Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reporting 492 COVID-19 cases; Ontario can control COVID-19 with continued health measures, science table says
The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Friday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
1:45 p.m. Nova Scotia is reporting 23 new cases of COVID-19. Thirteen cases have been identified in the central zone, which includes Halifax, six cases are in the western zone, three cases have been found in the northern zone and one case is in the eastern zone.
Authorities say 26 recoveries have also been reported. The province now has 160 active infections with 15 people in hospital, four of whom are in intensive care.
Officials also reported that two schools received COVID-19 exposure notices Thursday, both of them in the Amherst area.
And officials continue to monitor an outbreak of the disease in a non-COVID unit at Valley Regional Hospital in Kentville where five cases of COVID-19 have been identified.
1:30 p.m. Canada must decide what to do with millions of unused COVID-19 vaccine doses now that officials have confirmed they won't be needed to vaccinate children.
Roughly 6.6-million doses have been distributed to the provinces but not yet used, and there are an extra 13 million in Canada's central vaccine inventory.
Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says provincial and federal governments are working to figure out how many doses will be needed in Canada so that everyone can be fully vaccinated, and get a booster if they need one.
At the same time, they are keeping tabs on when doses expire to make sure they do not go to waste.
Health Canada is also looking at the possibility of extending the shelf life of some vaccines based on new data from the manufacturers, so they can be kept in storage for a few extra months.
Arrangements have been made between the government, the manufacturers and COVAX, the global vaccine sharing initiative, to donate doses that can't be used or stored.
1:10 p.m. Two eastern European countries struggling with low rates of vaccination against COVID-19 are seeing a sudden rush for jabs.
Previously skeptical populations in Ukraine and Romania are rapidly changing their minds as they endure the pandemic's deadliest wave yet. The situation is indeed dire: new infections and deaths continue to break records and lockdowns are starting to return.
The worsening conditions prompted a record week of almost 1 million inoculations in Ukraine, which initially had difficulties in securing supplies of vaccines but later saw its citizens increasing wary about taking them.
That's left the former Soviet republic with coverage that's even less than Bulgaria, the European Union's least-vaccinated member state. The realization is hitting home. The national railway operator denied boarding to 175 passengers on Friday as restrictions came into force requiring they produce inoculation certificates.
12:40 p.m. Quebec kids are being asked not to yell trick-or-treat' as they go door-to-door for candy and to keep a bottle of hand sanitizer handy this Halloween.
The province's Health Department today published a list of guidelines to help celebrate the holiday safely amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Children are advised not to enter people's houses, to refrain from singing and yelling, to wash and sanitize their hands and to try to keep one metre of distance from others whenever possible.
The province is asking adults to hand out candies in individual bags and to respect the 10-person gathering limit when it comes to parties.
12:20 p.m. Beginning Nov. 8, Canadians who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will be allowed to enter the U.S. for non-essential travel by land and ferry ports of entry.
If you're planning a trip, you may be struggling to find answers to your travel questions about children under 12, since they're not yet eligible to be vaccinated in Canada. While that may change within weeks, there are guidelines for this specific age group.
From mixed vaccines to travelling with kids, we use the latest government information to answer your pressing #PandemicTravel questions.
Read the full story from the Star's Manuela Vega
12:05 p.m. Canada's vaccine advisory committee says it's possible to safely give a second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to people who experienced severe allergic reactions to their first shot.
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization says there have been cases of severe anaphylactic reactions to mRNA vaccines documented in Canada after their first dose.
Studies show the reaction often is not repeated with the second dose, however, and the second dose was tell tolerated with either no reactions or just mild ones.
The committee encourages people who had an allergic reaction to a mRNA vaccine - those produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna - to see an allergist before seeking the next dose.
The committee also released new advice about waiting longer for a second dose, suggesting that a longer gap between shots is more effective.
NACI now suggests waiting eight weeks between mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and at least eight weeks between shots of AstraZeneca.
11:50 a.m. Quebec is reporting 434 new cases of COVID-19 Monday and eight additional deaths linked to the coronavirus.
The Health Department says the number of hospitalizations declined by 14, to 260, and 68 people were in intensive care, a decline of four from the day before.
Authorities say 14,367 doses of vaccine were administered within the past 24 hours.
According to the province's public health institute, 90.3 per cent of Quebec residents 12 and over have received at least one dose of vaccine and 87.4 per cent are considered adequately vaccinated.
