Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reporting 1,824 cases of COVID-19; Canadian Armed Forces ordered to begin prep for COVID-19 vaccine distribution
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.
10:40 a.m. Canada's big banks are seeing their first glimmers of hope suggesting an economic rebound is on its way, but their leaders say there's still plenty to be wary of.
As the year winds to a close with three potential COVID-19 vaccines on the horizon, the chief executives of Canada's major banks say they are seeing consumer spending return to pre-pandemic levels.
They are also seeing signs of resilience in some housing markets and improved auto sales, but there are concerns too.
Some are expecting the unemployment rate will remain higher than it was before the virus spread for years and economic growth will be hard-earned.
The predictions were made throughout this week as Canada's most prominent banks reported their fourth-quarter results.
The banks all managed to beat analyst expectations and report a profit, but only half earned more this quarter then they had during the same period a year ago.
10 a.m. (will be updated): Ontario is reporting 1,824 cases of COVID-19 and 14 deaths. Locally, there are 592 new cases in Peel, 396 in Toronto and 187 in York Region. There are 1,541 more resolved cases and nearly 52,900 tests completed.
9:10 a.m. The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell as the nation celebrated Thanksgiving last week to a still-high 712,000, the latest sign that the U.S. economy and job market remain under stress from the intensified viral outbreak.
Thursday's report from the Labor Department said that initial claims for jobless aid dropped from 787,000 the week before. Before the virus paralyzed the economy in March, the number of people applying for unemployment benefits each week had typically amounted to roughly 225,000. The chronically high pace of applications shows that nearly nine months after the pandemic struck, many employers are still slashing jobs.
Thanksgiving seasonals likely explain the drop" in jobless claims last week, Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, wrote in a research note. Expect a rebound next week.''
The total number of people who are continuing to receive traditional state unemployment benefits declined to 5.5 million from 6.1 million. That figure is down sharply from its peak of nearly 23 million in May. It means that some jobless Americans are finding jobs and no longer receiving aid. But it also indicates that many of the unemployed have used up their state benefits, which typically expire after six months.
8:30 a.m. IBM security researchers say they have detected a cyberespionage effort using targeted phishing emails to try to collect vital information on the World Health Organization's initiative for distributing COVID-19 vaccine to developing countries.
The researchers said they could not be sure who was behind the campaign, which began in September, or if it was successful. But the precision targeting and careful efforts to leave no tracks bore the potential hallmarks of nation-state tradecraft," they said in a blog post Thursday.
The campaign's targets, in countries including Germany, Italy, South Korea and Taiwan, are likely associated with the development of the cold chain" needed to ensure coronavirus vaccines get the nonstop sterile refrigeration they need to be effective for the nearly 3 billion people who live where temperature-controlled storage is insufficient, IBM said.
Think of it as the bloodline that will be supplying the most vital vaccines globally," said Claire Zaboeva, an IBM analyst involved in the detection.
Whoever is behind the operation could be motivated by a desire to learn how the vaccines are best able to be shipped and stored - the entire refrigeration process - in order to copy it, said Nick Rossmann, the IBM team's global threat intelligence lead. Or they might want to be able to undermine a vaccine's legitimacy or launch a disruptive or destructive attack, he added.
In the ploy, executives with groups likely associated with the initiative known as Covax - created by the Gavi Vaccine Alliance, the World Health Organization and other U.N. agencies - were sent spoofed emails appearing to come from an executive of Haier Biomedical, a Chinese company considered the world's main cold-chain supplier, the analyst said.
The phishing emails had malicious attachments that prompted recipients to enter credentials that could have been used to harvest sensitive information about partners vital to the vaccine-delivery platform.
8:14 a.m. With the cold weather upon us, cases of COVID-19 are expected to continue to grow across the province through the virus's second wave.
To help Ontarians get a sense of the spread of the virus in their community, the Star has built a table that tracks the weekly incidence rate of cases in each of the province's 34 public health units and categorizes each region according to the provincial government's COVID-19 Response Framework.
Developed as an early warning system," the framework alerts health officials about when to scale restrictions up or down in each health unit in response to the pandemic. Once a health unit moves to a new level, the province says it will remain there for 28 days or what it refers to as two incubation periods of the virus."
Read the full story from Kenyon Wallace and Patty Winsa
7:45 a.m. Vaccine skeptics have found a voice in Parliament, even though it may be a lone one.
Conservative MP Derek Sloan is sponsoring a petition that calls COVID-19 vaccines rushed, unsafe and effectively human experimentation."
The petition calls on the government to legally ensure COVID-19 vaccines are voluntary" - despite repeated assurances that a vaccine will only be authorized if safe, and it will not be mandatory - and claims COVID-19 vaccines are not designed to prevent infection or transmission."
The four vaccines currently under review by Health Canada use different methods or technologies but all are designed to stimulate an immunity response to prevent infection and illness. Scientific data is still unclear whether vaccines will also prevent a recipient from further spreading the virus.
