Ottawa, Dec 20 (IANS): As of Saturday afternoon, Canada's Covid-19 cases surpassed 500,000, reaching 500,242, with 14,128 deaths, while the vaccine rollout is under way in the country, according to CTV.

The latest 100,000 cases racked up in just 15 days across the country, marking the shortest growth period since the Covid-19 pandemic was declared in March, the Xinhua news agency reported.

It took six months for Canada to register its first 100,000 cases of the Covid-19, another four to reach 200,000, less than a month to hit 300,000 and 18 days to hit 400,000.

Earlier on Saturday, Ontario and Quebec, the country's two most populous provinces hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, each recorded daily case counts beyond 2,000.

It's the fifth consecutive day Ontario exceeded 2,000 new positive tests, with Saturday's count at 2,357.

Five regions in Ontario are scheduled to be in the province's lockdown stage as of Monday.

Quebec recorded 2,038 new infections and 44 new deaths related to the novel coronavirus.

At this time, there are 75,695 active cases across the country. Covid-19 is spreading among people of all ages, with high infection rates across all age groups, said the Public Health Agency of Canada on Saturday, adding that infection rates remain highest among those aged 80 years and older who are at highest risk for severe outcomes.

Theresa Tam, Canada's chief public health officer, said in a statement on Saturday that the latest long-range projections forecast more than 8,000 new cases a day in the country at the beginning of January 2021.

Although the projections are lower than those made last week, she warned that they are "still significant and put us on a trajectory for a strong resurgence for the next two months."