Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario is reporting 296 cases of COVID-19, 6 deaths; Ontario to enter next step of reopening plan on June 30; Waterloo Region to delay next stage of reopening
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.
11:45 a.m. The number of COVID-19 patients in Quebec hospitals has fallen below 150 for the first time since mid-September.
The Health Department says the number of hospitalizations declined by 18 from Wednesday's report and now stands at 143, while the number of patients in intensive care dipped by two to 38.
Quebec is reporting 96 new cases of COVID-19 today and four additional deaths linked to the disease, all of which took place before June 22.
Officials say 116,720 doses of vaccine were administered on Wednesday, including 108,626 second doses. More than 80 per cent of Quebec residents over 12 have received at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccine, while 23 per cent have received a second shot.
Quebec's public health institute says it's looking into the possibility that some immunosuppressed people may need a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
The Institut national de sante publique du Quebec says there's not yet enough data to recommend giving immunosuppressed residents an additional dose of vaccine -- something it says is already done with the hepatitis B and HPV vaccines -- but that studies are ongoing.
However, it says that people who receive some types of stem cell transplants after being immunized against COVID-19 should be considered unvaccinated and receive both doses again.
11:30 a.m. A public health group that manages the U.N.-backed program to ship COVID-19 vaccines to poor countries is paring back its supply forecast for this year by more than 100 million doses, largely because a key Indian manufacturer has focused on needs at home.
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, says it now projects that the COVAX program can supply just under 1.9 billion doses this year - including about 1.2 billion provided for free to 92 poor countries - down from original targets of more than 2 billion doses.
The shortfall comes because the Serum Institute of India - a pivotal producer of vaccines for COVAX - has reverted supplies to needy people in India, as its government scrambled to fight a spike in infections.
So far, COVAX has only distributed about 90 million doses, far short of its original plans.
Recent dose-sharing announcements by rich countries like the United States that have or are nearing excess supply of COVID-19 vaccines are expected to help fill the gap by several hundred million doses, according to a Gavi official.
11 a.m. The Biden administration in the U.S. has extended the nationwide ban on evictions for a month to help tenants who are unable to make rent payments during the coronavirus pandemic, but it said this is expected to be the last time it does so.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, extended the evictions moratorium until July 31. It had been scheduled to end June 30. The CDC said Thursday that this is intended to be the final extension of the moratorium."
The White House had acknowledged Wednesday that the emergency pandemic protection will have to end at some point. The trick is devising the right sort of off-ramp to make the transition without massive social upheaval.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the separate bans on evictions for renters and mortgage holders were always intended to be temporary."
This week, dozens of members of Congress wrote to Biden and Walensky calling for the moratorium to be not only extended but also strengthened in some ways.
The letter, spearheaded by Democratic Reps. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Jimmy Gomez of California and Cori Bush of Missouri, called for an unspecified extension in order to allow the nearly $47 billion in emergency rental assistance included in the American Rescue Plan to get into the hands of tenants.
10:34 a.m. Hot spot Waterloo Region will not further reopen its economy June 30 when the rest of Ontario does.
The next step of reopening will be delayed until mid-July or later as the region copes with COVID-19 infections that are five times higher than the provincial rate.
To give our residents more time to be vaccinated, to avoid having to take a step back, and based on our situation at this time, I anticipate the Region of Waterloo will be able to move into Step 2 in mid-July," Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, medical officer of health, said in a statement.
This approach gives us the best chance to hold onto the gains we have made."
This will delay reopening of salons and sports leagues, maintain current limits on gatherings and restaurants, and continue to limit retail operations.
10:19 a.m. (will be updated) Ontario is reporting 296 cases of COVID-19 and 6 deaths. Locally, there are 95 new cases in the Region of Waterloo, 35 in Toronto, 20 in Peel Region, 19 in Hamilton and 17 in Ottawa.
The seven-day average is down to 305 cases per day or 14.7 weekly per 100,000, and down to 15.1 deaths per day. Labs are reporting 29,514 completed tests and a 1.1 per cent positive, according to the Star's Ed Tubb.
9:50 a.m. Danish health officials have urged soccer fans who attended the European Championship game between Denmark and Belgium on June 17 to be checked for the coronavirus after they found at least three people who later tested positive for the Delta variant.
