Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reporting a record 2,275 new COVID-19 cases and 20 deaths; Health Canada says Moderna vaccine on track to be approved
The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Tuesday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
10:48 a.m.: In Ontario's long-term care homes, 695 residents currently have COVID-19 and one new death has been reported today.
The province says 134 of its 626 long-term care homes are experiencing an outbreak.
10:45 a.m.: The deadly virus that swept Canada this year dominated headlines as it killed thousands of Canadians, sickened tens of thousands of others and prompted profound social and economic dislocation.
The pandemic, an event whose global impact is unsurpassed in recent history, burst into the collective consciousness in March, infusing conversations and news reports alike.
Now, in what one editor described as a no-brainer, the country's news editors, publishers and broadcasters have chosen COVID-19 as news story of the year in an annual survey by The Canadian Press.
10:40 a.m.: Ontario is reporting an additional 319 cases in public schools across the province, bringing the total in the last two weeks to 1,745 and 6,664 overall since school began.
In its latest data released Tuesday morning, the province reported 270 more students were infected for a total of 1,445 in the last two weeks; since school began there have been an overall total of 4,594.
The data shows there are 48 more staff members infected for a total of 295 the last two weeks - and an overall total of 977.
There are 913 schools with a reported case, which the province notes is 18.9 per cent of the 4,828 public schools in Ontario.
Twenty schools are closed because of an outbreak. The data notes that all schools in Windsor-Essex county are currently closed for in-person learning. However, the data doesn't indicate the other closed schools in the province.
There are 10 Toronto District School Board schools closed and three Toronto Catholic schools closed.
There is a lag between the daily provincial data at 10:30 a.m. and news reports about infections in schools. The provincial data on Tuesday is current as of 2 p.m. Monday. It doesn't indicate where the place of transmission occurred.
The Toronto District School Board updates its information on current COVID-19 cases throughout the day on its website. As of Tuesday at 10:15 a.m., there were 467 students infected, 99 staff and 724 resolved cases.
The Toronto Catholic District School Board also updates its information on its website. As of Tuesday at 8:30 a.m., there were 69 schools with at least one active case. There are 110 active student cases and 17 staff.
Epidemiologists have told the Star that the rising numbers in the schools aren't a surprise, and that the cases will be proportionate to the amount of COVID that is in the community.
10:40 a.m.: The Quebec government is set to announce new COVID-19-related restrictions later today in an effort to get transmission of the virus under control.
Premier Francois Legault told various media on Monday that the holidays presented an opportunity to tamp down the second wave of the novel coronavirus.
Legault says the province won't be completely shuttered like it was during the spring.
Speaking to Montreal 98.5 FM, Legault noted that construction sector is already closed and schools will switch to online learning after Wednesday, ahead of the Christmas break.
In an interview with Radio-Canada, Legault said he was inspired by Germany's approach, which announced on the weekend it would close all non-essential businesses beginning Wednesday and until Jan. 10.
Legault hasn't said specifically what businesses or sectors will be shut, but in the province's so-called red zones, bars, restaurant dining, gyms and entertainment venues are already closed until at least Jan. 11.
In the most recent figures released on Monday, the province reported a seven-day average of 1,766 new daily infections, with 890 patients in hospital.
10:10 a.m. (will be updated) Ontario reporting a record COVID-10 2,275 cases and 20 deaths. The seven-day average is up to 1,927 cases daily, a record. Labs are reporting 39,566 tests and 5.4 per cent positivity. Locally, there are 711 new cases in Toronto, 586 in Peel, 185 in Windsor-Essex County and 154 in York Region. There are 1,810 more resolved cases and nearly 39,600 tests completed.
Public heath has updated its data extraction process resulting in a one-time increase in case counts and some variations in results.
10:05 a.m. With the cold weather upon us, cases of COVID-19 are expected to continue to grow across the province through the virus' 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 the Star's Kenyon Wallace and Patty Winsa
10 a.m. Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi has cancelled a planned visit Tuesday to Italy at the last minute, after one of his ministers accompanying him on a visit to France tested positive for the coronavirus.
Mechichi had been on a three-day trip to France, where he met French Prime Minister Jean Castex, as well as the presidents of the Senate and the National Assembly.
It's unclear whether any of these officials are impacted by the news. Senior French political officials have repeatedly said that they adhere to strict sanitary protocols during the pandemic.
