Canada's top public health officer says the best way to ensure a safe holiday season during the COVID-19 pandemic is to limit gatherings and only go out for essentials.

Dr Theresa Tam is urging Canadians to be cautious amid what she describes as rapid epidemic growth across the country.

Her advice comes as Quebec and Ontario, the provinces with the most cases and deaths to date, recorded 1,154 and 1,534 new COVID-19 cases, respectively, over the past 24 hours.

Atlantic Canada is also experiencing a recent increase in cases, while numbers continue to soar in Nunavut.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, which reported three new cases today, Memorial University is postponing plans to bring some staff back to work next week and the small town of Deer Lake is asking residents to stay home and businesses to close.

Nunavut reported 18 new cases today, taking the territory's total to 128 with the bulk concentrated in the community of Arviat.