The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Thursday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
7:19 p.m. Schools in British Columbia will soon get rapid antigen tests as a way to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 among staff, including teachers and administrators, The Canadian Press reported.
The Education Ministry says 200,000 test kits are being shipped to elementary and high schools in an effort to keep them open, according to CP.
It says the number of teaching and non-teaching staff will determine how many kits go to each school district as well as independent and First Nation schools.
The ministry says it’s working with experts and school districts to improve ventilation systems and additional funding for improvements will soon be made available.
The Health Ministry says 2,150 new cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in B.C., and 15 more people have died, for a total of 2,520 deaths.
It says 58 facilities, mostly long-term care homes, are experiencing outbreaks, along with at least seven hospitals around the province.
5:21 p.m. The Canadian Press has published a look at the latest COVID-19 news in Canada:
- Ontario will soon begin easing COVID-19 restrictions, starting by boosting the size of social gathering and reopening businesses such as restaurants, gyms and cinemas with capacity limits, with an eye to lifting all constraints by mid-March. Premier Doug Ford says he’s announcing a phased reopening plan because public health indicators are starting to show signs of improvement. “We can be confident that the worst is behind us,” he said. “While we can be confident in how far we’ve come, I want to be crystal clear: we’re not out of the woods yet. The coming weeks will continue to pose real challenges, especially to our hospitals.”
- High schoolers across Ontario are lobbying their school boards and the province for a “freeze” on grades for the remainder of this Omicron-interrupted semester after some boards said final marks wouldn’t fall further than where they were at the end of last year.
- Quebec cannot begin loosening COVID-19 restrictions because the situation in the province’s hospitals remains too fragile, Premier François Legault says. “The situation will continue to be difficult for the next few weeks. I understand that we are all tired, but lives are at stake,” Legault says. “We are currently at the limit in our hospitals.” Quebec’s Health Department reported the first drop in COVID-19 patients in the province since Dec. 16. It said that 3,411 people were in hospital with the disease — 14 fewer than the day before — after 352 patients were admitted and 366 were discharged. It said 285 people were in intensive care, unchanged from the day before.
- Leaked government modelling indicates that Saskatchewan’s hospitalizations from COVID-19 will reach record levels by mid-February if people don’t reduce the size of their gatherings. It says a best-case scenario would see more than 500 patients admitted — nearly double the number the province experienced last fall during the Delta wave. Six of Saskatchewan’s largest unions representing 113,000 front-line workers are demanding more safety measures to blunt the rise of hospitalizations.
- Nunavut’s health minister says he’s concerned too many residents are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19. John Main says he wants people to encourage their friends and family members to get a shot. Chief public health officer Dr. Michael Patterson says a person who died from COVID-19 earlier this week was over 70 years old and was not fully vaccinated. Government figures show 71 per cent of those five and older have had two doses of vaccine.
- Newfoundland and Labrador health officials say students in kindergarten to Grade 12 will return to in-class learning on Tuesday. Students will have to take two rapid tests before returning to school — one 72 hours before they return and the other on Tuesday morning, before classes begin. Tony Stack, chief executive officer of the province’s English school board, says there is plenty of help available from retired teachers, teaching assistants and about 1,100 substitute teachers if large numbers of teachers have to stay home.
- Nova Scotia is reporting three more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus. Officials say a woman in her 50s died in the Halifax area, a man in his 70s died in the province’s eastern zone and a woman in her 70s died in the northern zone. The province has reported 11 COVID-19-related deaths in the last four days. Officials are also reporting 18 new hospital admissions due to the novel coronavirus and say 12 patients are in intensive care.
- New Brunswick is reporting three more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus. Officials say a person in their 50s died in the Saint John region, someone in their 70s died in the Moncton area and an individual in their 80s died in the Edmundston region. They say 124 people are in hospital with the disease, including 12 in intensive care.
- Health officials in Prince Edward Island are reporting 249 new cases of COVID-19 along with 292 more recoveries. There are 2,471 active reported cases in the province, down 43 from Wednesday. Officials say 10 people are hospitalized with the disease, including two people in intensive care.
4:31 p.m. The top doctor for Indigenous Services Canada says he’s cautiously optimistic the Omicron-driven wave of the pandemic may be flattening across First Nations, The Canadian Press reports.
Dr. Tom Wong, the department’s chief public health officer, says for this to happen nationally, communities need to maintain their health measures, according to CP.
