Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reporting 1,095 COVID-19 cases Wednesday, 23 deaths; More than 2M COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in Toronto
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.
10:42 a.m. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is beginning to sketch out a plan to reopen the U.S. border, but Canadians don't appear keen to rush it. And when travel does resume, they overwhelmingly agree proof of vaccination should be mandatory.
Nearly half of respondents in an Angus Reid Institute poll released Wednesday said the world's longest undefended frontier should remain closed until at least September. More than three quarters said they would support a vaccine passport.
Canada's border with the U.S. has been closed to most non-essential traffic for more than a year to limit the spread of COVID-19. But with the Liberal government's vaccine campaign accelerating, Trudeau is facing calls from business groups and the main opposition Conservatives for a concrete reopening plan.
Since the prime minister is weighing whether to trigger an election in a bid to win back his parliamentary majority, the politics of the timeline are key. Past Conservative voters are far more likely to advocate an open it up sooner' stance than past Liberal or New Democratic Party voters," Shachi Kurl, executive director of the Vancouver-based polling firm, said by email.
But, regardless of how you vote, people want to travel again. If you are one of millions of Canadians who work in the hospitality or tourism sector, you want to get back to work and see visitors return," she said.
Last week, Trudeau's government announced another month-long extension of border restrictions until June 21. Only 23 per cent of respondents in the Angus Reid poll said they would like it to have reopened already. That suggests Canadians are still concerned about the path of the COVID-19 and its variants as the country's vaccine campaign gathers momentum after a slow start plagued by delivery delays and confusion.
10:11 a.m. (will be updated) Ontario is reporting 1,095 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday and 23 more deaths linked to the virus. More than 24,000 tests were completed. Locally, there are 257 new cases in Toronto, 215 new cases in Peel, 123 in Durham and 101 in York Region.
10:10 a.m. Federal Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller says there are about 741 active COVID-19 cases on First Nations.
Miller says Indigenous people living in Manitoba, hard hit by a third wave of COVID-19, can now book their second shot of vaccine.
10:07 a.m. Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller says more than 75 per cent of Indigenous adults have now received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
Miller says there are about 741 active cases in First Nations communities.
He says Indigenous people living in Manitoba, which has the highest rate of new coronavirus infections in the country, can now book their second vaccine shot.
Miller says the Canadian Armed Forces continues to support vaccine rollout in 11 Indigenous communities across the country.
Dr. Tm Wong, chief medical officer of public health at Indigenous Services, says active case counts have dropped drastically over the past couple months.
9:40 a.m. The stage is set for a blitz of soon-to-expire AstraZeneca COVID-19 shots after a delay in getting vaccines to select pharmacies in Toronto, Windsor-Essex and the Kingston area for second doses - and confusion over where to book a shot.
Shipments were expected to be completed Wednesday to about 160 pharmacies in the three regions where people who got first doses March 10 to 19 became eligible for boosters on Friday after Ontario's chief medical officer Dr. David Williams cleared the serum for further use.
First doses of AstraZeneca and related Covishield vaccines were paused May 11 and remain so over an increased risk of rare blood clots, with 16 now reported in Ontario - including one death on Monday of a man in his 40s.
But many Ontarians seeking second doses were left frustrated over the long weekend trying to find pharmacies getting a supply of AstraZeneca or related Covishield - particularly when the pharmacies where they got their first jabs said they would not be stocking it again.
Read the full story from the Star's Rob Ferguson
9:05 a.m. In a four-month span during which the U.S. vaccination campaign was in a race against a spate of COVID-19 surges, a nationwide study has found that roughly 10,000 people became infected with the coronavirus after they had received all their recommended doses.
Two per cent of those patients with breakthrough" infections died, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
That may sound like bad news. But run the numbers, and infectious-disease experts say it is actually quite good news indeed.
Between Jan. 1 and April 30, a total of 10,262 postvaccination infections were reported by 46 states and territories. Those cases represent less than 0.01% of the 107,496,325 people in the U.S. who had been fully vaccinated by April 30, according to the CDC's COVID Data Tracker.
