Canada's COVID-19 cases top 650000

People wearing face masks line up for COVID-19 tests outside a COVID-19 assessment center in Toronto, Canada, on January 9, 2021.

Quebec has now reported 228,821 positive COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.

Hospitalisations and deaths were increasing in the country.

Sherbrooke police said they issued around a dozen fines to people protesting the province's COVID-19 regulations.

The province broke the 3,000-case mark for the first time on Saturday, joining Ontario which has recorded such numbers for weeks.

The province's health-care professionals administered 9,264 vaccinations Saturday, which is 3,837 fewer than the 13,101 administered Friday.

The curfew, meant to slow the spread of COVID-19, will be in effect from 8 p.m.to 5 a.m. over the next four weeks.

Premier Francois Legault announced earlier this week that Quebecers will have to stay home from 8 p.m.to 5 a.m.in an effort to prevent people from gathering in defiance of public health guidelines.

Those caught violating the new measure could face fines of up to $6,000.

On Saturday morning, Quebec Premier Francois Legault noted that imposing an overnight curfew was a hard, but necessary decision in order to limit the chances of residents gathering illegally.

Despite official health guidelines against COVID-19 demanding non-essential travel should be avoided, more than 4,253 Canadians visited Hawaii by both direct and connecting flights between December 1, 2020 and January 7, 2021, CTV reported on Saturday.