As of last week the department reported nearly 85 per cent of people 12 and older living on First Nations have received both their doses of vaccine to protect against COVID-19.
Wong says there are communities in every region with lower-than-anticipated vaccine uptake, and so far only 20 per cent of adults on reserve have been immunized with a third booster dose.
The department says there are roughly 5,000 active cases on First Nations.
Wong says now is not the time for leaders to relax health rules brought in to blunt the spread of COVID-19 because the Omicron variant is highly contagious.
4:21 p.m. A surging number of COVID-19 infections, driven by the Omicron variant, is putting increasing strain on the already overwhelmed healthcare system, The Canadian Press reports.
There were more than 1,100 people hospitalized for the virus in Alberta Wednesday, with expectations that admissions will soon exceed record highs seen during the previous wave, according to CP.
Dr. Shazma Mithani, an emergency room physician in Edmonton, says wait times are longer than she has seen in at least five years.
Mithani says she is worried, as this wave continues to surge, that people needing treatment for COVID-19 and other medical emergencies could have worse outcomes because of stretched wait times.
3:50 p.m. Niagara’s beleaguered medical officer of health says he is standing by his orders to enhance COVID-19 safety measures in schools despite being admonished for his efforts by Ontario’s top public health official, The Standard reports.
In a statement Thursday morning, Dr. Mustafa Hirji acknowledged a request from Dr. Kieran Moore to drop expanded masking, case management and air quality monitoring measures, but said his orders stand, according to Standard reporter Grant LaFleche.
“We appreciate the feedback of the chief medical officer of health (CMOH) regarding these measures and have discussed them with our school board partners,” said Hirji’s statement. “(We) will be proceeding with these measures in order to give children, teachers, and other school staff additional protection as we successfully resume in-person schooling.”
The statement comes after a pointedly critical Jan. 15 letter from Moore to Hirji was circulated on social media, first by members of Niagara’s anti-vaccine community Wednesday night, then Thursday morning by Ontario doctors.
“We now have Ontario’s CMOH dressing down highly competent local MOHs (medical officers of health) for following science to protect kids and communities,” tweeted Dr. David Fisman, physician and professor of epidemiology at the University of Toronto.
In his letter, Moore said he was writing Hirji to express his “concern with your approach to in-person school and childcare in Niagara.”
The letter, which indicates Moore and Hirji had spoken about the issue previously, says the Niagara doctor has gone beyond provincial guidelines about schools and COVID-19, including requiring a verified doctor’s note for a student to be exempt from wearing a mask and providing portable HEPA filters for classrooms with poor ventilation. Moore also criticized Hirji’s orders to increase the amount of time a cohort of students will be dismissed from schools following a positive COVID-19 test, to seven days from the provincial recommendation of five.
“While very disruptive to parents and children when it happens, its benefits in health outweigh that disruption in our estimation,” said a Jan 14 memo from Hirji to Niagara school boards.
3:50 p.m. Ontario’s top doctor has taken issue with a local public health leader’s decision to introduce stronger COVID-19 measures in schools around virus-related dismissals, masks and air filtration, The Canadian Press reports.
Dr. Kieran Moore says he was concerned that Dr. Mustafa Hirji’s plans for the Niagara Region could give rise to greater rates of student absenteeism, according to CP.
Moore says he wrote to the region’s medical officer of health this month to outline his concerns about its approach to schools, because he wants the province to take a consistent approach.
He says the province is in touch with the health unit about its plans.
Meanwhile, Hirji says his health unit plans to go ahead with its local measures to allow for added protection for students and staff.
The Niagara Regional Health Unit declined to share copies of Hirji’s original memos outlining the specific pandemic measures for schools, saying details were still being finalized as of Thursday.
But a copy of Moore’s Jan. 15 letter to Hirji outlined several of the region’s plans, including a direction to monitor carbon dioxide levels in all classrooms and install HEPA filters that read over a certain level.
Moore’s letter said the province isn’t aware of a correlation between CO2 levels and virus transmission and raised concern about the financial costs of that requirement.
He also questioned a plan to dismiss class cohorts for seven days in some cases, which is longer than the five-day isolation recommended by the province for people infected with COVID-19.
Moore wrote that this could have negative impacts on the well-being of children and their families.
He also expressed concern over plans to ask for medical exemptions to the mask requirement in schools.
And he took issue with Hirji moving forward with the measures without consulting the labour or education ministries.
The criticism from Moore comes as schools reopen across Ontario with little information on COVID-19 cases due to changes in testing policy that has made PCR tests less accessible.