Read the full story from the Star's Tonda MacCharles
7:40 a.m. The owner of Adamson Barbecue, who faces charges for publicly defying the city's ban on indoor dining, has never had a business licence for his original Leaside location, but has only been fined a total of $800 since 2016, the Star has learned.
That's less than what he would have had to pay in annual fees to the city to actually obtain a licence - $510.65 for the initial licence and $307.80 to renew annually - over the last five years.
And it's far less than the $25,000 maximum fine for an individual and $50,000 for a corporation if convicted of operating without a business licence.
The restaurant is also not allowed under current city zoning rules.
Read the full story from the Star's Jennifer Pagliaro
7:34 a.m. A second senior information technology employee has been fired from the Ontario government after the alleged theft of $11 million in pandemic relief funds, the Star has learned.
Shalini Madan was terminated with cause from her $132,513-a-year job as manager of E-Ministries Support at the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services.
She had been suspended with pay since Aug. 11.
Her dismissal came after her husband, Sanjay Madan, was sacked from his $176,608-a-year post as director in the Ministry of Education's iAccess Solutions Branch in early November.
Read the full story from the Star's Robert Benzie
6:56 a.m.: Coronavirus infections in Russia hit a new record on Thursday, as the country's authorities reported 28,145 new confirmed cases - the highest daily spike in the pandemic and an increase of 2,800 cases from those registered the previous day.
Russia's total number of COVID-19 cases - nearly 2.4 million - remains the world's fourth-highest. The government coronavirus task force has reported 41,607 deaths in the pandemic.
The country has been swept by a rapid resurgence of the outbreak this fall, with numbers of confirmed COVID-19 infections and deaths regularly hitting new highs and significantly exceeding those reported in the spring. The country's authorities have resisted imposing a second nationwide lockdown or a widespread closure of businesses. Virus-related restrictions vary from region to region but are largely mild.
This week officials in St. Petersburg, Russia's second largest city and one of the hardest-hit cities in the country, announced additional restrictions in an effort to curb the spread of the virus. Local authorities ordered restaurants, cafes and bars to close between Dec. 30 and Jan. 3, and museums, theatres, concert halls and exhibition spaces to shut down for the duration of the New Year holidays between Dec. 30 and Jan. 10. Restaurants, cafes and bars have to close by 7 p.m. from Dec. 25 to Dec. 29 and again from Jan. 4 through Jan. 10.
6:22 a.m.: A coalition of disability rights groups is calling on Doug Ford's government to make public the directions they plan to give hospitals about how to decide who should be prioritized for life-saving treatment if intensive care units become overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients.
The call comes after the government's initial COVID-19 triage protocol - which leaked in March, but was never officially released - was rescinded after it was criticized for discriminating against people with disabilities.
We write about a life-and-death issue now facing Ontarians," reads the open letter, signed by more than 60 organizations and sent Thursday to Ford, Health Minister Christine Elliott and Raymond Cho, the minister responsible for seniors and accessibility.
Read the full story from the Star's Brendan Kennedy here.
6:20 a.m. A lot has happened since the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cooking fatigue is setting in. The novelty of baking sourdough bread or growing green onions at home has worn off.
So what can home cooks do? Here are some tips from Star's Karon Liu.
6:18 a.m.: Two weeks after York Region managed to avoid being locked down like its neighbouring municipalities, COVID-19 cases continue to climb with local hospitals above or nearing capacity and some areas seeing startling numbers of people testing positive. But the region has yet to sound the alarm.
York's current infection rate of 111 cases per 100,000 population per week is higher than what Toronto was reporting on the day it entered lockdown, Nov. 23, according to the Star's ongoing tally. The region logged 202 new COVID-19 infections on Dec. 2 and has a test positivity rate of 6.29 per cent, which is above the rate Toronto reported the week leading up to its lockdown.
As well, new data released Wednesday by the Toronto-based non-profit ICES (formerly the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences) revealed an area within York Region that borders Brampton has a test positivity rate of 20.4 per cent - the second highest in the province.
Read the full story from the Star's Noor Javed and Megan Ogilvie.
6:15 a.m.: The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts the country is about to go through the most difficult time in the public health history of the nation."
Dr. Robert Redfield made the comment during a U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation webcast Wednesday.
Redfield says earlier surges in COVID-19 illnesses were concentrated in one area of the country or another, and health care workers and equipment could be shifted from one place to another to deal with it. But now, he says,all parts of the country are seeing rising infections and illnesses.
In Redfield's words: The reality is December and January and February are going to be rough times. I actually believe they are going to be the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation."
6:15 a.m.: Turkey's health minister has announced a plan for vaccinations starting with an experimental inactivated vaccine later in December to combat the COVID-19 pandemic amid a surge in infections and deaths.
Minister Fahrettin Koca had previously announced an agreement with Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac for 50 million doses of CoronaVac, with the first shipment to arrive after Dec. 11. The minister said early-use authorization would be granted after Turkish labs confirm the vaccine's safety.