8:50 a.m. France will impose a mandatory quarantine on visitors from Britain to prevent the spread of a worrying virus variant first detected in India, the French government said Wednesday.
Government spokesman Gabriel Attal said the new measure will be similar to limits imposed in Germany on people traveling from the U.K.
France is going to take similar measures and so put in place obligatory isolation for people who come from the United Kingdom," he said.
He didn't say when the quarantine will be introduced. He said more information would be released shortly.
From Sunday, Germany started requiring people arriving from the U.K. to go into quarantine for 14 days. The decision responded to the spread in Britain of the Indian variant.
Under Germany's tighter rules, airlines and others are also only be able to transport German citizens and residents from Britain.
The possibility of tighter French restrictions for British visitors was first raised Sunday by Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
The minister suggested that Britain could be put in a health category of its own, somewhere in between the strictest measures that France is imposing on visitors from India and 15 other countries, and more relaxed requirements being readied for visitors from the European Union and some other countries.
8:46 a.m. The European Union took on vaccine producer AstraZeneca in a Brussels court on Wednesday and accused it of diverting promised doses to other nations when it had promised them for urgent delivery among the 27 member states.
The bloc accused the Anglo-Swedish company of pushing EU deliveries back so it could give them to Britain, among other nations. EU lawyer Rafael Jafferali asked the court to impose a fine of 10 million euros ($12.2 million) per infraction.
AstraZeneca's contract signed with the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, on behalf of member states foresaw an initial 300 million doses for distribution among all 27 countries, with an option for another 100 million.
The doses were expected to be delivered throughout 2021. But only 30 million were sent during the first quarter.
8:40 a.m. One of Japan's most influential newspapers and an official sponsor of the Tokyo Olympics called for the Games to be canceled, the latest blow for an event already postponed by a year because of the pandemic.
The Asahi - Japan's second-most widely circulated newspaper and known for its left-leaning views - urged Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga in an editorial Wednesday to call off the world's biggest sporting event, which is scheduled to start July 23.
We can't see how it makes sense to hold the Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo this summer," the paper wrote. What is most important is the lives of the citizens."
The Asahi will, however, continue as a sponsor, drawing a line between their activities as an official partner and their media activities," the company said in a response to questions from Bloomberg.
8:30 a.m. York Region's COVID-19 enforcement task force team members issued 52 tickets under the Reopening Ontario Act for the period from May 17 to 23.
The total includes 37 tickets issued by York Regional Police and six tickets by York Region Transit officers, according to a May 25 York Region report.
Team members conducted 1,155 inspections during the seven-day period, and performed 365 education sessions.
Businesses failing to keep their customers and employees safe by not adhering to the mandated COVID-19 safety measures are subject to fines, according to a statement issued by the Region of York. Repeat offenders could face temporary closure.
8:20 a.m. Hot-spot neighbourhoods in Ontario are seeing lower COVID-19 vaccination rates for seniors over 80 than neighbourhoods with lower incidence of the virus - indicating the most at-risk populations are still being missed for the vaccine.
To address stark disparities persisting for seniors in hot-spot communities, geriatricians, public health experts and community centre leads say vaccine rollout should be modified quickly to target elderly groups most at risk for COVID-19. That means increasing culturally-targeted information campaigns, expanding mobile outreach to homebound seniors and enabling primary-care providers to administer jabs, among other tactics.
A lot of people like to think it's just vaccine hesitancy, but it's really not, to any significant degree," said Dr. Samir Sinha, director of geriatrics at Mount Sinai hospital. The data really is speaking to the fact there's a vaccine gap that's not really fuelled by hesitancy."
Read the full story from the Star's Olivia Bowden and Maria Sarrouh
8:05 a.m. As Toronto hit an incredible milestone" of vaccinating 65 per cent of adults with at least one dose, talk turned to next steps to finally end the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed more than 8,600 Ontarians and paralyzed the province.