The province isn’t sharing data on COVID-19 cases in schools but says it will start reporting absence rates next week — but it won’t say whether absences were virus-related.
At a news conference on Thursday, Moore noted that he found it unusual for public health physicians to get involved in policies that affect workplaces, and said he wanted to get clarity from Hirji on the move.
But throughout the pandemic, medical officers of health across Ontario have often introduced stricter COVID-19 rules affecting workplaces, businesses and schools than those in place provincewide.
During a wave of infections last spring, medical officers in Toronto and Peel decided to close schools to in-person learning before the province announced a similar move.
In recent months, Ontario officials including Premier Doug Ford and Moore have said publicly that local public health units can and should take their own measures to deal with the pandemic if the regional situation calls for it.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath called Moore’s admonishment of Hirji’s school measures “shameful.”
She said Hirji should be thanked for taking more protective measures than the province is on schools.
Three NDP legislators representing the region also issued a joint statement in support of Hirji. Jennie Stevens, Jeff Burch, and Wayne Gates along with candidate Dave Augustyn said Moore’s letter “has Ford’s fingerprints all over it” and said Niagara is doing the right thing to try and keep schools open for longer.
3:42 p.m. Barberian’s Steak House is teaming up with University Health Network today for a vaccination clinic aimed at frontline food and hospitality workers.
The clinic is offering first, second and third doses to people in the industry. No appointment or identification is required. Shots are being given until 6 p.m. at Barberian’s (7 Elm St., Toronto).
“By opening our doors and hosting this ‘low-barrier’ vaccine clinic, we show that restaurants are part of the solution,” Arron Barberian, the steak house’s owner, said in a statement. “The only way for society to end the unprecedented hardship of COVID-19 on restaurant & hospitality workers, suppliers and restaurant owners is to lower the hospital ICU load.
“This clinic is a small but essential step in that direction. The sooner we are all vaccinated, the sooner our doors will open.”
1:52 p.m. Canada Post says it is seeking “clarification” from the federal government about face masks after drawing criticism for refusing to let employees bring their own N95 masks to work.
The Crown corporation earlier this week said employees had to use a Canada Post-issued cloth mask or disposable medical mask, or they would be sent home.
Today a spokesman tells The Canadian Press they are looking to understand from federal authorities if mask guidance has changed.
Jon Hamilton says the health and safety of employees is the top priority, and the Crown corporation “strictly adhered” to guidance from health experts.
1:40 p.m. Nunavut’s health minister says he’s concerned too many residents are either not vaccinated or not fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
John Main says he wants people to encourage their friends and family members to get a shot.
Chief public health officer, Dr. Michael Patterson, says a person who died from COVID-19 earlier this week was over 70 years old and was not fully vaccinated.
Government figures show 71 per cent of those five and older have had two doses of vaccine.
There are 175 reported cases of infection spread over 19 communities.
1:27 p.m. Health officials in Prince Edward Island are reporting 249 new cases of COVID-19 Thursday along with 292 more recoveries.
There are 2,471 active reported cases in the province, down 43 from Wednesday.
Officials say 10 people are hospitalized with the disease, including two people in intensive care.
Another three patients are in hospital for non-COVID-19 reasons but who have tested positive following routine screening.
Meanwhile, the provincial government is extending some programs to help businesses impacted by the pandemic and offering a new wage-rebate program.
1 p.m. Leaked government modelling indicates that Saskatchewan’s hospitalizations from COVID-19 will reach record levels by mid-February if people don’t reduce their gathering sizes.
It says a best-case scenario would see more than 500 patients admitted — nearly double what the province experienced last fall during the Delta wave.
Six of Saskatchewan’s largest unions representing 113,000 front-line workers are demanding more safety measures to blunt the rise of hospitalizations.
During a joint news conference today, they asked Premier Scott Moe to immediately mandate recommendations made by chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab.
They include a 10-person cap on gatherings and a limit on interprovincial travel.
12:45 p.m. The number of people in Quebec hospitals with COVID-19 has declined for the first time since Dec. 16.
The Health Department says 3,411 people were in hospital with the disease, 14 fewer than the day before, after 352 people were admitted and 366 were discharged.
It says 285 people were in intensive care, unchanged from the day before.
Officials are today reporting 98 additional deaths linked to the disease, the highest number of deaths reported in a single day since May 2020. The Health Department did not say how many of those deaths took place within the previous 24 hours.