According to the official TAP news agency, Minister of Economy and Finance Ali Kooli was found positive for Covid-19 during tests carried out in Paris before the planned trip to Rome. TAP reported that the other members of the delegation tested negative for the virus.
9:30 a.m. Jo-Anne Miner has become the first person to receive the vaccine in Ottawa.
Miner, 48, is a personal support worker at St. Patrick's Home in Ottawa.
She says she feels fine," after receiving the vaccine and she hopes everyone gets the shot to protect our most vulnerable."
She was the first of 100 people scheduled to receive the vaccine today in Ottawa.
9 a.m. Melania Trump isn't letting the coronavirus pandemic break a decadeslong tradition of first ladies visiting a Washington children's hospital at the holidays.
She planned her fourth and final holiday visit as first lady to Children's National on Tuesday, continuing a tradition begun more than 70 years ago by first lady Bess Truman.
The hospital tweaked the holiday program to safely accommodate the visit.
The first lady will still sit in a chair in front of a towering Christmas tree in the hospital's atrium. But she'll read to a small, socially distanced group of children rather than a big crowd of patients and their families, hospital staffers and singers and dancers.
8:40 a.m. A Santa Claus who took photos with dozens of kids was diagnosed with COVID-19, Georgia officials say.
The man tested positive for the disease after playing the role of Santa at holiday-themed festivities last week, said Robert D. Parker, chairman of the Long County Board of Commissioners.
Mrs. Claus, who was available for visits with children at the same event, also later received positive COVID-19 test results, Parker wrote Monday in a Facebook post.
I have personally known both Santa' and Mrs. Claus' my entire life and I can assure everyone that they would have never knowingly done anything to place any children in danger," the post said. They have both filled these roles for many years, and bringing joy to children during the holidays is one of the most important parts of their lives."
8:35 a.m. There's no question dads have stepped up during the pandemic; playing more often with the kids, cooking dinner a few more nights a week, perhaps. Maybe even helping with homework.
But, since March, when the virus tipped everyone's life upside down, women report they are still doing the lion's share of parental tasks, according to a new study released Tuesday by Statistics Canada.
While men surveyed as part of Caring for Their Children; Impacts of COVID-19 on Parents" said they shared equally in some of the tasks during COVID, including putting kids to bed and taking them to school, men working outside the home were less likely to say they did more than women.
But the study showed that even the men who worked from home, appeared to do less than the women.
Read the story from the Star's Michele Henry
8:15 a.m. The European Union's anti-fraud body said almost 140,000 litres of dangerous hand sanitizer have been seized across the region since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) said Tuesday the product originated from Turkey and was contaminated with dangerous levels of methanol, a substance likely to create headaches, blurred vision and that can sometimes lead to blindness when used in hand sanitizers.
OLAF started the operation in August after Danish authorities passed on information relating to the seizure of 6,000 litres of hand sanitizer from Turkey. The anti-fraud body then relayed the information to all 27 EU member states and OLAF spotted a suspicious shipment to Ireland at the end of September.
7:50 a.m. Visitors to the Toronto Voluntary Isolation Centre get free Wi-Fi, three catered meals daily, and a personalized welcome note from medical officer of health Dr. Eileen de Villa - but no room key, an effort to encourage those with COVID-19 to stay inside their rooms.
The isolation hotel, the first of its kind in Canada when it opened three months ago, is by all accounts safe, quiet and comfortable. Yet only about 150 people have opted to use the facility so far, a fraction of its peak capacity.
It's not because of a lack of need. Cramped, unsuitable housing, where self-isolation may be difficult or impossible, continues to be a major driver of new infections in the city, data suggests.
Experts say the facility is vital. But they fear the people who need it most are being missed, because of how referrals are managed and because the city and province lack a co-ordinated strategy to support the marginalized, low-income residents who have been hit hardest throughout the pandemic.
Read the full story from the Star's Kate Allen
7:30 a.m. How safe would you feel on an airplane right now if a person sitting near you wasn't wearing a mask?
As the global COVID-19 pandemic continues, air safety regulators around the world - including Transport Canada - have made masks mandatory for passengers.
In Canada, that policy comes with a few exceptions - including allowing people who aren't able to wear a mask for medical reasons to still board.
