJet Flight 2644 to Liberia, Costa Rica on March 7 and then returned on WestJet Flight 2643 to Toronto on March 9. Passengers on those flights are urged to self-monitor for symptoms for 14 days.

11:42 a.m.: Major League Soccer has suspended its season for 30 days over coronavirus concerns. Toronto FC has played two games this season, winning once with the other ending in a draw.

11:40 a.m.: Toronto’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade has been cancelled amid the COVID-19 outbreak. The city’s St. Patrick’s Parade Society made the announcement this morning.

The event had originally been scheduled to take place this Sunday. The cancellation marks an about-face for the society, which had released a statement on Wednesday saying the parade would go ahead.

11:28 a.m.: Fear about the economic impact of COVID-19 gripped investors as North American stock markets plunged in late-morning trading.

The S&P/TSX composite index was down 1,358.67 points or nearly 10 per cent at 12,911.42.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 2,028.87 points at 21,524.35. The S&P 500 index was down 210.19 points at 2,531.19, while the Nasdaq composite was down 564.57 points at 7,387.48.

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.34 cents US compared with an average of 72.75 cents US on Wednesday.

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11:25 a.m.: The Juno Awards have been cancelled amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The show, which celebrates Canadian music, was to take place Sunday at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.

The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences says the decision was made with input and guidance from provincial tourism and health authorities.

11 a.m.: Waterloo has two more COVID-19 cases, Anam Latif of the Waterloo Region Record reports. The first is a woman in her 60s returning from a Caribbean cruise, the second is a man in his 40s who returned from Las Vegas. It’s the third confirmed case for Waterloo Region.

11 a.m.: Ontario’s premier says concerns over COVID-19 shouldn’t prevent people from going on vacation for March Break.

Speaking at a press conference in Ottawa, Ford said he wants people to have a good time and enjoy themselves.

He says the province is monitoring the situation daily and things may change, but for now, people shouldn’t alter their plans.

The remarks come ahead of a first ministers’ meeting set for later today.

10:40 a.m.: The Philippine president has suspended domestic travel to and from the Manila area for a month and authorized sweeping quarantines in the region to fight the new coronavirus.

President Rodrigo Duterte also banned large gatherings in the metropolis, suspended most government work and extended the suspension of classes by a month in new restrictions announced Thursday in a nationwide TV address.

10:07 a.m.: The NHL is advising clubs to forgo morning skates and practices.

The league is also advising against team meetings, citing what it calls “uncertainty regarding next steps” related to COVID-19.

The NHL says it plans to make an announcement about the future of the season later today.

10:05 a.m.: The Raptors announce that players, coaches and travelling staff are all in self-isolation for 14 days. The Toronto Raptors played the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City on Monday night. On Wednesday evening, testing revealed that a Jazz player, reportedly Rudy Gobert, tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.

They are also asking fans who came in contact with anyone from the organization this week to be extra vigilant for signs of coronavirus. Team members have made two public appearances since returning to Toronto from Utah.

9:49 p.m.: The TMX Group says market-wide circuit breakers were tripped to pause trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX Venture Exchange and TSX Alpha.

The pause came after the S&P/TSX composite index fell more than 1,000 points at the start of trading.

The S&P 500 dropped about 7 per cent within the first few minutes of Thursday’s trading, steep enough to trigger an automatic halt to trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The index is set to join the Dow in entering a bear market after losing more than 20 per cent from its record set last month, and one of the greatest eras in Wall Street’s history is crumbling.

9:35 a.m.: Ontario says the province’s first wave of dedicated assessment centres for COVID-19 will open in the next several days.

The facilities will be at the Brampton Civic Hospital, The Ottawa Hospital, North York General Hospital, Mackenzie Health, Scarborough Health Network and Trillium Health Partners.

More centres are set to open across the province in the coming weeks and will be separate spaces to protect patients in the rest of the hospital.

The province has also approved new physician billing codes for telephone assessments and is launching a provincewide public education campaign with ads on social media, search engines, radio and in print.

8:42 a.m.: The City of Toronto announced that it has entered the next phase in its ongoing management of COVID-19, with the implementation of a city-wide task force.

In a news release, it says the Emergency Operations Centre is at a Level One activation, which involves monitoring the situation here and around the world. It coordinates internal efforts at the City to ensure it meets the needs of residents and businesses should the activation level change.

In the release, it says the COVID-19 task force comprises key managers from all City divisions and agencies and are now situated at the centre, planning for various responses, including:

the potential for increased staff absenteeism due to illness and the impact on the City’s ability to deliver core services

global supply chain challenges for personal protective equipment, like masks and gloves for frontline workers and first responders

actions undertaken to protect vulnerable populations, such as those experiencing homelessness or in City-run long-term care homes

developing, sharing and continually updating critical information for residents and visitors to the city

forecasting and responding to economic impacts the pandemic may have on residents and businesses.