Authorities say 6,528 new COVID-19 cases were detected in the previous 24 hours and 12 per cent of tests came back positive, however they warn the numbers provide a partial picture because testing is restricted to certain higher-risk groups.
12:05 p.m. Recent data suggests COVID-19 infections may have peaked or be close to peaking in Toronto, even though the health-care system remains strained, according to Dr. Eileen de Villa, medical officer of health, speaking at a press conference on Thursday morning.
The seven-day moving average of COVID-19 cases in Toronto dropped from 1,854 on Jan. 11 to 1,414 on Jan. 19. Per cent positivity also decreased during the same period, from 23.8 per cent to 20.3 per cent.
In addition, wastewater surveillance, which involves testing sewage samples for the presence of the COVID-19 virus, measured a potential plateau or slight decline in virus activity in Toronto, between Dec. 9 to Jan. 8.
11:37 a.m. (updated) The end of the month will bring the lifting of Omicron restrictions, starting in three-week stages intended to keep the most contagious strain of COVID-19 yet from taking off again.
Closures of indoor restaurant dining, gyms, and cinemas are slated to end Jan. 31 with a move to 50 per cent customer capacity, Premier Doug Ford said Thursday as the provinces continues to cope with record-high hospitalization levels.
But there have been signs that COVID-19 infection rates are easing as the fast-moving Omicron variant appears to be peaking after racing through the province since it emerged in late November.
10:45 a.m. Three Australian Federal Court judges on Thursday revealed their reasons for backing a government order to deport tennis star Novak Djokovic, explaining they did not consider the “merits or wisdom of the decision.”
The judges on Sunday unanimously endorsed Immigration Minister Alex Hawke’s decision to deport the 34-year-old Serb following an urgent court challenge on the eve of what was to be Djokovic’s first match in defense of his Australian Open title. Djokovic accepted the verdict and flew from Melbourne to the United Arab Emirates hours later.
Chief Justice James Allsop and Justices James Besanko and David O’Callaghan on Thursday released a 27-page explanation of why they rejected Djokovic’s challenge.
10:23 a.m. Ontario is reporting 4,061 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 with 594 in ICU; 55 per cent were admitted to the hospital for COVID-19 and 45 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have tested positive for COVID-19.
10:12 a.m. On Jan. 23, Team Toronto’s latest mass vaccination event Vax The Northwest will be taking place at York University’s Aviva Centre in Northwest Toronto. Appointments for the clinic will open at 8 a.m. today in the provincial vaccine booking system, available by calling 1-833-943-3900 or by booking online
The clinic is focused on vaccinating people of all eligible ages from Northwest Toronto neighbourhoods, with a focus on neighbourhoods with lower vaccination rates.
9 a.m. The 75 fatal cases Ontario is set to report this morning are the most in any day since Feb. 4, 2021, ranking as the 8th deadliest day of the pandemic so far, reports the Star’s Ed Tubb.
7:32 a.m. Interest rate hikes are on the horizon as inflation in Canada continues to soar.
Experts say consumers can expect a slight cooling in the real estate market, continuing high prices for food and other products, and possibly higher wages as well.
The annual pace of inflation climbed to a three-decade high in December 2021, according to Statistics Canada, hitting 4.8 per cent compared to the previous year. The steep rise is driven in part by the higher costs of real estate, food and passenger vehicles. And, as 2022 unfolds, economists say it’s not over yet.
5:54 a.m.: A school in B.C. could be under investigation by public health.
Based on a review of attendance patterns, it has been determined that Rosemont School has met a potential activity signal — a new term coined to refer to a threshold based on school attendance — according to a letter sent out by the school.
Once the threshold has been met it means public health will investigate further to determine if absences are related to a health matter and additional actions are needed.
A large number of absences at the school — which is a kindergarten to Grade 5 school located in the Rosemont neighbourhood of Nelson — prompted suspicions that there might be COVID-19 activity in the school.
Currently, no additional actions are being recommended although attendance throughout the week has been low.
If a school is to be closed it will be announced as early as possible so people can arrange child care, with the principal communicating to staff and all families informing them of the closure as well as how long it will be closed, noted the SD8 website.
5:52 a.m.: Ontario Premier Doug Ford is expected to make a “positive” announcement today about COVID-19 restrictions.
He told Ottawa radio station CFRA that he would have news about changing the level of restrictions this week, and a senior government source says that announcement is coming today.