Antimask activist Chris Saccoccia - better known as Chris Sky - made that point crystal clear this past weekend, tweeting out a video of himself on board an Air Transat flight, maskless.
Read the full story from the Star's Josh Rubin
7:20 a.m. Five years as a registered nurse and personal support worker at the Rekai Centres long-term-care facilities and Colette Cameron has never seen anything like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Receiving her COVID-19 vaccination Monday helped mark the start of Canada's recovery from the virus, which has disproportionately impacted seniors at long-term-care homes. The shots were developed by drug company Pfizer and their distribution on Monday across Canada launched the beginning of the largest immunization campaign in the country's history.
I feel so very privileged and honoured to be asked to step up to get the vaccine," Cameron who is also the centres' executive director of long-term care, told the Star Monday. The world has been through this awful devastation, and the only light at the end of the tunnel from what I can see is the vaccine. So to be one of the first to get that ...it's a real honour."
Read the full story from the Star's Jenna Moon
6 a.m.: There's no question dads have stepped up during the pandemic; playing more often with the kids, cooking dinner a few more nights a week, perhaps. Maybe even helping with homework.
But, since March, when the virus tipped everyone's life upside down, women report they are still doing the lion's share of parental tasks, according to a new study released Tuesday by Statistics Canada.
While men surveyed as part of Caring for Their Children; Impacts of COVID-19 on Parents" said they shared equally in some of the tasks during COVID, including putting kids to bed and taking them to school, men working outside the home were less likely to say they did more than women.
But the study showed that even the men who worked from home, appeared to do less than the women.
The men were more likely to say they share the tasks equally," study author Karine Leclerc told the Star. But men tend to overestimate their contribution to unpaid work related to the family as well as all domestic and parental responsibilities. This trend is well known, in fact."
Read the full story by Michele Henry here.
5:51 a.m.: A respiratory therapist who treated the first two COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Puerto Rico became the first person in the U.S. territory to be vaccinated against the virus on Tuesday.
Yahaira Alicea had treated an Italian couple who visited the island aboard a cruise ship in March. The woman later died. Alicea said it was a fearful moment for her that wore her down physically and emotionally as she urged everyone to get vaccinated.
This is what we want, for this pandemic to end," Alicea said. Don't be afraid."
A health official approached Alicea with the needle as both smiled: Let's make history."
The event was cheered by many on the island of 3.2 million people that recently imposed more severe measures to fight an increase in coronavirus cases and deaths. Puerto Rico has reported more than 107,000 confirmed and probable coronavirus cases and more than 1,280 deaths.
5:37 a.m.: Germany on Tuesday increased the pressure on the European Union's regulatory agency, with its health minister, a leading hospital association and lawmakers all demanding that the agency approve a coronavirus vaccine before Christmas.
Our goal is an approval before Christmas so that we can still start vaccinating this year," Health Minister Jens Spahn said, the dpa news agency reported Tuesday.
Spahn is pushing for a quick approval of a new vaccine developed by Germany's BioNTech and American drugmaker Pfizer that has already been authorized for use in Britain, the United States, Canada and other countries. But Germany cannot use it because it is still waiting for approval by the EMA, which evaluates drugs and vaccines for the EU's 27 nations.
Seeing the same vaccine being given to thousands of people in Britain, Canada and the United States was galling for many Germans.
It cannot be that a vaccine that has been developed in Germany is only approved and vaccinated (here) in January," said Christine Aschenberg-Dugnus, a federal lawmaker with the pro-business Free Democrats.
5:33 a.m.: The British government on Tuesday appeared to be holding out against calls to reassess its plans to ease coronavirus restrictions over the Christmas period following a spike in new cases that will see tougher rules imposed on London.
With the number of new cases rising at an exponential rate in many parts of the country, there are growing concerns that the planned limited relaxation of restrictions next week will see a further escalation in infections and additional pressure on the National Health Service in the new year.
London will join other major cities in England, including Birmingham and Manchester, in the highest level of restrictions - so-called Tier 3 - on Wednesday. This will involve, among other new restrictions, the closure of pubs and restaurants apart from takeouts and deliveries and the banning of anyone meeting someone else from another household.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan was among those calling on the government to look again at the easing of coronavirus restrictions over Christmas.