Danish Health Minister Magnus Heunicke wrote on Twitter on Wednesday that about 4,000 people sat near those who tested positive.
Separately, the governing body of European soccer said Thursday it was satisfied with the overall situation" in the tournament's 11 host stadiums across the continent, where public authorities take the lead on managing virus issues.
The overall rates of positive results following the group stage of the Euro 2020 tournament are still marginally low," UEFA said in a statement.
9:32 a.m. Ontario government is moving the province into the next stage in its roadmap to reopen at 12:01 a.m. on June 30, 2021, the province announced Thursday.
The second stage of the three-part reopening plan allows haircuts and similar services and will see limits on gatherings and businesses rolled back further.
Outdoor attractions like water parks can open and outdoor performances and team sports can resume.
That stage of the plan was set to take effect on July 2 but COVID-19 vaccination targets have already been surpassed.
Read Wednesday's story from the Star's Rob Ferguson
9:14 a.m. Standing in the State Dining Room on May 4, President Joe Biden laid out a lofty goal to vaccinate 70 per cent of American adults by Independence Day, saying the U.S. would need to overcome doubters" and laziness to do it. This is your choice," he told Americans. "It's life and death."
As for the ambition of his 70 per cent goal, Biden added: I'd like to get it at 100%, but I think realistically we can get to that place between now and July Fourth."
He won't.
With the July Fourth holiday approaching, the White House acknowledged this week that Biden will fall shy of his 70 per cent goal and an associated aim of fully vaccinating 165 million adults in the same time frame. The missed milestones are notable in a White House that from the outset has been organized around a strategy of underpromising and overdelivering for the American public.
White House officials, while acknowledging they are set to fall short, insist they're unconcerned. We don't see it exactly like something went wrong," press secretary Jen Psaki said earlier this week, stressing that Americans' lives are still better off than they were when Biden announced the goal.
As of Wednesday, 65.6 per cent of Americans age 18 and older had received at least one shot, according to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control. The figure is expected to be over 67 per cent by July 4.
A half-dozen officials involved in the vaccination campaign, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the missed target candidly, pointed to a combination of factors, including: the lessened sense of urgency that followed early success in the vaccination campaign; a decision to reach higher than a play-it-safe lower goal; and unexpectedly strong recalcitrance among some Americans toward getting a shot.
8:32 a.m. In an ideal world, Jeff Cohen would be surrounded by hundreds of people, cheering as their favourite band played their latest tunes.
But the owner of the Horseshoe Tavern says that's likely months away at best, even though indoor concerts could be allowed by late July and outdoor concerts by next week as part of Ontario's COVID-19 reopening plan.
We're booking for Oct. 1, because that's when we're assuming and hoping it will be back to 100 per cent or close to it," said Cohen, who is also a concert and tour promoter.
While Ontario's reopening plan will allow concerts at outdoor venues in Step 2 and indoor venues in Step 3 with spectator capacity restrictions," not knowing the precise conditions under which they'll operate makes it difficult for venues to plan in advance, said Cohen.
Read the full story from the Star's Josh Rubin
8:02 a.m. Premier Doug Ford will receive his second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine at an Etobicoke pharmacy Thursday at 12:30 p.m.
8 a.m. Ontario's top doctor is scheduled to provide an update on the province's COVID-19 response Thursday.
Dr. David Williams will be joined at this morning's news conference by Dr. Kieran Moore.
Moore is replacing Williams and will become the province's new chief medical officer of health on June 26.
The Ontario government says regularly scheduled COVID-19 response updates will move from Mondays and Thursdays to Tuesdays under Moore.
7:55 a.m. Canada's supermarkets will face tougher competition and declining sales in the coming months as consumers shift their shopping behaviours amid lifted restrictions and widespread vaccinations, experts say.
The three largest grocery chains reported massive profits during the COVID-19 pandemic while restaurants were shuttered and Canadians stockpiled non-perishable items.
For Loblaw Companies Ltd., which includes No Frills and Valu-mart among others, that meant a windfall of $53 billion in revenue in 2020, up 10 per cent year-over-year. Metro Inc., similarly, reported net earnings of $796.4 million - up 11.5 per cent.
Read the full story from the Star's Jacob Lorinc
7:40 a.m. A blockade along the border between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick protesting Nova Scotia's COVID-19 travel restrictions has come down.