8:25 a.m.: A spokeswoman for New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs says he will not attend the first ministers meeting today in Ottawa now that his province has reported its first presumptive case of COVID-19.

Spokeswoman Nicolle Carlin said this morning Higgs has decided he must stay in New Brunswick.

On Wednesday, Higgs said the Ottawa meeting should be held via teleconference, noting there is a travel ban for New Brunswick government employees as a result of the pandemic.

Dr. Jennifer Russell, New Brunswick’s chief medical officer, says health officials learned Wednesday that a woman between 50 and 60 years old living in the southeastern area of the province was “minimally symptomatic” after returning from a trip to France.

New Brunswick is the first Atlantic province to report a presumptive case of the disease.

8:21 a.m.: Dow Jones futures are down more than 1,000 points as U.S. stock markets brace for more losses Thursday after President Donald Trump’s speech on the coronavirus outbreak seemingly failed to ease investors’ concerns.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were showing a drop of 5 per cent, or 1,194 points. Futures for the S&P 500 declined 5 per cent, or about 138 points.

On Wednesday, the Dow dropped 1,464 points, dragging it 20 per cent below the record set last month and putting the index in a bear market. If the S&P 500 closes down more than 1 per cent, that would put the index in bear market territory and bring an end to the longest bull market in U.S. history.

Overseas markets suffered steep losses. Most stock markets in Asia fell more than three per cent and markets in Europe are seeing declines of six per cent or more.

8:06 a.m.: Inmates at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre are being quarantined after an offender claimed to have been previously in contact with someone with COVID-19.

The infection protocol was done as a precautionary measure. Alberta and B.C. officials confirmed they haven’t identified the individual identified by the offender as being infected, said Noel Busse, Director of Communications for Saskatchewan Ministry of Justice/Corrections and Policing on March 11.

“Until we have completely ruled out any potential contact between this individual and COVID-19, we are undertaking precautionary infection control measures in our correctional facilities as necessary.”

Seven inmates were being transported with the original offender. Six living areas out of 13 are under quarantine at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre.The quarantine impacts 158 offenders.

7:33 a.m.: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was tested for the new coronavirus on Thursday after meeting with Cabinet officials who were exposed to infected people and have now been self-quarantined, an official said.

Duterte has no symptoms of COVID-19 but wanted to make sure he is healthy and can continue to engage with the public, said Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, a former presidential aide who still accompanies Duterte to official functions.

“Considering that some Cabinet members we engage with regularly have been exposed to individuals who were tested positive for COVID-19 ... it is just prudent for us to take precautionary measures in compliance with the advice of our health officials,” Go said.

7:28 a.m.: Iran said Thursday it had asked for an emergency $5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund to help fight the spread of a new virus that’s swept across the country, infecting more than 10,000 people and killing hundreds.

Iran’s Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour announced in a now-daily televised news conference that 75 people had died in the past 24 hours and more than 1,000 new cases of infection had been confirmed, pushing the death toll to 429 and confirmed cases to 10,075.

In a tweet Thursday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif urged the IMF to “stand on right side of history & act responsibly” by releasing the funds through the international lender’s Rapid Financial Instrument. Iran’s Central Bank chief Abdolnasser Hemmati said Thursday he made the request for $5 billion last week in a letter to IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva. The IMF has said it stands ready to support countries battling the virus.

7:05 a.m.: The European Union on Thursday lashed out at President Donald Trump’s “unilateral” decision to restrict travel from Europe to the United States over the coronavirus, saying that the illness does not respect borders.

Trump announced that all European travel would be cut off, but U.S. officials later clarified that restrictions would apply only to most foreign citizens who have been in Europe’s passport-free travel zone at any point for 14 days prior to their arrival to the United States.

“The European Union disapproves of the fact that the U.S. decision to impose a travel ban was taken unilaterally and without consultation,” EU Council President Charles Michel and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a joint statement.

“The coronavirus is a global crisis, not limited to any continent and it requires co-operation rather than unilateral action,” the two said.

5:16 a.m.: A spike in cases in the Persian Gulf states helped push infections in the Middle East for the new coronavirus past 10,000 cases on Thursday, with most infected people either in Iran or having recently travelled there.

Iran has asked for an emergency $5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund to combat the outbreak there, which has killed more than 360 people and infected some 9,000 people in the Islamic Republic. Iran’s Central Bank chief Abdolnasser Hemmati said Thursday he made the request last week in a letter to IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva. The international lender has said it stands ready to support countries through a Rapid Financial Instrument.

—with files from The Canadian Press