The concern is this - the rules have been relaxed for five days, allowing household mixing for up to three different households and inevitably when people are in their own households, they tend to be less vigilant," he told BBC Radio. And my concern is that many people may have the virus and not realise it. They could pass the virus on to older relations."
So far, the British government is resisting changing course, but the message around Christmas gatherings appears to have been finessed.
5 a.m.: One in four Canadians are still feeling moderate to extreme levels of anxiety and are binge drinking - trends that continue to alarm mental health experts as the country heads into a lonelier than usual holiday season.
The results, released Tuesday, come out of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health's (CAMH) sixth and last survey in 2020 on Canadians' mental health with data collection company Delvinia, where people from coast to coast were consistently asked about their mental health levels since May.
The latest survey of 1,003 Canadians was conducted Nov. 27 to Dec. 1, when Toronto was in lockdown and the country at large grappled with a second wave of COVID-19 infections. It shows anxiety has risen to levels similar to the beginning of the pandemic after dropping significantly over the summer.
Half of those reporting moderate to high anxiety said their feelings are fuelled by financial worry, according to the survey.
Read the full story from Nadine Yousif here.
4:16 a.m.: The chief medical adviser at Health Canada says things are on track for her department to approve a second vaccine for COVID-19 very soon.
Dr. Supriya Sharma says things look positive" for the vaccine from U.S. biotech firm Moderna but there are still some outstanding manufacturing documents needed before the decision can be made.
Ongoing reviews of two more vaccines are less certain, with AstraZeneca's potentially needing more study before Health Canada is ready to make a decision, and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine candidate's review still in the very early stages.
Health Canada approved the vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech Dec. 9, and the first doses began arriving in Canada Sunday.
Health care workers in Toronto and long-term care residents in Montreal and Quebec City were the first to receive the vaccine Monday morning.
Long-term care workers from an Ottawa care home will be next, as that city rolls out its vaccination program this morning.
4 a.m.: A new poll suggests a majority of Canadians support the idea of a lockdown on non-essential businesses and services during the holidays to fight a surge in new COVID-19 cases across the country.
Sixty-five per cent of respondents in the poll conducted by Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies said they supported a general lockdown in their province during Christmas and New Year's to tackle the pandemic versus 29 per cent who opposed the idea.
Leger executive vice-president Christian Bourque expressed surprise at the seemingly strong support, which was largely the same no matter the respondent's age or where in Canada they lived.
I expected it to be a 50-50 type thing because we're already under some pretty severe restrictions as it is," Bourque said. With the holidays coming up, Canadians are basically saying: Buckle up. There's a few weeks left.'
To that end, 51 per cent respondents believed the worst of the pandemic is currently upon the country while 29 per cent felt it is yet to come. Only 10 per cent felt the worst had past and a similar number did not know.
Those numbers perhaps reflect the continuing surge in cases, including in parts of the country that were previously almost untouched. They also coincide with new modelling from the Public Health Agency of Canada suggesting the country could top 575,000 cases and nearly 15,000 deaths by Christmas.
Despite the surge, Bourque said he would have expected the arrival of the first Health Canada-approved COVID-19 vaccine and the start of a mass-vaccination campaign this week to have created more of a sense of optimism.
But people are saying: We're not there yet,' he said.
4 a.m.: The latest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 4 a.m. ET on Monday Dec. 15, 2020.
There are 468,862 confirmed cases in Canada.
_ Canada: 468,862 confirmed cases (75,842 active, 379,467 resolved, 13,553 deaths).The total case count includes 13 confirmed cases among repatriated travellers.
There were 6,731 new cases Monday from 75,433 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 8.9 per cent. The rate of active cases is 201.77 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 45,808 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 6,544.
There were 80 new reported deaths Monday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 776 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 111. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.29 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 36.06 per 100,000 people.
There have been 12,634,757 tests completed.
_ Newfoundland and Labrador: 359 confirmed cases (23 active, 332 resolved, four deaths).
There was one new case Monday from 395 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 0.25 per cent. The rate of active cases is 4.41 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there has been eight new case. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is one.
There have been no deaths reported over the past week. The overall death rate is 0.77 per 100,000 people.
There have been 67,315 tests completed.
_ Prince Edward Island: 89 confirmed cases (17 active, 72 resolved, zero deaths).
There were zero new cases Monday from 643 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 0.0 per cent. The rate of active cases is 10.83 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of five new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is one.