If developments continue positively as we expect, Turkey would be among the first countries in the world to begin vaccinations in the early phase," Koca said Thursday.
Health care workers, citizens above 65 and people living in care homes will be the first groups to be vaccinated. Next will be essential workers and people above 50 with at least one chronic disease. Third will be people younger than 50 with at least one chronic illness, young adults and other workers would be vaccinated. The fourth and final phase will be for the rest of the population. Turkey's president has said the vaccine will be administered free of charge.
In November, The Lancet published a study about the efficacy of Sinovac's vaccine, saying efficacy was determined to be moderate.
6:01 a.m.: Nearly 100 world leaders and several dozen government ministers are scheduled to speak at the UN General Assembly's special session that opens Thursday to discuss the response to COVID-19 and the best path to recovery from the pandemic, which has claimed 1.5 million lives and shattered economies in both rich and poor countries.
Assembly President Volkan Bozkir said when he took the reins of the 193-member world body in September that it would have been better to hold the high-level meeting in June. Nonetheless, he said Wednesday that the session provides a historic moment for us to come together to beat COVID-19."
6 a.m.: Up soon for President-elect Joe Biden: naming his top health care officials as the coronavirus pandemic rages. It's hard to imagine more consequential picks.
Already one prominent candidate to lead the Department of Health and Human Services has faded from the scene. New Mexico Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham was offered another Cabinet post - interior secretary - and turned it down, a person close to the Biden transition said Wednesday. That person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. Lujan Grisham's office had no comment.
Biden is expected to announce his choice for HHS secretary next week. Rhode Island Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo has emerged as a focus of attention for the top health job.
5:58 a.m.: Hundreds of thousands of masked students in South Korea, including 35 confirmed COVID-19 patients, took the highly competitive university entrance exam Thursday despite a viral resurgence that forced authorities to toughen social distancing rules.
About 493,430 students were taking the one-day exam at about 1,380 sites across the nation, including hospitals and other medical facilities where the 35 virus patients and hundreds of other test-takers in self-quarantine sat separately from others, according to the Education Ministry.
The annual exam, called suneung," or the College Scholastic Ability Test, is crucial for many students in the education-obsessed country, where job prospects, social standing and even who you marry can often depend on which university you graduate from.
Defence and land ministries said they temporarily banned military exercises and stopped air traffic to reduce noise during English-language listening parts of Thursday's exam, as they did in past years. Government offices and many private companies asked their employees to come in late, and the country's stock market delayed its opening to clear roads for test-takers.
5:56 a.m.: The first wave of COVID-19 triggered an increase in psychiatric drug prescriptions in long-term care homes, new data shows, and geriatrics experts warn this puts patients with dementia at risk for further harm from falls, stroke and sedation.
Faced with staff shortages and lockdowns that restrict caregiver visits, nursing homes increasingly fall back on medications to regulate behaviour and manage mental health concerns, says Toronto geriatrician Dr. Nathan Stall.
Prescriptions of antipsychotics, antidepressants, sleeping medications and benzodiazepines all increased between March and September, according to a study of Ontario's 623 licensed nursing homes.
This is an abrupt reversal after years of declining use of sedative medications in seniors, says Stall, who led the study.
Overall, an additional 1,000 residents are being prescribed antipsychotics who were not on the medication before the pandemic," Stall says. The jump occurred following restrictions on visitors and congregate activities such as dining and recreational groups.
Read the full story from the Canadian Press.
5:53 a.m.: Hannah Storrs has needed to take more breaks than usual during her shifts on a 24-hour crisis line as the COVID-19 pandemic intensifies the struggles of those reaching out for help.
Distress Centre Calgary says suicide-related calls, texts and chats were up 66 per cent in October compared with the same month in 2019.
Of the more than 4,800 interactions last month, nearly one-quarter dealt with suicide. That could mean someone contemplating ending his or her life or an attempt in progress.
We're seeing it more back-to-back rather than the odd one here and there that is more intense," says Storrs, the centre's crisis team lead.
Read the full story from the Canadian Press.
5:50 a.m.: The Canadian Armed Forces received formal orders last week to start planning for the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, though the military's top commander says preparations have been underway for longer - and that his force will be ready.
The order is contained in a planning directive issued last week by chief of the defence staff Gen. Jonathan Vance. It lays out in detail for the first time how the military expects to help with vaccine distribution.
It notes the possibility of having to pick up COVID-19 vaccine doses from the United States and Europe on short notice, and outlines concerns the military will be asked to help distribute the vaccine while also responding to floods and other emergencies.
The emergence of the directive comes ahead of an expected fight Thursday between the federal Liberal government and the Opposition Conservatives, who are set to introduce a motion in the House of Commons demanding details of Ottawa's vaccine rollout.
The directive was obtained by The Canadian Press and confirmed to be authentic by multiple sources, including the defence chief.