It follows Health Minister Christine Elliott’s media availability yesterday when she said the province is seeing “glimmers of hope” in the fight against the Omicron variant.
She says COVID-19 cases are expected to peak this month and hospitalizations and ICU admissions will follow.
Elliott says February will continue to pose challenges, but the province is confident in its ability to care for patients in hospital and intensive care.
The province closed restaurants to in-person dining in early January at the same time that it temporarily shuttered gyms and moved schools to remote learning.
Schools reopened earlier this week.
5:51 a.m.: With COVID-19 hospitalizations in Canada still threatening to overwhelm the health-care system, officials hope two antiviral treatments could help ease the strain.
A new study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal suggests the antiviral medication remdesivir could have a “modest but significant effect’’ on COVID-19 patient outcomes, including decreasing the need for mechanical ventilation by approximately 50 per cent.
Billed as the largest single-country trial of remdesivir reported to date, the Canadian research is part of a larger study called the World Health Organization Solidarity, a randomized, controlled trial evaluating the medication’s impact on COVID-19 patients in several countries.
Meanwhile, provinces and territories are to receive their shipments of the antiviral drug Paxlovid, although Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cautions the pill that can prevent COVID hospitalization is not a replacement for vaccinations.
5:49 a.m.: Austria’s Parliament is due to vote Thursday on introducing a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for adults, the first of its kind in Europe.
The mandate drawn up by the government would apply to all residents of Austria age 18 and over, with exemptions for pregnant women, individuals who for medical reasons can’t be vaccinated, and people who have recovered from a coronavirus infection in the past six months.
It appears assured of approval. Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s governing coalition, made up of his conservative Austrian People’s Party and the Greens, worked with two of the three opposition parties in Parliament on the plan. The other opposition party, the far-right Freedom Party, vehemently opposes it.
The plan is for the vaccine mandate to become law at the beginning of February. To start with, authorities will write to every household to inform them of the new rules.
5:47 a.m.: Now, almost two years later, Spain is preparing to adopt a different COVID-19 playbook. With one of Europe’s highest vaccination rates and its most pandemic-battered economies, the government is laying the groundwork to treat the next infection surge not as an emergency but an illness that is here to stay. Similar steps are under consideration in neighbouring Portugal and in Britain.
The idea is to move from crisis mode to control mode, approaching the virus in much the same way countries deal with flu or measles. That means accepting that infections will occur and providing extra care for at-risk people and patients with complications.
Spain’s center-left prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, wants the Europe Union to consider similar changes now that the surge of the omicron variant has shown that the disease is becoming less lethal.
“What we are saying is that in the next few months and years, we are going to have to think, without hesitancy and according to what science tells us, how to manage the pandemic with different parameters,” he said Monday.
Sánchez said the changes should not happen before the omicron surge is over, but officials need to start shaping the post-pandemic world now: “We are doing our homework, anticipating scenarios.”
5:45 a.m.: New Zealand is among the few remaining countries to have avoided any outbreaks of the omicron variant — but Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Thursday an outbreak was inevitable and the nation would tighten restrictions as soon as one was detected.
But she also said that New Zealand would not impose the lockdowns that it has used previously, including for the Delta variant.
“This stage of the pandemic is different to what we have dealt with before. Omicron is more transmissible,” Ardern said. “That is going to make it harder to keep it out, but it will also make it more challenging to control once it arrives. But just like before, when COVID changes, we change.”
Ardern said that within 24 to 48 hours of omicron being detected in the community, the nation would move into its “red” setting. That would allow businesses to remain open and domestic travel to continue, but would require schoolchildren to wear masks and limit crowds to 100 people.
Currently most of New Zealand is at the “orange” setting, which requires some mask wearing and proof of vaccination but doesn’t limit crowd sizes.
Thursday 5:43 a.m.: Because the omicron variant was first identified in late November, it is too early to say how long symptoms of infection can persist. It is also unclear whether, like previous versions of the virus, it can lead to the emergence of problems like brain fog or extreme fatigue after the infection has resolved.
While recent reports suggest that omicron may cause less severe initial illness than other variants, the basic symptoms of infection with omicron are similar to infection with other variants, suggesting that long-term effects could also be similar.
Milder initial illnesses do not necessarily mean that omicron is less likely to lead to long COVID, doctors, researchers and patient-led groups caution. Studies from earlier waves of the pandemic indicate that many people who had mild or asymptomatic initial reactions to coronavirus infection went on to develop long COVID that persisted for months.
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