There have been no deaths reported over the past week. The overall death rate is zero per 100,000 people.
There have been 72,311 tests completed.
_ Nova Scotia: 1,420 confirmed cases (57 active, 1,298 resolved, 65 deaths).
There were five new cases Monday from 952 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 0.53 per cent. The rate of active cases is 5.87 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 44 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is six.
There have been no deaths reported over the past week. The overall death rate is 6.69 per 100,000 people.
There have been 161,746 tests completed.
_ New Brunswick: 558 confirmed cases (60 active, 490 resolved, eight deaths).
There was one new case Monday from 411 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 0.24 per cent. The rate of active cases is 7.72 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there has been 22 new case. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is three.
There were zero new reported deaths Monday. Over the past seven days there has been one new reported death. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is zero. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.02 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 1.03 per 100,000 people.
There have been 109,570 tests completed.
_ Quebec: 165,535 confirmed cases (16,657 active, 141,345 resolved, 7,533 deaths).
There were 1,620 new cases Monday from 9,900 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 16 per cent. The rate of active cases is 196.31 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 12,359 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 1,766.
There were 25 new reported deaths Monday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 256 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 37. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.43 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 88.78 per 100,000 people.
There have been 2,337,962 tests completed.
_ Ontario: 142,121 confirmed cases (16,586 active, 121,563 resolved, 3,972 deaths).
There were 1,940 new cases Monday from 55,224 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 3.5 per cent. The rate of active cases is 113.86 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 12,887 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 1,841.
There were 23 new reported deaths Monday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 174 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 25. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.17 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 27.27 per 100,000 people.
There have been 6,790,189 tests completed.
_ Manitoba: 21,264 confirmed cases (5,791 active, 14,974 resolved, 499 deaths).
There were 241 new cases Monday from 5,769 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 4.2 per cent. The rate of active cases is 422.87 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 2,133 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 305.
There were nine new reported deaths Monday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 92 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 13. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.96 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 36.44 per 100,000 people.
There have been 379,891 tests completed.
_ Saskatchewan: 12,238 confirmed cases (4,380 active, 7,767 resolved, 91 deaths).
There were 267 new cases Monday from 1,657 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 16 per cent. The rate of active cases is 372.94 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 1,826 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 261.
There were two new reported deaths Monday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 31 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is four. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.38 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 7.75 per 100,000 people.
There have been 284,227 tests completed.
_ Alberta: 81,986 confirmed cases (21,123 active, 60,130 resolved, 733 deaths).
There were 1,887 new cases Monday. The rate of active cases is 483.22 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 11,685 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 1,669.
There were 14 new reported deaths Monday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 102 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 15. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.33 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 16.77 per 100,000 people.
There have been 1,547,298 tests completed.
_ British Columbia: 42,943 confirmed cases (11,089 active, 31,207 resolved, 647 deaths).
There were 759 new cases Monday. The rate of active cases is 218.66 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 4,791 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 684.
There were seven new reported deaths Monday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 120 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 17. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.34 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 12.76 per 100,000 people.
There have been 866,132 tests completed.
_ Yukon: 59 confirmed cases (four active, 54 resolved, one deaths).
There was one new case Monday. The rate of active cases is 9.79 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there has been five new case. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is one.
There have been no deaths reported over the past week. The overall death rate is 2.45 per 100,000 people.
There have been 5,723 tests completed.
_ Northwest Territories: 21 confirmed cases (six active, 15 resolved, zero deaths).
There were zero new cases Monday from 334 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 0.0 per cent. The rate of active cases is 13.39 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of six new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is one.
There have been no deaths reported over the past week. The overall death rate is zero per 100,000 people.
There have been 7,365 tests completed.
_ Nunavut: 256 confirmed cases (49 active, 207 resolved, zero deaths).
There were nine new cases Monday from 148 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 6.1 per cent. The rate of active cases is 126.35 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 37 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is five.
There have been no deaths reported over the past week. The overall death rate is zero per 100,000 people.
There have been 4,952 tests completed.
Previously: Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says first doses of COVID-19 vaccine arrived on Monday night; Five long-term-care facility employees in Toronto were among the first to get the COVID-19 vaccine; Rob Ferguson joins the Star's This Matters" podcast to talk about the vaccine plans set by Queen's Park.