Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reporting 438 new cases of COVID-19; Ontario to release fall economic statement
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.
10:25 a.m. Ontario is reporting 438 new cases of COVID-19; 279 cases are in individuals who are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status and 159 are in fully vaccinated individuals. In Ontario 88.3 per cent of Ontarians 12+ have one dose and nearly 84.8 per cent have two doses.
10:20 a.m. The country's largest school board has put almost 800 staffers on unpaid leave after they failed to disclose their vaccination status.
As of Nov. 2, the Toronto District School Board said that 100 permanent employees and 693 occasional staffers had not completed their mandatory attestation and have now been placed on non-disciplinary administrative leave of absence without pay. The data below show that the vast majority of employees on administrative leave at this time have not worked in the TDSB during the 2021-22 school year."
Spokesperson Ryan Bird said that of the 100 permanent staff, 13 are elementary teachers and three teach in city high schools.
10 a.m. Cyprus expanded its COVID-19 vaccination booster shot drive on Thursday to include everyone 50 and over, as well as those who have been diagnosed as obese irrespective of age.
A precondition for receiving a booster shot is for six months to have elapsed since a person was fully vaccinated. Cyprus began administering booster shots last month to people aged 60 and over.
According to the latest available data, nearly 80 per cent of adults, 40 per cent of 16-17 year-olds and 25 per cent of kids between 12-15 have been fully vaccinated.
Around one in 10 people on Cyprus have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the start of the epidemic with some 570 having died as a result of the virus.
9:40 a.m. Countries throughout Central and Eastern Europe reported spiraling coronavirus cases Thursday, with several hitting new daily records in the regions that have lower vaccination rates than the rest of the continent.
Croatia, Slovenia and Slovakia reported their highest numbers of daily cases of the pandemic, while other countries registered the most infections in months.
Most countries in Central and Eastern Europe have vaccinated about half of their populations or less, which is lower than the European Union average. Anti-virus restrictions have also varies as governments sought to boost vaccination rates rather than reimpose limits on gatherings and other measures.
In Croatia, authorities reported a record daily high of 6,310 new cases and 32 deaths. Doctors warned that pressure on hospitals was rising in the country of 4.2 million people.
9:20 a.m. Tens of millions of Americans who work at companies with 100 or more employees will need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Jan. 4 or get tested for the virus weekly under government rules issued Thursday.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said companies that fail to comply could face penalties of nearly $14,000 per violation.
The new requirements, which were first previewed by President Joe Biden in September, will apply to about 84 million workers at medium and large businesses, although it is not clear how many of those employees are unvaccinated.
Tougher rules will apply to another 17 million people who work in nursing homes, hospitals and other facilities that receive money from Medicare and Medicaid. Those workers will not have an option for testing and will need to be vaccinated.
9 a.m. Guests who attended a recent overnight birthday party at a venue in Brampton are being advised to seek immediate testing following a COVID-19 exposure reported by Peel Public Health.
The region said the exposure was reported from a party at the Chandni Convention Centre (5 Gateway Blvd.) overnight on Oct. 23 and 24. All guests, regardless of vaccination status, are advised to seek testing and provide testers with the outbreak number 2253-2021-49523.
Testing locations can be found by searching "COVID testing near me" with location services enabled on Google.
8:40 a.m. Peel region is inching closer and closer toward its goal of having 90 per cent of the region's eligible population reaching two-dose vaccine coverage.
Speaking to reporters at Brampton's COVID-19 presser Nov. 3, Dr. Lawrence Loh said that only 106,000 doses are needed to boost vaccine coverage to hit the milestone.
This includes 21,000 first doses and 85,000 second doses, confirmed Loh, who is the region's medical officer of health.
8:15 a.m. Last winter, when COVID-19 spread throughout Parkside Extendicare, a private long-term care home in Regina, Brian Albert was advised by staff to talk to a priest.
His mother, 98-year-old Marie, had tested positive for the virus after living in a room with three others.
She survived, which Albert calls a miracle, but she can no longer walk or go to the bathroom by herself.
Now unfortunately because of COVID she's on oxygen full-time and because of COVID she's stuck in a wheelchair," Albert said.
As horrible as it is for her to push a button for assistance, he's incredibly happy she's alive, because 39 of her neighbours in the home didn't survive the outbreak after getting infected.
7:26 a.m. A 53-country region in Europe and Central Asia faces the real threat" of a resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic in the coming weeks or already is experiencing a new wave of infections, the head of the World Health Organization's regional office said Thursday.
Dr. Hans Kluge said case counts are beginning to near record levels again and the pace of transmission in the region, which stretches as far east as the former Soviet republics in Central Asia, is of grave concern."
We are at another critical point of pandemic resurgence," Kluge told reporters from WHO Europe headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark. Europe is back at the epicenter of the pandemic, where we were one year ago."
He said the difference now is that health authorities know more about the virus and have better tools to combat it. Relaxed prevention measures and low vaccination rates in some areas explain the latest surge, he said.
7 a.m.: Britain has granted a conditional authorization to Merck's coronavirus antiviral, the first pill shown to successfully treat COVID-19. It is the first country to OK the treatment, although it was not immediately clear how quickly the pill would be available.
The pill was licensed for adults 18 and older who have tested positive for COVID-19 and have at least one risk factor for developing severe disease. The drug, known as molnupiravir, is intended to be taken twice a day for five days by people at home with mild to moderate COVID-19.