The Health Department is reporting two COVID-19 outbreaks at provincial jails. As of Tuesday, the most recent day for which data is available, 55 detainees and 13 employees at the Riviere-des-Prairies detention centre in Montreal had active cases of COVID-19.
At the provincial jail in Sherbrooke, Que., east of Montreal, 33 inmates and one staff member had active cases of COVID-19.
11:40 a.m. (updated) A group of science experts advising the Ontario government says the province can control the spread of COVID-19 if public health measures stay in place.
New modelling from the Ontario science table was released today, hours before Premier Doug Ford is set to unveil his plan for lifting public health restrictions.
The experts say a combination of vaccination and public health measures has led to declining case counts and stable hospitalizations and ICU admissions.
But as cold weather approaches, driving more activities indoors where the risk of transmission is higher, the science table says continuing some public health measures is necessary to maintain control of the pandemic.
Modelling shows that if there is no change in policy or people's behaviours, cases will continue to decline, while some increase in social contacts will keep cases stable. A "substantial" increase in contacts could lead to more than 600 daily cases by the end of November.
All of those scenarios assume public health measures such as masking, a proof-of-vaccination system, symptom screening and good ventilation and filtration continue.
11:20 p.m. Canadian retail sales rose 2.1 per cent to $57.2 billion in August, boosted by gains at food and beverage stores, gasoline stations and clothing and clothing accessories stores.
However, Statistics Canada said Friday its initial estimate for September suggests retail sales reversed course in September and fell 1.9 per cent, though it cautioned the figure will be revised.
The agency also said its early estimate for manufacturing sales in September point to a drop of 3.2 per cent for the month, due in large part to the transportation equipment industry.
CIBC senior economist Royce Mendes said retail sales roared back in August, but then took another breather in September.
"The ugly flash readings for retail sales and manufacturing will dent our previously heady GDP forecast for the month," Mendes wrote in a note to clients.
"However, while goods sectors were plagued by supply chain challenges, according to the labour force survey data, activity across a range of services sectors was increasing."
11 a.m. Several universities in Ontario are moving to bar unvaccinated students from campus as their mandatory vaccination policies take full effect.
The schools say the vast majority of their students have now provided proof of COVID-19 vaccination, but the few that have not will in most cases no longer be able to access university buildings or attend on-campus classes and activities.
At the University of Waterloo - where about 95 per cent of students have had a COVID-19 shot - a spokesman said those who aren't fully immunized cannot take in-person classes and in many cases won't be able to continue their education at the school.
"Those students can consider continuing to pursue their education by selecting from among the online courses that are scheduled, perhaps as a part-time student," said Chris Wilson-Smith. "(They can consider) taking relevant courses at another university on a letter of permission, or delaying their learning at Waterloo indefinitely."
McMaster University in Hamilton, where 96 per cent of students taking in-person classes have submitted proof of vaccination, said unvaccinated students without valid exemptions will be unenrolled from winter courses as there's an expectation they'll need to attend campus at some point next semester.
For the fall term, the school said those who didn't provide proof of vaccination by an Oct. 17 deadline will likely be able to complete their courses remotely.
10:47 a.m. Thailand is accelerating plans to reopen the country to foreign tourists, slashing mandatory quarantines beginning Nov. 1 for fully-vaccinated visitors arriving by air from 46 countries and territories, officials announced Friday.
The Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration also announced a loosening of local restrictions, including cancellation of a curfew in some areas where risks have lessened and tourists can move freely.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha had announced earlier this month that Thailand no longer planned to require visitors from at least 10 low-risk nations to quarantine if they are fully vaccinated for COVID-19. He had said the list would be expanded on Dec. 1, and then made even more extensive on Jan. 1.
10:35 a.m. Germany's state governors pressed Friday for a nationwide legal framework for coronavirus rules to be kept in place after the outgoing health minister suggested that the current legislation should be allowed to expire next month.
The call came as official figures over several days pointed to an acceleration in new COVID-19 infections. As of Friday, 95.1 cases per 100,000 residents had been reported over the last seven days, up from 68.7 a week ago. Over the past 24 hours, 19,572 new infections were reported.
The German parliament first passed legislation declaring an epidemic situation of national scope" after the pandemic hit the country in March 2020, and it has been extended several times since. The law has served as a key legal basis for restrictions such as lockdowns.
