Today’s coronavirus news: Trudeau announces emergency wage and rent subsidy to continue at current levels until June; Ontario reporting 958 cases, 17 deaths
The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Wednesday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
12:05 p.m.: The United States is at a COVID-19 crossroads - and public health officials are worried about which path it will choose.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, is urging Americans not to let their guard down.
For a second straight day, Walensky is warning about the potential for highly contagious COVID-19 variants to undo the country's hard-won progress.
Her message is competing with a torrent of seemingly good news.
President Joe Biden says the U.S. will have enough COVID-19 vaccine doses in stock for every adult American by the end of May.
And a number of states are easing their pandemic restrictions, most recently Texas, which is planning to reopen completely by next Wednesday.
12 p.m.: Ontario Solicitor General Sylvia Jones says new AstraZeneca vaccines will be very targeted" to people aged 60-64 since it is not recommended at this point for people older than 65 in Canada.
11:40 a.m. (updated): Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says three federal aid programs designed to blunt the fallout from COVID-19 are being extended.
Trudeau says the federal wage subsidy, rent support and lockdown programs will remain in place until June.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says all three programs will keep support at the current levels.
She says the trio of programs are being extended because the economy is still struggling even with encouraging signs of a recovery on the horizon.
11:40 a.m. (updated): Peel's Medical Officer of Health Dr. Lawrence Loh has recommended that Peel Region enter the province's COVID-19 reopening framework's grey zone and not the red zone, which mayors from the region have been calling for.
During the City of Brampton's weekly COVID-19 update news conference Wednesday, Loh said now is not the time to drastically loosen restrictions as positive COVID-19 variant cases are on the rise.
I am recommending we enter the province's response framework under grey for a two-week period," said Loh.
According to the framework, the grey zone will allow a 10-person limit on outdoor social gatherings. However, no indoor gatherings are permitted.
Big box stores and essential businesses will be allowed to have a slightly larger customer capacity. However, restaurants and bars will remain closed to in-person dining.
Loh said the increase of COVID-19 variant cases across the region played a role in his recommendation and said more than 100 cases have been confirmed and an additional 600 have screened positive.
11:35 a.m.: A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, Peel Public Health data continues to show that the virus is not spreading equally among Brampton, Caledon and Mississauga's residents.
Peel Public Health's reporting on determinants of health shows that more than 83 per cent of individuals that had COVID-19 between April 13 and Dec. 31, 2020, across the region were racialized people.
However, the five racialized communities - South Asian, Black, East Asian and Southeast Asian, Middle Eastern and Latino - make up only 59 per cent of Peel's population, according to the 2016 census.
The roughly 25 per cent higher infection rate over population numbers in Peel for racialized people is part of the inequities that the region's top doctor said continue to persist in the pandemic. But it's not just about race.
11:32 a.m.: The health orders that closed schools and most non-essential businesses on Prince Edward Island for three days will end at midnight tonight.
Premier Dennis King said today the 11,000 COVID-19 tests conducted since the weekend provide confidence restrictions can be eased.
The restrictions were imposed after clusters of COVID-19 cases emerged in Charlottetown and Summerside.
Chief medical officer of health Dr. Heather Morrison is reporting one new case of COVID-19 today involving a woman in her 20s who is a close contact of a previously reported case.
Morrison says results from about 800 tests are still pending, so there may be more positive cases.
There are 22 active reported cases in the province - the highest number since the start of the pandemic.
11:30 a.m.: More African countries received the long-awaited first deliveries of COVID-19 vaccines on Wednesday, with Kenya, Rwanda and Lesotho benefiting from the global COVAX initiative that aims to ensure doses for the world's low-and middle-income nations.
African and other health officials have been frustrated by the sight of a handful of rich countries rolling out vaccines after snapping up large amounts for themselves.
We will be known as the continent of COVID" if Africa doesn't quickly reach its target of vaccinating 60 per cent of its population of 1.3 billion people, the director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong, said last week. The continent last month surpassed 100,000 confirmed deaths.
So far Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Angola, Gambia and Congo also have received their first vaccine doses via COVAX, with several other countries including Mali, Senegal, Malawi and Uganda set to receive them this week.