An antiviral pill that reduces symptoms and speeds recovery could prove groundbreaking, easing caseloads on hospitals and helping to curb outbreaks in poorer countries with fragile health systems. It would also bolster the two-pronged approach to the pandemic: treatment, by way of medication, and prevention, primarily through vaccinations.
Molnupiravir is also pending review at regulators in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced last month it would convene a panel of independent experts to scrutinize the pill's safety and effectiveness in late November.
6:30 a.m.: Only about 55 per cent of Indigenous people over age 15 in Toronto have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, leaving about 32,000 people without protection.
Early in Ontario's vaccine rollout, First Nations populations living on reserves were prioritized for second doses, while Indigenous communities in urban areas were later granted speedier access to jabs. Despite those efforts, the vaccination rate for Indigenous groups in Toronto is far below that of the city's general population, in which 84 per cent of over-12s have received both shots.
The gap is tied to deep-rooted distrust of public health and medical institutions, which has persisted as a barrier for First Nations, Metis and Inuit people in Toronto. Urban Indigenous people are also disproportionately represented in the city's homeless population, a challenging group to vaccinate.
Read the full story from the Star's Maria Sarrouh here.
6:04 a.m.: Chinese authorities are ring-fencing Beijing against growing COVID-19 outbreaks now permeating more than half the nation's provinces, seeking to protect the capital as it gears up to host top political leaders next week and the Winter Olympics in less than 100 days.
The country's state-owned rail operator said on Wednesday they suspended ticket sales for trains departing from 123 stations in 23 locations that reported coronavirus infections. Previously, Beijing's municipal government all but barred people visiting the city from areas reporting COVID cases.
The escalating restrictions come after the number of infections in the capital rose persistently over the past few days and are now nearing 40. The outbreak, powered by the more infectious delta variant, has reached 19 out of 31 mainland provinces, the broadest spread in China since the virus emerged in Wuhan in late 2019.
6:02 a.m.: The daughter of a South Florida county commissioner who is running for Congress pleaded guilty Wednesday to stealing $300,000 in COVID-19 relief funds.
Damara Holness, 28, pleaded guilty in Fort Lauderdale federal court to conspiring to commit wire fraud, according to court records. She faces up to 20 years in prison at sentencing scheduled for Jan. 20.
Holness served as president of the Broward County Democratic Black Caucus last year around the time of the fraud. She is the daughter of Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness, who had a 12-vote lead following Tuesday's Democratic primary for a South Florida seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. A recount will determine the winner. Dale Holness was not charged in his daughter's fraud case.
6 a.m.: Germany's disease control agency on Thursday reported the highest number of new coronavirus infections since the outbreak of the pandemic.
The Robert Koch Institute, or RKI, said 33,949 new cases had been registered in the last 24 hours, up from 28,037 daily cases a week ago. The previous record was 33,777 new cases on Dec. 18, 2020.
The all-time high comes as the country's federal Health Minister Jens Spahn is set to meet with the 16 state health ministers to discuss how to limit the spread of the virus in the winter as intensive care units in the hospitals are starting to fill up again and infections among children are skyrocketing.
On Thursday, the RKI reported 165 deaths, up from 126 a week ago. The overall number of people who have died from a COVID-19 infection in Germany has risen to to 96,192.
Senior health officials have repeatedly appealed to German residents who haven't yet been vaccinated at all to get their shots, though Spahn acknowledged Wednesday that many of the holdouts can't be convinced.
5:55 a.m.: Ontario is set to release its fall economic statement Thursday to provide an update on the province's finances and plans for recovery from the pandemic.
Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy says Ontario has so far made great progress against COVID-19 and will unveil a plan that continues that fight.
He says it will also be about building Ontario," including plans for transit, highways, broadband, hospitals and long-term care.
Bethlenfalvy also highlighted a theme of working for workers," not long after the government proposed a host of worker-friendly measures such as a right to disconnect after hours, a ban on non-compete agreements, and requiring temporary help agencies to be licensed.
A $15 minimum wage, announced Tuesday by Premier Doug Ford, will be in legislation as part of the fall economic statement.
5:53 a.m.: A spike in health-care spending during the COVID-19 pandemic could lead to some serious financial challenges for provinces as they work to rebuild their health systems in the aftermath, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
The spending surge is expected to reach a record $308 billion in 2021, say newly released projections from CIHI.
That is roughly $8,019 per Canadian.
COVID-19 resulted in the single biggest increase in health spending we have ever seen in this country," said CIHI president David O'Toole in a news release.
Health spending is projected to have increased 12.8 per cent between 2019 and 2020. That's more than triple the average annual growth rate seen from 2015 to 2019, which was approximately four per cent per year.
Spending is estimated to have increased another 2.2 per cent between 2020 and 2021.
The agency said its estimates will be updated as final spending amounts are tabulated, and may be less accurate than normal given the nature of emergency funds spent during the pandemic.
Still, the numbers add up to a troubling future as Canada works to recover from the pandemic and get health systems back on their feet.
5:50 a.m.: Data from the Ministry of Health shows COVID-19 deaths in Saskatchewan's long-term-care homes are more likely to occur in private care homes as opposed to ones run by the Saskatchewan Health Authority.
As of Oct. 18, 154 residents of long-term care homes in Saskatchewan have died from COVID-19 throughout the pandemic, which makes up nearly 20 per cent of all COVID-19 deaths in the province during that time frame.
Of those deaths, 62 occurred in private, non-profit homes; 45 occurred in private for-profit homes; and 47 occurred in homes run by the health authority.
Broken down by beds, one in 13 residents died in private, for-profit homes; one in 41 in private, non-profit homes; and one in 108 in public sector homes.