Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reporting 3,448 people hospitalized with COVID-19, 505 in the ICU; Ontario's education minister to provide update
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.
10:45 a.m. The Toronto Zoo's vaccination clinic opens Wednesday. Individuals need to book their appointments ahead of time and special time slots will be made available to education and child care staff.
Appointments can booked at fhvax.com.
10:22 a.m. Ontario is reporting 3,448 people hospitalized with COVID-19 and 505 in the ICU; at least 9,783 new cases and 46 more deaths.
83 per cent of people were admitted to the ICU for COVID-19 and 17 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have tested positive for COVID-19.
In Ontario, over 159,000 vaccine doses were administered Tuesday, according to tweets from Health Minister Christine Elliott.
10:20 a.m. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson sought to head off a growing revolt within his own party, offering an apology for attending what he called a work" event in the Downing Street garden during lockdown, when outside parties were illegal.
There were things we simply did not get right," he told the House of Commons on Wednesday. I must take responsibility."
The rare apology came after Johnson and his officials had spent days stonewalling after ITV reported that the premier's senior adviser had invited about 100 people to a drinks party in the No. 10 garden in May 2020. Such gatherings were banned at the time as the U.K. battled the first wave of COVID-19 infections.
9:17 a.m. The Russia-based Kontinental Hockey League, a key source of players for Olympic teams, decided Wednesday to suspend its season for a week because of coronavirus outbreaks at many clubs.
The KHL said it will stop play from Saturday and resume on Jan. 22. The league said it knew of positive tests for 124 players around the league as of Tuesday morning, with 27 of those cases reported within the previous 24 hours.
The KHL website already listed 16 games rescheduled or canceled.
9:04 a.m. With just days to go until a deadline imposed by governments on both sides of the border, thousands of Canadian truckers still aren't fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
That shortfall risks throwing a supply chain already hammered by the global pandemic into even more chaos, industry experts say.
Almost everything we buy will be affected somehow," said Fraser Johnson, a business management professor at Western University's Ivey Business School.
Read the full story from the Star's Josh Rubin
8:45 a.m. Relief - but also skepticism, concerns and questions.
News that Ontario schools will reopen Monday for in-person learning came with a mix of emotions for parents.
Mississauga mom Alexa Barkley said she's nervous" about sending her teens - 16, 15 and 13 - back to school given the overall surge in COVID-19 cases.
I'm terrified - but at the same time, I do understand the benefits, especially from a mental health perspective, of the kids being with their friends" in school, said Barkley, a member of the Peel District School Board parent involvement committee.
Read the full story from the Star's Isabel Teotonio and Kristin Rushowy
8:27 a.m. Paris Saint-Germain called off its upcoming trip to the Persian Gulf region on Wednesday because of coronavirus concerns.
The French league leader was scheduled to fly to Qatar for a three-day training camp starting Sunday and then play a friendly match in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Jan. 19.
"In view of the health situation in France, Paris Saint-Germain has decided to postpone the Qatar Winter Tour 2022 to protect the health of its staff and players," PSG said. The club is owned by the Qatari state.
7:10 a.m. As kids in Ontario prepare to return class next week, parents and experts worry about the effects remote learning has had over the past 18 months and what a future pivot back to online could mean for kids' well-being.
Our brains were not actually designed to work that way, to learn things through two-dimensional screens for hours on end," said Marjorie Robb, psychiatrist at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa.
Online learning can reduce kids' attention spans, promote multi-tasking (which our brains aren't designed to do) and create challenges with self-regulation, Robb said.
Read the full story from the Star's Lex Harvey
6:08 a.m.: Radiologists are warning that Canadian hospitals are in serious need of more equipment and staff to deal with medical imaging backlogs that the country was already facing before the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Dr. Gilles Soulez, president of the Canadian Association of Radiologists, said wait times for medical imaging that is critical for diagnoseswas already more than the recommended one month when the pandemic began in March 2020. On average, he said, Canadians were waiting 50 to 82 days for a CT scan and 89 days for an MRI.
Now with the COVID-19 Omicron variant threatening to overwhelm health-care systems again, many more of those appointments are either being delayed or cancelled, said Soulez, who is also a radiologist at the Centre Hospitalier Universite de Montreal and a professor at the University of Montreal.
Medical imaging is really at the cornerstone of any medical decision," he said. If you have any problems relating to cancer, you need to have the CT scan to identify the concern and plan your treatment."
Early detection of many diseases is also key to a successful recovery and cure, he said.
6:07 a.m.: As a registered nurse and COVID-19 case investigator in Saskatchewan, Carolyn Strom says she is no longer allowed to reach out to schools.
During previous waves of the pandemic, it was her responsibility to contact-trace positive cases in students, pass along information to schools recommended by a local medical health officer, and deal with parents' concerns and questions.
But as the province deals with record-high cases due to Omicron, that responsibility has now fallen to school principals and administrators.
If your kid is positive, public health doesn't get involved with collaborating with schools to make it safe anymore. It's on the parents and it's on the schools," Strom said from her home in Prince Albert.
6:06 a.m.: With COVID-19 cases putting Canada's hospitals at or near capacity, Quebec's unprecedented plan to tax adult residents who refuse to be vaccinated is coming under fire.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association says the tax plan is deeply troubling, noting the Charter of Rights and Freedoms recognizes individual autonomy over our bodies and medical decisions.
In an emailed statement Tuesday night, Cara Zwibel, acting general counsel for the association, says the tax penalty is a divisive measure that will end up punishing and alienating those who may be most in need of public health supports and services.
She says Quebec Premier Francois Legault's government should abandon what she calls a constitutionally vulnerable proposal."
6:05 a.m.: Ontario's education minister and top doctor are set to hold a press conference today on preparations for schools reopening.