11:20 a.m.: An Indian coronavirus vaccine that generated controversy when it was granted emergency approval before finishing its final stage testing has shown to provide strong protection against COVID-19 in an interim analysis of an advanced clinical trial.
Covaxin, which was co-developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International Ltd. and the Indian Council of Medical Research, showed an efficacy of 81 per cent in those without prior infection after a second dose, the company said in a statement Wednesday. That's better than Bharat Biotech's guidance last year of around 60 per cent and the country's benchmark of 50 per cent for vaccines targeting the novel coronavirus.
The findings cement Bharat Biotech's claims of the vaccine being safe and may help overcome vaccine hesitancy as India rolls out one of the world's biggest inoculation programs to contain its massive outbreak. The data is also a rebuttal for critics who had questioned the unprecedented haste with which the indigenously produced shot was approved in early January and deployed among India's frontline health care workers even before providing any Phase 3 trial data.
With a capacity to manufacture about 300 million doses on an annual basis, the promising efficacy data will likely aid Bharat Biotech find further export markets. The company shipped the vaccine to Brazil this month and has signed an agreement with Ocugen Inc. to co-develop the vaccine for the U.S.
11:10 a.m.: As Toronto and Peel mark 100 days of lockdown, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business is pleading with Premier Doug Ford to ease pandemic restrictions.
Today marks a grim milestone for Toronto and Peel Region small businesses: 100 consecutive days in COVID-19 winter lockdowns - the longest in North America," the CFIB said Wednesday.
Toronto, Peel, and North Bay-Parry Sound are the last three public health unit regions in Ontario still under provincial stay-at-home" orders.
The Star's Robert Benzie has more details.
10:32 a.m.: Due to a cleanup of data, Ontario is also reporting one less death among residents in long-term-care homes for a total of 3,745 since the pandemic began.
There is one more long-term-care home in outbreak for a total of 98 or 84.3 per cent of all LTC homes in the province.
10:20 a.m.: Ontario is reporting 27,398 addtional vaccine doses were administered since its last daily update for a total of 754,419 as of 8 p.m. Tuesday.
The province says 266,710 people have been fully vaccinated which means they've had both shots.
10:15 a.m.: Locally, there are 249 new cases in Toronto, 164 in Peel and 92 in York Region.
10:05 a.m.: Ontario is reporting 958 COVID-19 cases, with 17 deaths.
The seven-day average is down to 1,084 cases daily or 52 weekly per 100,000 and up to 17.3 deaths per day.
The labs report 52,613 completed tests with a 2.4 per cent positivity rate.
9:30 a.m. Peel Region Medical Officer of Health Dr. Lawrence Loh says he is recommending Peel Region move into the grey zone for the next two weeks. Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown and Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie have been calling for Peel to go into the red zone.
9:30 a.m.: Cheers quickly shifted to confusion upon the approval of a third COVID-19 vaccine for Canadians, with federal officials touting a bolstered arsenal against the pandemic while acknowledging limitations.
But what appears to be contradictory advice is more aligned than it appears, federal officials insisted Tuesday, stressing common ground while trying to combat public confusion over how the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine should be deployed.
On the one hand, Health Canada says Oxford-AstraZeneca's vaccine has been deemed safe for seniors and points to emerging real-world data that shows it can protect older citizens against symptomatic infection.
At the same time, guidelines from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization highlight the product's lower efficacy rate and suggest it be reserved for people younger than 65 because of limited trial data.
Still, both federal bodies stress the fact Canada now has three vaccines that can drive down hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID-19. They also stress the benefits of receiving an AstraZeneca jab early, even if current data shows it has a lower efficacy than the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots, which will take longer to reach some groups.
Click here for a closer look at some of the questions raised by Canada's newest COVID-19 vaccine:
9:10 a.m. As Toronto and Peel mark 100 days of lockdown, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business is pleading with Premier Doug Ford to ease pandemic restrictions.
Today marks a grim milestone for Toronto and Peel Region small businesses: 100 consecutive days in COVID-19 winter lockdowns - the longest in North America," the CFIB said Wednesday.
Toronto, Peel, and North Bay-Parry Sound are the last three public health unit regions in Ontario still under provincial stay-at-home" orders.
That means most services, such as barbershops, hair stylists, nail salons, and gyms are closed, restaurants and bars are limited to takeout service, and all shops except those selling food and alcohol are restricted to curbside pick-up.