Answers, experts say, include the tough work of convincing the remaining 35 per cent, including the vaccine hesitant and those hard to reach, to get a shot. Also, starting now, the launch of the mass rollout of second doses to the vaccine eager.
Dr. Michael Warner, medical director of critical care at Toronto's Michael Garron Hospital, called people who have jammed pharmacy phone lines for vaccine appointments and lined up outside clinics the coalition of the willing."
Read the full story from the Star's David Rider
8 a.m. The company running mandatory COVID-19 testing for people arriving in Canada is gearing up for an increase in travel.
Whether that's coming this summer, next fall or next year, it doesn't know.
But in an exclusive interview with the Star, the executive team at Switch Health expressed little doubt that testing will remain part of the travel landscape until the day that COVID-19 goes away.
We don't have a crystal ball to look into right now, but what we can do is prepare," said Olga Jilani, Switch's chief financial officer.
Frustrations that Canada wasn't prepared when the federal government implemented mandatory testing for incoming travellers in February has led to a lot of scrutiny of the Toronto-based company.
Read the full story from the Star's Stephanie Levitz
7:50 a.m. Notorious antimasker Chris Sky - legally known as Christopher Saccoccia - allegedly threatened to shoot Premier Doug Ford in the head and kill all the premiers" in Canada, according to court documents.
Saccoccia, 37, also allegedly threatened to kill Robert Carbone - his former friend and leader of the so-called Republican Party of Canada.
On May 12, Saccoccia wanted help getting off the no-fly list" (it is unclear if he has been placed a federal no-fly list after refusing to wear a mask on a plane) and during the course of the conversation became irate and made certain threats, one of which was that he would shoot Doug Ford in the head and f-----g kill him'," said the Crown, according to a synopsis of the allegations read during Saccoccia's bail hearing last week.
No publication ban was put on the bail hearing.
Read the full story from the Star's Alyshah Hasham
7:40 a.m. Alleged car meets in Mississauga continue to generate COVID-19 gathering violation fines in the city.
According to a Mississauga enforcement report, 14 of the 21 $880 tickets given out May 17 to 23 were for COVID-19 gathering violations related to car meets with all charges stemming from alleged gatherings.
The largest single ticket event was an alleged May 21 car meet where 10 $880 fines were issued. The next night, four more $880 tickets were given out at another alleged car meet.
Car meet-related tickets have been a regular part of Mississauga COVID-19 enforcement since warmer weather has arrived in the city.
7:35 a.m. Canada, unlike its southern neighbour, is keeping secret the details of its vaccine contracts with big pharma, including what they're paying for doses - and experts say that's a problem in the fight to build confidence with the public and contain vaccine hesitancy.
As part of a study in vaccine clinical trial and procurement transparency by the University of Toronto and Transparency International, Canada is being called on by researchers to be more forthcoming with details on the total cost and price per dose for COVID-19 vaccines in a bid to ensure fair pricing globally, instill trust with the public and counter hesitancy.
The report notes that 1.3 billion people globally are unwilling to take a COVID vaccine, according to a recent Gallup poll.
Read the full story from the Star's Omar Mosleh
7:25 a.m. British Columbia's provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, now a household name across the country, fought back tears while asking British Columbians to consider cancelling gatherings with older people in March last year, as the dangers associated with COVID-19 were becoming clear.
Tuesday was all about getting those people back together.
Declaring, We are in a different place today," Henry delivered a plan that is meant to guide B.C. residents toward being able to hug their loved ones and neighbours by the summer.
This is indeed a good day, and one that I have been waiting for for a long time, as I'm sure many in B.C. have, too," she said.
Read the full story from the Star's Alex McKeen
7:16 a.m. Some Ontario schools could reopen May 31, but it's now up to the government to make the call, says the province's chief medical officer of health.
Dr. David Williams said Tuesday that he wants schools to resume in-person classes and continues to hold talks with local public health units.
But as for the decision when it's going to be - that really is a decision that has to be made up at the cabinet level. And so we're waiting to hear if, when that decision will be considered."