The press conference comes after Premier Doug Ford's office said Monday evening that schools will reopen on Jan. 17.
Ford previously pointed to the growing pressure on hospitals and a coming tsunami" of COVID-19 cases when he announced the temporary shift to online learning on Jan. 3, which he had said would last until at least Jan. 17, depending on health indicators at the time.
On Tuesday, teachers unions and parents of school-aged children expressed safety concerns about the reopening plan since the government isn't offering PCR tests for students and teachers unless they become symptomatic while at school.
A document from the Ministry of Health said those who develop symptoms at home are asked to isolate and not attend school.
6:04 a.m.: Germany's president called Wednesday for a thorough debate over a plans for compulsory coronavirus vaccinations in the country, saying such a drastic measure needs to be comprehensively justified.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has backed calls for a vaccine mandate and lawmakers are expected to begin debating a bill later this month. Polls show a majority of people in Germany back compulsory vaccination against COVID-19, but a vocal minority opposes the idea.
The exceptional situation of a pandemic increases the pressure for the state to act, but it doesn't replace the requirement to weigh up arguments and balance interests," German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said ahead of a roundtable debate with citizens on the issue.
A vaccine mandate means a debate mandate," he added.
Steinmeier, whose role is largely ceremonial, said he wouldn't take sides in the debate but urged those involved to have respect for other positions, but also respect for facts and reason that must be and remain our common currency."
6:03 a.m.: The Biden administration is increasing federal support for COVID-19 testing for schools in a bid to keep them open amid the omicron surge.
The White House announced Wednesday that the administration is making a dedicated stream of 5 million rapid tests and 5 million lab-based PCR tests available to schools starting this month to ease supply shortages and promote the safe reopening of schools. That's on top of more than $10 billion devoted to school-based tests authorized in the COVID-19 relief law and about $130 billion earmarked in that law to keep kids in school.
The new initiative comes as the White House faces mounting criticism over long lines and supply shortages for testing and after the nation's third-largest public school system, in Chicago, closed for days after an impasse between teachers and officials over reopening policies. The closure was a black eye for Biden, who made reopening schools - and keeping them open - a priority.
6:03 a.m.: The number of new coronavirus infections in the last week jumped by about 55%, although the number of deaths remained stable, the World Health Organization said in its latest pandemic report.
In the weekly report issued Tuesday night, the U.N. health agency said there were about 15 million new COVID-19 cases last week and more than 43,000 deaths. Every world region reported a rise in COVID-19 cases except for Africa, where officials saw an 11% drop.
Last week, WHO noted a pandemic record high of 9.5 million new infections in a single week, calling it a tsunami" of disease.
6:02 a.m.: The northern Chinese city of Tianjin ordered a second round of COVID-19 testing on all 14 million residents Wednesday following the discovery of 97 cases of the omicron variant during initial screenings that began Sunday.
Residents were asked to remain where they are until the results of all the nucleic acid tests are received, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Xinhua said authorities have carried out almost 12 million tests so far, with 7.8 million samples returned. Infections were first reported on Saturday in the city that is only about an hour from Beijing, which is to host the Winter Olympics from Feb. 4.
High-speed rail service and other forms of transportation between the cities have been suspended, leading to some disruptions in supply chains, including for packaged food items sold in convenience stores.
6:01 a.m.: Like millions of others in the most locked-down place on the planet, Melbourne resident Rav Thomas dutifully spent 262 days confined to his home as the COVID-19 pandemic raged. He got vaccinated.
And the single father of two found ways to pay the bills as Melbourne's lockdowns - the longest imposed by any city in the world - battered his entertainment and events company.
Then in October, the city's restrictions began to lift, along with Thomas' spirits. His company once again began booking events as Melbourne's nightclubs and bars reopened.
And then, omicron arrived.
The coronavirus variant has swept across Australia despite its high vaccination rate and strict border policies that kept the country largely sealed off from the world for almost two years.
Those measures, which turned Australia into a virtually COVID-19-free utopia early in the pandemic, have garnered fresh scrutiny as the government has battled to deport unvaccinated tennis star Novak Djokovic ahead of the Australian Open.
And they have prompted questions from frustrated and fatigued Australians about why their country - which seemingly did everything to stop the spread of the virus - now finds itself infested with it.
6 a.m.: West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, his office announced.
Justice said in a statement he woke up with a cough and congestion, then developed a headache and high fever. The 70-year-old governor said he initially took a rapid test for the coronavirus, which came back negative.
The governor then was administered a PCR test that was positive. A test by a state laboratory confirmed the initial result and an additional test was being administered Tuesday night. Justice was experiencing moderate symptoms and was isolating at home, the Republican governor's office said in a news release.
Wednesday 5:59 a.m.: When Chicago teachers went on strike last week to protest COVID-19 safety protections in the nation's third-largest school district, Democratic Party officials leapt into action.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker pushed for a quick end to the job action and helped secure rapid tests to entice teachers back to work. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the strikers abandoned their posts" in an illegal walkout," and White House press secretary Jen Psaki stressed that students should be in school. The standoff ended with a tentative agreement late Monday.
Nearly two years into a pandemic that shows no signs of waning, Democrats are speaking out more forcefully against COVID-19 school closures, recognizing a rising anger among parents worried that their kids are falling behind. But in doing so, Democrats risk angering some teachers unions, which are advocating for more protections for educators amid a surge in the wildly contagious omicron variant and whose support helped get Democrats elected.
The political peril for Democrats became clear after their candidate lost the Virginia governor's race in November to a Republican who focused on education and slammed the prior year's school closures. Now, in what already promises to be a tough midterm election year, with frustrations mounting among their base over stalled voting and spending legislation, they may face real trouble over an issue that directly affects Americans' lives.