Ontario's other 31 public health units have moved into varying stages of openness, including in York, Durham, and Halton.
Read the full story from the Star's Robert Benzie
8:35 a.m. Nine large city-run clinics will be the backbone" of Toronto's vaccination plan that includes more than 350 clinics in total, officials announced Monday - the largest mass immunization in the city's history as the number of suspected variant cases grows.
Those mega sites" are set to be operational by April 1, two weeks after the province's registration system goes live, senior city officials said in a briefing at city hall.
The city also plans to see 49 hospital-run clinics, 46 community health centre operated sites and 249 pharmacy locations operating, as the province prepares to move to vaccinating residents aged 80 and older.
This will be the largest vaccination effort in the history of the city of Toronto," said Mayor John Tory. And I am very confident we will be able to meet this challenge."
Read the full story from the Star's Jennifer Pagliaro
8:27 a.m. The postponed Tokyo Olympics look like they will take place without any fans from abroad when they open in just under five months.
The Japanese newspaper Mainichi said on Wednesday the decision had been made to exclude foreign fans. It cited only unnamed sources involved in the discussions." It said a final decision would be made within the month."
In the current situation it is impossible to bring in foreign spectators," the newspaper said, citing an unnamed government official.
The report came just an hour before Tokyo organizers held five-party" talks online with the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the central government of Japan.
Fans were reported to be a key part of the discussion and IOC President Thomas Bach hinted at hard choices to be made in comments before the meeting.
8 a.m. Alexandra Park Early Learning & Child Care Centre in Toronto has temporarily closed after two employees tested positive for COVID-19, the city said in a press release on Tuesday.
The first staff member tested positive on Feb. 25 in the preschool room. The city says the decision to close the centre came after a second staff member tested positive on March 1.
Staff members and children at the centre were told to self-isolate and monitor for symptoms. Meanwhile, the centre's rooms will be thoroughly cleaned and sanitized" during the closure.
The centre, located on Augusta Square near Spadina Avenue and Queen Street W., cares for 10 infants, 10 toddlers and 10 preschoolers.
Read the full story from the Star's Rhythm Sachdeva
7:50 a.m. TTC operators are urging the government to provide more support to homeless people who have been seeking refuge on the transit system during the COVID-19 crisis.
Since the start of the pandemic last spring, TTC drivers have reported an increase in homeless riders as overall transit use plummets and places where vulnerable residents normally spend their time remain shuttered.
In a petition to the city, provincial and federal governments, a group of transit operators is calling for more outreach workers to be deployed on the TTC to offer shelter referrals, harm reduction support and other assistance. The petition also asks government to create a mass program of high quality social housing to address the homelessness crisis."
Bus operator Jason Watts, who supports the grassroots petition, said drivers like him want a holistic" rather than a punitive" response.
Read the full story from the Star's Ben Spurr
7:40 a.m. Seniors aged 80 and up, as well as Indigenous adults, can now preregister for COVID vaccines in some Toronto neighbourhoods, despite messaging from the city at a Monday press conference they'd have to wait for the launch of a provincial online booking portal in mid-March.
We have the opportunity to do something that's going to save people's lives," said Dr. Jeff Powis, medical director of infection prevention and control at Michael Garron Hospital, part of East Toronto Health Partners.
I think waiting for March 15, even though that's only two weeks away, might have an impact on somebody," he added. If I can save somebody or keep somebody's family from suffering the grief of a loss then we're going to try to do it a bit earlier and faster."
Read the full story from the Star's May Warren
7:25 a.m. Provinces have an opportunity" to vaccinate younger people sooner with the recently approved AstraZeneca vaccine, based on advice from government-appointed experts and the looming expiration date on thousands of doses arriving this week, says Canada's top public health officer.
Speaking Tuesday at the federal government's weekly vaccine briefing, officials confirmed 500,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine are set to arrive in Canada on Wednesday.
But 300,000 of those doses will expire on April 2 and - for now - the federal government's National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) is recommending against their use for people over 65, citing limited data.
Read the full story from the Star's Alex Ballingall
6 a.m. It was 1 a.m. in Israel, but officials in that country were on the phone with members of Ontario's science advisory table to discuss the strategies they were using to vaccinate residents with the COVID-19 vaccines at a pace that has now made them one of the fastest in the world.