A Nova Scotia detachment of the RCMP says arrests were made as traffic began to flow again on the Trans-Canada Highway.
Police warned that because traffic is heavy in the Amherst, N.S., area, drivers should remain vigilant and proceed with caution.
The blockade near the provincial border disrupted commerce and led to the cancellation of more than 100 medical appointments.
Protesters stopped traffic between the two provinces after the Nova Scotia government announced Tuesday that travellers from New Brunswick would need to self-isolate upon arrival.
Nova Scotia's decision came one day before the province's boundaries were to reopen to free travel from the rest of Atlantic Canada.
Unlike travellers from New Brunswick, people from Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador wouldn't have to self-isolate.
7:30 a.m. Back in mid-December Toronto personal support worker Anita Quidangen bared the top of her left arm, closed her eyes and - amid a flurry of news camera clicks - became the first Ontarian vaccinated against COVID-19.
Six months later, more than three million needles have injected vaccine into arms in Toronto alone. They include a second dose for Quidangen, who is still urging hesitant friends to protect themselves and help end the global pandemic.
Some of them are scared but I told them Don't be scared, I had the vaccine and I'm still OK,'" the soft-spoken staff member at a Rekai Centres seniors home told the Star this week, noting she suffered only a sore arm after her second jab.
Asked how she feels about all the injections that followed - Quidangen got dose number two of more than 33 million, and counting, in Canada - she says: I'm so grateful for the first vaccine and I hope that more people will do it so (the vaccination rate) will be 100 per cent."
Read the full story from the Star's David Rider
7:15 a.m. Infectious diseases specialists are monitoring a new COVID-19 variant of concern that has emerged in multiple countries and that some fear could be more transmissible than the Delta variant, with the potential to be vaccine-evasive.
The new variant called Delta plus" has been labelled a variant of concern by the Indian government as it's closely related to the Delta variant of COVID-19.
On Wednesday, India also reported it has identified 40 cases of Delta plus.
Cases have emerged in three Indian states: Maharashtra, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh. Those states have been asked to strengthen public health measures along with increasing testing and vaccinations as India's federal government has labelled the new variant as a variant of concern."
Read the full story from the Star's Olivia Bowden
6:34 a.m.: Israel's government has postponed the planned reopening of the country to vaccinated tourists over concerns about the spread of the infectious delta variant of the coronavirus.
Israel was set to reopen its borders to vaccinated visitors on July 1, after having largely closed the country during the pandemic. It had already started allowing groups of vaccinated tourists to enter in May. All visitors will need to be tested before boarding flights to Israel and show proof of vaccination.
But after a rise in infections in the past week, the government said Wednesday that it would be pushing that date until Aug. 1. Israel's Health Ministry recorded 110 new cases of coronavirus in the past day.
Israel has suffered a major economic blow due to the coronavirus pandemic, but even as the country has gradually recovered after a speedy vaccination campaign, the tourism industry has remained blighted.
6:33 a.m.: A state government minister has been infected with COVID-19 and another minister is in isolation as a cluster in the Australian city of Sydney worsens.
New South Wales Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall said he was told on Thursday that he had tested positive after dining with three government colleagues on Monday at a Sydney restaurant after an infected diner.
All four lawmakers had been attending Parliament as recently as Tuesday.
Health Minister Brad Hazard said he was self-isolating after being exposed to a potential case at Parliament House.
Hazzard said while standing next to Premier Gladys Berejiklian at daily pandemic media briefings, that he thought she was fairly safe."
Pandemic restrictions tightened in Sydney on Thursday as a cluster of the Delta variant increased and states banned travel from either parts of Sydney or from anywhere in New South Wales.
The cluster began last week when a Sydney airport limousine driver tested positive. He was not vaccinated and is suspected to have been infected while transporting a foreign air crew. The cluster had grown to 31 cases by Wednesday.
6:32 a.m.: Danish health officials are urging soccer fans who attended the Euro2020 game between Denmark and Belgium in Copenhagen on June 17 to be tested after they found at least three people who afterward tested positive with the delta variant.
On Twitter, Denmark's Health Minister said Wednesday that some 4,000 people sat in the same area as those who tested positive - six sections of the C stands at Copenhagen's Parken stadium.
