OTTAWA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- A total of 1,010 people have died of COVID-19 across Canada as of Wednesday evening, and the number of confirmed cases has surpassed 29,000, official data showed.

The French-speaking province of Quebec so far has 487 COVID-19 deaths, the highest number among all provinces in the country.

The largest province of Ontario reported 51 new fatalities on Wednesday and 43 on Tuesday, bringing its total deaths to 385.

Quebec has by far the most confirmed cases at 14,860, eclipsing the caseload of 8,447 in Ontario. The two provinces combined accounted for 85 percent of Canada's total confirmed cases of 29,379 as of Wednesday evening.

The situation is particularly dire in Quebec. The province's Premier Francois Legault said that long-term care residences for seniors, which have been hard hit by COVID-19, are short of more than 2,000 workers, and he called on physicians to help nurses and orderlies with their work.