Last week, Premier Doug Ford said he knows parents are anxious and while he would love to get the kids back" into classrooms, he also has concerns about a rise in COVID cases and wants consensus from all involved.
Read the full story from the Star's Kristin Rushowy and Rob Ferguson
7:10 a.m. More than two million COVID-19 vaccine doses have now been administered in Toronto.
To date, 2,010,103 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Toronto, the first local health region in Canada to administer more than two million vaccine doses."
6:45 a.m.: U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's former chief aide said Wednesday that the government failed" the British people and fell disastrously short" in handling the coronavirus pandemic.
Dominic Cummings made a blistering attack on the government he once served, telling lawmakers investigating Britain's pandemic response that ministers and officials went on vacation as the virus swept toward the U.K. in in early 2020 and describing scenes of chaos in government as like an out of-control movie."
He said the government was not operating on a war footing on this in February in any way, shape or form. Lots of people were literally skiing."
Cummings said Johnson initially regarded the pandemic as "just a scare story. He described it as the new swine flu,"
The truth is that senior ministers, senior officials, senior advisers like me, disastrously short of the standards that the public has a right to expect of its government in a crisis like this," Cummings said.
When the public needed us most, the government failed," he said, adding that people died unnecessarily" as a result.
The U.K. has recorded almost 128,000 coronavirus deaths, the highest toll in Europe. Lockdowns shut down most of the economy, and the country experienced one of the world's deepest recessions
A mass vaccination campaign that started in December has brought infections and fatalities down sharply, but the government acknowledges it will have to answer serious questions about its handling of the virus at a future public inquiry.
6:29 a.m.: Despite the widespread pandemic narrative, only 18 per cent of Ontario homeowners surveyed by Right at Home Realty said they would consider selling and moving to a smaller centre.
Although 44 per cent of those working from home during the pandemic have considered moving out of the city, most say the decision is tied to their work circumstances.
Sixty-three per cent said they would be less willing to move further from their jobs if their employer wanted them back in the office even one to three days a week. But if they were allowed to work from home permanently, 55 per cent said they would consider relocating.
Right at Home Realty president John Lusink said some who have made the move away from Toronto could face a bit of a shock to the system" if their boss wants them back at work. Those who moved might find it difficult to reverse course as home prices have continued to escalate.
They will have pulled themselves out of a market they can't get back into," he said.
Read the full story from the Star's Tess Kalinowski here.
6:28 a.m.: Whistleblower protection groups urged the World Health Organization on Wednesday to launch an independent review into the case of an Italian researcher who reported being pressured to falsify data in a now-spiked WHO report into Italy's coronavirus response.
The groups, including Transparency International, Whistleblowing International Network and some 30 other public health and anti-corruption groups, sent an open letter to the president of the World Health Assembly. The assembly, WHO's highest decision-making body, is made up of all WHO member states and is meeting this week.
In the letter, the signatories called for the U.N. agency to commit to reforming its whistle-blowing protection policy. They said the Italian researcher, Dr. Francesco Zambon, had suffered retaliatory treatment for having reported the incident within WHO's internal ethics system.
Zambon resigned in March, saying he had been isolated and marginalized after he complained internally, and then publicly, about the scandal.
Zambon has said he was pressured by a then-assistant director general, Dr. Ranieri Guerra, to falsify data about Italy's preparedness going into the pandemic in a report he and other researchers were writing to help other countries prepare as COVID-19 swept across the globe last year.
6:27 a.m.: South Korean officials say they plan to allow people to drop their masks from July if they have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, as they mull incentives to promote inoculation.
Health Minister Kwon Deok-choel said Wednesday the plan is contingent on the government succeeding in its goal of administering first doses to 13 million people by the end of June. Officials say people will continue to be required to wear mask indoors or at outdoor gatherings where it's difficult to maintain distance.
Other incentives include providing vaccine-takers with discounts at public parks and museums and allowing them to participate in larger private gatherings. The country is currently clamping down on social gatherings of five or more people.
South Korea has wrestled with a slower vaccine rollout than many other developed economies.