Since April 2 when the Delta variant - known for being more infectious - was first discovered in Denmark, 247 cases have been reported.
6:32 a.m.: Coronavirus infections continue to soar in Russia, with the authorities reporting 20,182 new cases on Thursday and 568 further deaths. Both tallies are the highest since late January.
A surge in infections that hit Russia earlier this month comes as the authorities struggle to overcome widespread vaccine hesitancy and immunize its 146 million people. As of Wednesday, only 20.7 million - or just 14 per cent of the population - have received at least one shot of the vaccine, while 16.7 million - 11 per cent - have been fully immunized.
In response to the soaring contagions, authorities in 14 Russian regions have made vaccinations mandatory for certain groups of people, such as state officials, those employed in retail, healthcare, education, restaurants and other service-providing businesses. In most of those regions, eligible companies are required to ensure vaccination of at least 60% of their staff in the coming months.
Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said Wednesday that over the past week, vaccinations rates have increased nearly twofold.
Russia's state coronavirus task force has reported a total of over 5.3 million confirmed coronavirus cases in the pandemic and more than 131,000 deaths.
6:31 a.m.: Yukon has been knocked off its pedestal as it deals with a surge of COVID-19 cases, says the territory's top doctor.
Dr. Brendan Hanley said there have been more cases in Yukon over the past 14 days than in the first 14 months of the pandemic.
For many months, almost as on a pedestal, with our zero active cases and high vaccination rates, all eyes in Canada were on us," he said at a news conference Wednesday.
And now the same eyes are on us for a much different reason. A highly vaccinated territory is undergoing the most significant outbreak since COVID-19 began."
The next few weeks will determine Yukon's future and help other jurisdictions learn how to manage an outbreak in a highly vaccinated population, he said.
The territory reported one more death and four new infections Wednesday, bringing the active case count to 103.
Of the 144 total cases in the latest outbreak, he said 122 of them were among unvaccinated people ranging in age from one to 90 years old.
The new infections show that a 72 per cent vaccination rate is not enough to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and at least 80 per cent of the population should receive their shots, he said.
The current outbreak, fuelled by the more transmissible Gamma variant first detected in Brazil, is linked to graduation events at a high school, two classes at an elementary institute and several groups that gathered for bush and house parties, and at bars, Hanley said.
6:28 a.m.: As scientific and medical discourse plays out in real time online and in the media during the COVID-19 pandemic, observers specializing in science and risk communication say Canadians must be even more discerning in choosing which expert voices they listen to and amplify.
The recent government guidance on mixing and matching mRNA vaccines amid delivery delays is one of the latest issues to stir up public debate, including within the scientific community.
While access to a wide variety of sources and less institutional gatekeeping are positive overall, the sheer volume of information can contribute to confusion, particularly when it is changing so quickly, said Tim Sly, an epidemiologist and risk communication expert at Ryerson University.
Science itself is doing the best it can, is running as fast as it can, just to keep up to date with the knowledge," he said.
Over time, the weight of the evidence changes," and a clearer message emerges, he said. But in the meantime, every day, every radio station's got two or three experts on their phone-in show," he said.
Read the full story from the Canadian Press here.
4 a.m.: The latest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 4 a.m. ET on Thursday, June 24, 2021. Some provinces and territories do not report daily case numbers.
There are 1,410,927 confirmed cases in Canada (9,645 active, 1,375,107 resolved, 26,175 deaths). The total case count includes 13 confirmed cases among repatriated travellers.
There were 727 new cases reported Wednesday. The rate of active cases is 25.38 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 5,788 new cases reported. The seven-day rolling average of new reported cases is 827.
There were 21 new reported deaths Wednesday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 176 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 25. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.07 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 68.87 per 100,000 people.
There have been 36,344,745 tests completed.
4 a.m.: The latest numbers on COVID-19 vaccinations in Canada as of 4 a.m. ET on Thursday, June 24, 2021.
In Canada, the provinces are reporting 516,201 new vaccinations administered for a total of 33,565,223 doses given. Nationwide, 8,273,857 people or 22 per cent of the population has been fully vaccinated. The provinces have administered doses at a rate of 88,564.283 per 100,000.
There were 632,380 new vaccines delivered to the provinces and territories for a total of 37,666,330 doses delivered so far. The provinces and territories have used 89.11 per cent of their available vaccine supply.