Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reporting 143 cases of COVID-19, 10 deaths; Cases surge to 6-month high in Tokyo a week before Olympics
The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Thursday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
10:21 a.m. Ontario is reporting 143 cases of COVID-19 and 10 deaths. Locally, there are 25 new cases in the Region of Waterloo, 25 in Grey Bruce and 20 in Toronto; more than 31,300 tests completed.
The seven-day average is down to 155 cases per day or 7.5 weekly per 100,000 and up to 6.7 deaths per day. Labs are reporting 31,329 completed tests and a 0.5 per cent positive, according to the Star's Ed Tubb.
9:50 a.m. COVID-19 is rebounding across Southern California, swelling the numbers of infections and hospitalizations and prompting fresh calls for residents to get vaccinated.
While their overall numbers remain relatively low compared with the pandemic's earlier high-water marks, Orange, San Diego and San Bernardino counties have all seen their daily case averages more than triple over the past two weeks - mirroring a trend in Los Angeles County, data compiled by The Times shows.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now considers Riverside, along with L.A. and San Diego, to have substantial" community transmission - the second-worst classification on the agency's four-tier scale - as all recently recorded seven-day case rates that were over 50 per 100,000 residents.
Though cases in these counties are nowhere near the levels of the pandemic's earlier waves - and there's optimism the current uptick won't grow into anything of that magnitude - health officials have long noted that increases in cases are the first warning sign, as more infections could eventually trigger corresponding increases in hospitalizations and, possibly, deaths.
The second phase is now also currently on display in Southern California. On June 29, there were 56 COVID-19 positive patients hospitalized in Orange County, state figures show. As of Tuesday, that number had swelled to 119.
9:20 a.m. New coronavirus cases surged to 1,308 in Tokyo on Thursday, a six-month high, as fears rise of a possible dramatic increase that could flood hospitals during the Olympics that start in eight days.
Tokyo is under a fourth state of emergency, which began Monday and requires restaurants and bars to close early and not serve alcohol through the Olympics, which start July 23.
Thursday's tally is the highest since 1,485 were recorded on Jan. 21, when Japan was under an earlier state of emergency, and is also a jump from Wednesday's 1,149.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike noted that the largest increase in serious cases and hospitalizations was among people in their 50s and younger who are largely unvaccinated. She expressed concern about the impact on the medical system as infections are propelled by the more contagious delta strain of the virus.
We need to stay on alert," Koike said, urging people to minimize outings and stick to basic anti-infection measures to overcome this very difficult situation."
8:30 a.m. Canadian air passenger-rights advocate Gabor Lukacs is one step closer in his efforts to get accountability and transparency from the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA).
On Tuesday, the Federal Court of Appeal granted Lukacs the right to proceed with his previously dismissed application concerning the 2017 tarmac delays suffered by Air Transat passengers at the Ottawa airport.
On July 31, 2017, two Air Transat flights were diverted to the Ottawa airport and delayed there on the tarmac for several hours. Passengers complained of high temperatures inside the plane, not enough food and drinks, and some passengers becoming sick.
Read the full story from the Star's Rosa Saba
7:50 a.m. The U.S. is shipping more than 3.2 million doses of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine to the Philippines.
The White House tells the Associated Press the donated single-shot vaccines will begin arriving in the Philippines later this week through COVAX, the international program coordinating vaccine sharing with lower- and middle-income countries.
It's one of the largest installments of shipments in the U.S.'s expanding vaccine diplomacy campaign, with the nation now sharing about 50 million doses with the world. More than 30 million doses are awaiting shipment to other countries, pending regulatory and logistical clearances.
The U.S. also will purchase 500 million Pfizer doses to share globally in the upcoming year, with the first doses delivered in August.
7:40 a.m. When the theatres of TO Live went dark in spring 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Matt Farrell was already thinking about how to make them safer once they reopened one day.
There wasn't a lot of hype around ventilation, it was largely focused on hand sanitizer, saying, wipe down your groceries and that sort of stuff," recalls the vice president of operations for the city agency, which oversees St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, Meridian Arts Centre and Meridian Hall.
It started out very quietly, and it started to become louder and louder."
As the province moves to Step 3 of reopening on Friday, allowing public spaces such as restaurants, bars, gyms and theatres to open, Ontarians are getting ready to move inside and share the air with strangers for the first time in many months.