10:12 a.m. (updated) Ontario is reporting another 492 COVID-19 cases and 12 more deaths. Of the 12, one of the deaths occurred more than one month ago and is being reported as part of the cumulative count due to a data cleanup, according to the province's latest report released Friday morning.
Ontario has administered 25,770 vaccine doses since its last daily update, with 22,338,662 vaccines given in total as of 8 p.m. the previous night.
According to the Star's vaccine tracker, 11,438,633 people in Ontario have received at least one shot. That works out to approximately 87.8 per cent of the eligible population 12 years and older, and the equivalent of 77.0 per cent of the total population, including those not yet eligible for the vaccine.
The province says 10,900,029 people have completed their vaccinations, which means they've had both doses. That works out to approximately 83.6 per cent of the eligible population 12 years and older, and the equivalent of 73.3 per cent of the total population, including those not yet eligible for the vaccine.
Read the full story from the Star's Urbi Khan
10:10 a.m. Ukraine's coronavirus infections and deaths reached all-time highs for a second straight day Friday, in a growing challenge for the country with one of Europe's lowest shares of vaccinated people.
Ukrainian health authorities reported 23,785 new confirmed infections and 614 deaths in the past 24 hours.
Authorities in the capital, Kyiv, shut schools for two weeks starting Friday, and similar measures were ordered in other areas with high contagion levels.
Authorities have blamed surging infections on a sluggish pace of vaccination in the nation of 41 million. Ukrainians can freely choose between Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Sinovac vaccines, but only about 15 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated, Europe's lowest level after Armenia.
Overall, the country has registered over 2.7 million infections and about 63,000 deaths.
9:35 a.m. Amnesty International called Friday for an independent parliamentary inquiry into COVID-19 deaths in Italian nursing homes and reports of retaliation against nursing home staff who spoke out about unsafe conditions there.
Amnesty based its findings on interviews with 34 health care workers, as well as union leaders and lawyers. A third of the workers raised concerns about a climate of fear and retaliation in their workplace," the human rights watchdog said in a statement Friday.
Italy's nursing homes, like those elsewhere in Europe, the U.S. and beyond, saw thousands of COVID-19 deaths, and prosecutors in dozens of jurisdictions have opened investigations into whether to lay any criminal blame.
Italy was the first country in the West to be severely hit by the outbreak and soon found itself critically short of protective equipment, face masks and hospital beds, particularly in the hardest-hit Lombardy region. During the first surge, many residents of elder care facilities in Lombardy weren't even taken to the hospital because there was no room for them.
9:20 a.m. The federal government has lifted a global advisory asking Canadians to avoid non-essential travel outside the country, but continues to advise against travel on cruise ships.
The global travel advisory was put in place in March 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic spread around the world.
The government of Canada's website now shows advisories for each destination country, as it did prior to the pandemic.
It also urges Canadians to ensure they are fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus before travelling abroad, and to stay informed of the COVID-19 situation at their destination.
Canada opened its borders last month to non-essential international travellers who have received both doses of a Health Canada-approved COVID-19 vaccine, and to fully vaccinated travellers from the United States in August.
The U.S. government recently announced that its land borders will reopen to non-essential Canadian travellers on Nov. 8.
9:05 a.m. 83 per cent of Torontonians eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine (age 12 and up) are now fully vaccinated, according to a press release from the city.
8:20 a.m. Coronavirus infections and deaths in Russia climbed Friday to another pandemic record, putting a growing strain on the country's health care system.
The government coronavirus task force reported 37,141 new infections and 1,064 deaths in the past 24 hours. That brought Russia's death toll to 228,453, Europe's highest by far.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has responded to the worsening situation by ordering Russians to stay off work from Oct. 30 to Nov. 7, when the country is already observing an extended holiday.
Russian authorities expect the order to help limit the spread of the virus by keeping them out of offices and off public transportation, where mask mandates have been widely ignored. The government also urged local authorities to tighten their own restrictions during the period.
In some regions where the situation is even more threatening, Putin said the nonworking period could start as early as Saturday and be extended past Nov. 7.
Asked Friday if the Kremlin could extend the nonworking period nationwide or order a tighter lockdown, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it would depend on the evolving situation.
8:02 a.m. Pfizer says kid-size doses of its COVID-19 vaccine are safe and nearly 91 per cent effective at preventing infections in elementary school children.
Details of the study were posted online Friday as U.S. regulators consider opening vaccinations to youngsters 5 to 11.
The shots could begin early next month -- with the first children in line fully protected by Christmas - if regulators give the go-ahead.