They just said we're just going to get the vaccine out. We're going to put it in arms. We're going to use all of the available technology that we have to facilitate that,' " said Dr. Gerald Evans, chair of the division of infectious diseases at Queen's University and a professor of medicine, who was on the call earlier this year.
And bingo, look at how much they've done already," Evans added.
On Sunday, the country reached a milestone - half of Israel's residents have been vaccinated. And nearly 90 per cent of people over the age of 50 have received the shot, according to media reports.
Israel has used the Pfizer vaccine exclusively for its citizens, striking a deal with the company that gave the country unprecedented access to doses in return for vaccine data and allowing them to ramp up vaccine delivery more quickly than other countries.
Read the full story from the Star's Patty Winsa on how an early morning phone call with Israel could speed up Ontario's vaccine rollout.
5:12 a.m. New Zealand reported no new community cases of the coronavirus for a third consecutive day as the latest outbreak in Auckland appears to have been brought under control.
The government placed the nation's largest city into a weeklong lockdown Sunday after several new community cases were found.
Top lawmakers in the Cabinet are meeting Friday to review the lockdown. Also, health officials announced they had given the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine to more than 9,000 people, including more than half of the 12,000 people who work at the border.
New Zealand currently has a supply of about 200,000 doses. The country has been slower than many to begin its vaccination campaign but is seen as lower risk after eliminating community spread of the virus.
5:05 a.m. Kenya has received just over 1 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine in the first batch from the global COVAX initiative that was created to ensure that low- and middle-income countries have fair access to vaccines.
Some 1.02 million doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, arrived in Nairobi early Wednesday, according to a joint statement from UNICEF, the World Health Organization, international vaccine alliance GAVI and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.
Kenyan Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe expressed excitement and optimism that the vaccines would help stop the spread of the coronavirus that has forced the East African country to partially lock down its economy with devastating consequences for many citizens.
We have been fighting the pandemic with rubber bullets but what we have acquired today is equivalent, metaphorically speaking, to bazookas and machine-guns," Kagwe said.
The minister said the vaccines will be administered to some 400,000 medical workers and the rest will go to other front-line workers such as teachers and police officers.
5 a.m. A blast smashed windows at a coronavirus testing centre in a small town north of Amsterdam early Wednesday, police said. Nobody was hurt.
Police in the province of North Holland tweeted that an explosive went off" near the testing centre in Bovenkarspel just before 7 a.m.
Police cordoned off the area, which is 60 kilometres (40 miles) north of Amsterdam, and were investigating the cause of the blast.
In January, rioters torched a coronavirus test facility in the fishing village of Urk on the first night of a 9 p.m.-to-4:30 a.m. nationwide curfew imposed as part of the government's latest coronavirus lockdown.
Wednesday 4 a.m. The first doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine are set to arrive in Canada today as confusion persists over who should get it.
Canada is to receive 500,000 doses of the vaccine, the third approved for use in Canada, from the Serum Institute of India.
But questions about who should receive the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine continue amid conflicting guidance about its use.
Health Canada last week authorized its use for all adult Canadians but the National Advisory Committee on Immunization recommended Tuesday that it not be administered to people 65 years of age or older.
The committee says there is limited data from clinical trials about how effective the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is for seniors and recommends that they be given priority for the two other vaccines - Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna - already green-lighted for use in Canada.
Both Health Canada and the committee stress no safety concerns have arisen in the clinical studies or among the millions of seniors who have received the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in other countries.
Tuesday 10:36 p.m.: The Brazilian variant of coronavirus has emerged in Oregon, the first known such case on the U.S. West Coast, medical authorities said Tuesday.
The sample was sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the end of January by medical officials in Douglas County, Oregon. They said they received the results back on Monday night, showing the P.1 variant.
The P.1 variant ... appears to be related to business travel outside the United States to and from Brazil," the Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team said in a statement Tuesday.
The variant, which was originally traced to Brazil, appears to be more contagious than the original COVID-19 strain. It can potentially be contracted by someone who was already infected or who has been vaccinated.
There have been 10 other cases of the P.1 variant reported in the United States, with five in Florida, two in Minnesota and one each in Oklahoma, Alaska and Maryland, the CDC says.