Read the full story from the Star's May Warren
7:30 a.m. A mass COVID-19 vaccination clinic in Mississauga is closing at the end of the month as Peel Region celebrates nearly two million doses being delivered to residents.
On July 14, Peel Public Health announced that changes to the vaccination program would be made as 55 per cent of those 18 and older have received their second dose.
The International Centre clinic will closeon July 26, but all other clinics will continue to operate with some adjustments based on community need.
7:20 a.m. A Mississauga restaurant is facing a hefty fine for allegedly violating Ontario's COVID-19 rules.
The city's enforcement report covering July 5 to 11 said a Mississauga restaurant has been fined $880 for an alleged violation of COVID-19 orders.
A spokesperson from Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie's office said in an email that the restaurant in the Heartland area of the city was fined for allegedly allowing indoor dining, something that is currently not permitted under Ontario's Step Two rules.
6:23 a.m.: Barcelona and the surrounding northeast corner of Spain is shutting down once again to stem an unchecked wave of The Delta variant of the coronavirus that is running wild among the unvaccinated young.
Regional authorities on Thursday were waiting for a judge to give the legal go-ahead for their request to restore a nightly curfew, their latest effort to ratchet up restrictions and discourage social gatherings where the virus spreads.
The curfew order would affect those towns with a population over 5,000 which surpass the rate of 400 infections per 100,000 inhabitants over 14 days.
The more infectious delta strain is pushing infections back up in many countries, even in Europe where vaccination efforts are going well and the public health care systems are robust. But Catalonia doubles the Spanish average and is among the most hard-hit areas in Europe with over 1,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over 14 days. Only Cyprus is worse off in Europe, according to the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
6:20 a.m.: Public Health Sudbury and Districts reported no new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday.
There is currently just one active case in the region, and it is located in Greater Sudbury.
The health unit has reported 2,172 cases of the virus since the beginning of the pandemic, with 2,019 in Greater Sudbury, 113 in the Sudbury district and 40 in the Manitoulin district.
6:19 a.m.: Public Health Sudbury and District's new mobile vaccination clinic had a successful first ride on Tuesday at two locations in Greater Sudbury.
The bus visited Cambrian Heights in the morning and made a stop on Kathleen Street near downtown Sudbury in the afternoon.
The health unit said that it was able to vaccinate 124 people, including 24 people who received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
It's not too late to come and see us for your first dose and we'd be happy to answer any questions you have," said public health.
The mobile clinic visited 720 Bruce Ave. in Greater Sudbury on Wednesday morning, and the McClelland Arena in Copper Cliff in the afternoon.
6:17 a.m.: Quebec's Health Minister called for the 700,000 Quebecers who have appointments after Sep. 1 for the second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to move up their appointments via the Clic Sante website in a tweet Monday afternoon.
I invite Quebecers to advance their appointments via Clic Sante before that date," Dube said.
The minister added that a second dose of the vaccine can be administered as soon as four weeks after the first dose, and that Pfizer and Moderna shots can be taken interchangeably.
Dube has said that Quebec Public Health officials are now aiming for an 80-per-cent vaccination rate to ward off the more-easily-transmissible variants that are cause for concern.
In addition, many retailers are cheering the news that Quebec has removed the restrictions on the number of shoppers in a store at once.
The province did say though, the onus will be on retailers to keep shoppers more than a metre apart and that mask-wearing continued to be mandatory.
Quebec Retail Council, executive director Jean-Guy Cote said his members had been calling for an end to the pandemic-related restrictions on the number of clients allowed in stores at one time.
He said retailers are worried that customers have decided to reduce shopping in person because of the long lines outside their stores.
Thursday 6:15 a.m.: Will COVID-19 vaccines work if I have a weak immune system?
Probably not as well as they do in healthy people, but the shots should offer some protection.
It's why vaccinations are still recommended for people with immune systems weakened by disease or certain medications. It's also important that your family, friends and caregivers get vaccinated, which will make it far less likely that they pass on the virus.
About 3% of U.S. adults have weakened immune systems. Among them are people with HIV or AIDS, transplant recipients, some cancer patients and people with autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and lupus.
COVID-19 shots weren't studied in large numbers of people with weak immune systems. But limited data and experience with flu and pneumonia vaccines suggest they won't work as well as they do in others. That means people with weakened immune systems should keep taking precautions like wearing masks and avoiding large crowds.
It's prudent to use all the precautions you were using before you were vaccinated," said Dr. Ajit Limaye, a transplant expert at University of Washington Medicine in Seattle.