The Food and Drug Administration is expected to post its initial review of the company's safety and effectiveness data later Friday. Next week, advisers to the FDA will publicly debate the evidence.
If the FDA then authorizes the low-dose shots, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will make the final recommendations on who should receive them.
Full-strength Pfizer shots already are authorized for anyone 12 or older, but pediatricians and many parents are anxiously awaiting protection for younger children to stem rising infections from the extra-contagious delta variant and help keep kids in school.
7:01 a.m.: Thailand is accelerating plans to reopen the country to foreign tourists, slashing mandatory quarantines beginning Nov. 1 for fully-vaccinated visitors arriving by air from 46 countries and territories, officials announced Friday.
The Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration also announced a loosening of local restrictions, including cancellation of a curfew in some areas where risks have lessened and tourists can move freely.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha had announced earlier this month that Thailand no longer planned to require visitors from at least 10 low-risk nations to quarantine if they are fully vaccinated for COVID-19. He had said the list would be expanded on Dec. 1, and then made even more extensive on Jan. 1.
Under the new rules, vaccinated travelers to Thailand from the approved 45 countries plus Hong Kong will be required to show negative results from RT-PCR tests before flying and upon their arrival. They will need to spend their first night in a government-approved hotel awaiting their test results, though the government is not calling that a quarantine. If the results are negative, the person can travel anywhere in Thailand.
6:35 a.m.: China's capital Beijing has begun offering booster shots against COVID-19, four months before the city and surrounding regions are to host the Winter Olympics.
Anyone 18 or older who have received two-dose Chinese vaccines and belong to at-risk groups, including those participating, organizing or working on games facilities, would be eligible for the additional shot, state media reported Friday.
The booster has been rolling out in cities across the vast nation since late September, but Beijing authorities have been extra cautious in who receives the extra jab.
The games are set to begin on Feb. 4 with only residents of China allowed in the stands. Indoor events with sliding, skiing and jumping will be held in the suburb of Yanqing and the neighboring city of Zhangjiakou.
China has been largely successful in preventing local transmission through strict requirements on mask wearing, quarantining and contact tracing. Cases continue to pop up however, with 28 new ones reported Friday, including one in the Beijing suburb of Fengtai.
6:15 a.m: As she stood in the courtyard of the morgue holding the body of her grandmother who died of COVID-19, Ramilya Shigalturina had a message for anyone still resisting vaccinations.
I'm begging all Russians: Please get vaccinated, because it's really dreadful and dangerous," said the resident of Nizhny Novgorod, the country's fifth-largest city.
Shigalturina said her 83-year-old grandmother died right away after catching it. She wasn't vaccinated."
When Russia last year became the first country to launch a coronavirus vaccine, called Sputnik V, it was hailed as a matter of national pride and a sign of its scientific know-how. But since the free immunization program began in December 2020, only about a third of the country's 146 million people have gotten fully vaccinated.
The low vaccine acceptance is of increasing concern as Russia suffers a sharp rise in cases, setting records for infections and deaths nearly every day this month. On Thursday, the national coronavirus task force reported 1,036 deaths and more than 36,000 new infections over the past 24 hours.
6:10 a.m.: Millions more Americans can get a COVID-19 booster and choose a different company's vaccine for that next shot, federal health officials said Thursday.
Certain people who received Pfizer vaccinations months ago already are eligible for a booster and now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says specific Moderna and Johnson & Johnson recipients qualify, too. And in a bigger change, the agency is allowing the flexibility of mixing and matching" that extra dose regardless of which type people received first.
The Food and Drug Administration had already authorized such an expansion of the nation's booster campaign on Wednesday, and it was also endorsed Thursday by a CDC advisory panel. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky had the final word on who gets the extra doses.
6:05 a.m.: The Iranian capital Tehran has held its main public Friday prayer service for the first time in 20 months, after it was halted amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Organizers said beforehand that all health protocols would be followed to protect the expected hundreds of worshippers during the ceremony at Tehran University. Iran's National Coronavirus Taskforce, which had ordered a halt to the prayers, authorized its resumption.
Public Friday prayers have been underway in other cities, especially in smaller towns across the country since the summer. Individual mosques have been free to hold normal services since early October.
The move comes as Tehran hosts over 400 Muslim scholars and religious leaders for a meeting known as the International Islamic Unity Conference.