Around 3.9 million people so far have received their first doses since the country launched its mass immunization program in late February, which represents less than 8% of the country's 51 million population.
Health officials have lamented what they describe as excessive public fear of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has been linked to rare blood-clotting side effects.
6:26 a.m.: Pakistan is offering jabs to its entire adult population in hopes of boosting COVID-19 vaccination rates, with only 5% of the population inoculated so far.
Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar announced on Twitter that the registration of those ages 19 and above will begin from Thursday. So far, the vaccination was open to those 30 years and above.
Pakistan has reported a steady decline in infections and fatalities from COVID-19 in recent days, but the vaccination response has been sluggish.
The only shots given are three Chinese-made vaccines.
Pakistan has registered 908,576 confirmed cases and 20,465 deaths since last year.
6:15 a.m.: More than half of Canadians feel somewhat anxious about going back to the way life was before it was turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic, a new survey shows.
Leger asked the question for a study done in collaboration with the Association for Canadian Studies.
Data shows 1,647 Canadians responded to a web survey from May 21 to 23, which cannot be assigned a margin of error because it was done online.
Respondents were asked whether returning to what life was like before the novel coronavirus was a source of anxiety for them, given how governments are announcing plans to reopen after more than a year of telling people to stay home.
The results show 52 per cent of those who responded reported feeling some level of anxiety, with those aged 18 to 24 showing the highest levels of unease at 68 per cent.
6:25 a.m.: Ontario's fiscal watchdog will release a report today examining government spending on long-term care.
The Financial Accountability Office says the new report is based on the province's 2021-22 expenditure estimates.
It says the overview of the ministry will identify key financial issues including the government's promise to add and redevelop 30,000 long-term care beds.
The report will also examine the Progressive Conservative government pledge to increase the amount of average daily direct care per resident.
Last November, the government promised to establish a new standard that would see nursing home residents receive an average of four hours of direct care every day.
Premier Doug Ford has pledged to achieve the standard by 2024-25 and said the province will need to hire tens of thousands" more personal support workers, registered practical nurses and registered nurses to provide the care.
6:22 a.m.: Canada's Wild West" efforts to buy medical supplies for provincial governments in the midst of a global pandemic will be assessed by the federal auditor general today.
The federal government spent more than $7 billion last year to buy everything from personal protective equipment, to hand sanitizer and rapid tests.
In the early days of COVID-19 in Canada last spring, global demand for PPE and medical equipment was so high Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland likened it to the Wild West" of procurement.
Auditor General Karen Horgan is auditing the purchases of four specific items - N95 masks, medical gowns, testing swabs and ventilators, which federal documents suggest account for about one-quarter of the dollars spent.
Public Services and Procurement Canada says as of April 26, it had secured delivery of 131 million surgical gowns, 121 million N95 respirators, and 27,388 ventilators.
A second audit report expected today looks at the federal government's pandemic support to Indigenous communities including PPE, nurses and paramedics.
4 a.m.: The latest numbers on COVID-19 vaccinations in Canada as of 4 a.m. ET on Wednesday May 26, 2021.
In Canada, the provinces are reporting 499,352 new vaccinations administered for a total of 21,637,608 doses given. Nationwide, 1,694,908 people or 4.5 per cent of the population has been fully vaccinated. The provinces have administered doses at a rate of 57,092.403 per 100,000.
There were 1,598,890 new vaccines delivered to the provinces and territories for a total of 25,368,894 doses delivered so far. The provinces and territories have used 85.29 per cent of their available vaccine supply.
4 a.m.: The latest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 4 a.m. ET on Wednesday May 26, 2021.
There are 1,365,516 confirmed cases in Canada (47,866 active, 1,292,326 resolved, 25,324 deaths). The total case count includes 13 confirmed cases among repatriated travellers.
There were 2,506 new cases Tuesday. The rate of active cases is 125.95 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 27,376 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 3,911.
There were 51 new reported deaths Tuesday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 306 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 44. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.12 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 66.63 per 100,000 people.
There have been 34,315,351 tests completed.