Tehran's communal Friday prayer was halted for 20 months over the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 124,700 people and left some 4,400 in critical conditions in hospitals since the February 2019. The statistics show Iran as having the worst COVID-19 fatality rate in the Middle East.
6 a.m.: Deadlines have passed for thousands of GTA hospital workers to prove they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with some now being placed on unpaid leave or facing termination.
At the Hospital for Sick Children, 98 per cent of the hospital's 8,258 staff members - including 100 per cent of its active physicians - are fully vaccinated.
But 145 staff have been placed on unpaid leaves of absence for not complying with the hospital's mandatory vaccine policy or failing to provide proof of their status, though some are still in the process of submitting their required documentation, said Sick Kids in an email to the Star.
We anticipate the number of staff on leaves of absence will decrease over the coming days," said spokesperson Jessamine Luck in an emailed statement.
Read the full story from the Star's Megan Ogilvie.
5:50 a.m.: Worried that the flu and COVID-19 could trigger a winter-time double-whammy of new infections and deaths, France is forging ahead with a nationwide vaccination and booster-shot program against both diseases, offering simultaneous jabs to millions of at-risk people.
The annual flu vaccination campaign kicked off Friday, four days earlier than initially planned, dovetailing with France's COVID-19 vaccination program that as well as trying to reach those who remain unvaccinated is also providing booster shots to those in need.
French health authorities, in instructions issued this week, urged doctors, nurses, pharmacists and midwives to systematically promote both vaccinations" to at-risk people eligible for COVID-19 booster and flu shots. The note said the jabs can be given the same day, one in each arm.
It added that the onset of the winter flu season with the pandemic ongoing increases the risk of co-infection and the development of serious cases and deaths."
5:40 a.m.: The federal government will spend $7.4 billion on a revamped suite of targeted pandemic supports in the months after several major relief programs expire on Saturday.
As the Star first reported late Wednesday, the Canada Response Benefit (CRB) - which replaced the Canada Emergency Response Benefit last year - will wind down for good on Oct. 23.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced Thursday morning that the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) and the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS) will also officially expire on the same day.
Our economy is rebounding, and we are winning the fight against COVID. However, it's also true that the recovery is uneven, and that the health measures that are saving lives continue to restrict some economic activity," Freeland told reporters alongside Prime Minister Justin Trudeau outside a children's hospital in Ottawa.
Read the full story from the Star's Raisi Patel.
5:25 a.m.: Fully vaccinated Canadian travellers will be able to prove their status with provincially issued vaccine passports that sport machine-readable QR codes and the endorsement of the federal government - and starting Nov. 30, they won't be able to fly without one.
Meanwhile, Ontario residents will need the newest version of the province's vaccination credential to enter restaurants, gyms, concert halls and stadiums starting Oct. 22.
Ontario began issuing the newly standardized documents in the past week. The Ford government said Thursday that about four million Ontario residents had already downloaded the updated proof of vaccination.
Read the full story from the Star's Tonda MacCharles.
5 a.m.: Finally, a reason to look forward to Monday.
Restaurants, bars and fitness centres can begin welcoming more customers starting Monday under a long-awaited easing of Ontario's COVID-19 capacity limits, the Star has learned.
The moves are part of a comprehensive" road map to be laid out Friday by Premier Doug Ford and chief medical officer Dr. Kieran Moore for the next phase of the province's pandemic reopening plan, sources said.
Bolstered by the lack of a post-Thanksgiving spike in new cases, the liberalization follows a steady easing of restrictions in recent months and will be announced as a new system of smartphone QR codes for proof of vaccination at non-essential venues takes effect Friday.
Read the full story by the Star's Robert Benzie and Rob Ferguson.
4:30 a.m.: Taking their strongest stance yet on mandatory vaccination, Toronto police announced Thursday that officers who don't have both doses of COVID-19 vaccine by the end of November will no longer be paid and can't come into work, having rendered themselves unable to perform their duties."
As of Nov. 30, any Toronto police employee who is not fully vaccinated or has not disclosed this status will be placed on an indefinite unpaid absence" - a move lauded by one physician as a positive step" towards protecting the public, who often have no choice but to interact with officers. These employees will also not be permitted to enter Toronto police buildings or facilities.
And, effective immediately, unvaccinated officers - a category that includes anyone who has not disclosed their status to police - are ineligible for promotion to supervisory or management positions. In the statement, Toronto police chief James Ramer stressed that COVID-19 vaccination protects the health and safety of each of our members, our workplaces and the public we serve."