Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario to roll out free COVID-19 rapid antigen tests at grocery stores; Despite COVID-19, census shows population grew at fastest rate in G7
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.
10:15 a.m. Ontario is reporting 2,059 people hospitalized with COVID-19, 449 in ICU.
56 per cent were admitted to the hospital for COVID-19 and 44 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have tested positive for COVID-19, according to Health Minister Christine Elliott.
80 per cent of patients admitted to the ICU were admitted for COVID-19 and 20 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have tested positive for COVID-19.
10 a.m. The Czech Republic moved forward with easing coronavirus restrictions on Wednesday, cancelling a requirement for people to present a certificate proving they have been vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 to use services and attend public events.
Beginning Thursday, people will no longer need a COVID-19 health pass to enter bars, restaurants, cafes and hairdressers as well as sports and cultural events.
At the same time, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said his government will lift more coronavirus measures later this month, depending on the development of the pandemic. An absolute majority of coronavirus restrictions will be lifted by March 1," Fiala said.
9:25 a.m. Sweden has halted wide-scale testing for COVID-19 even among people showing symptoms of an infection, putting an end to the mobile city-square tent sites, drive-in swab centers and home-delivered tests that became ubiquitous during the pandemic and provided essential data for tracking its spread.
The move puts the Scandinavian nation at odds with most of Europe, but some experts say it could become the norm as costly testing yields fewer benefits with the easily transmissible but milder omicron variant and as governments begin to consider treating COVID-19 like they do other endemic illnesses.
We have reached a point where the cost and relevance of the testing is no longer justifiable." Swedish Public Health Agency chief Karin Tegmark Wisell told the national broadcast SVT this week.
9 a.m. Statistics Canada says the national population almost hit 37 million last year as it grew at the fastest rate among G7 nations.
The agency says Canada's population was just over 36.9 million on census day last year, growing by 5.2 per cent between 2016 and 2021.
The five-year growth rate was double that of any peer country in the G7, and Statistics Canada says most of the growth happened prior to the onset of the pandemic in 2020.
Statistics Canada says the main reason for the slowdown in growth was border restrictions that, while meant to slow the spread of COVID-19, also slowed the pace of newcomers arriving in Canada.
8:14 a.m. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday announced plans to keep COVID-19 restrictions for Tokyo and 12 other areas for three more weeks until early March, as Omicron infections show little signs of slowing and most Japanese still lack booster shots.
The current measures covering Tokyo and neighboring areas, Aichi in central Japan and Nagasaki in the south were initially scheduled to end Sunday but will remain until March 6, Kishida said.
The infections led by the omicron variant are different from those in the past, and we are at the critical moment of our fight against it," Kishida said. In order to balance anti-virus measures and social and economic activity, I'm determined to tackle the situation promptly."
7:50 a.m. Prime Minister Boris Johnson indicated the U.K.'s remaining COVID regulations, including the requirement for positive cases to self-isolate, will be removed later this month as the country pivots to a new strategy of living with the virus.
Johnson told the House of Commons on Wednesday that he intends to lay out a new strategy for Living with Covid" on the first day back from a 10-day recess that begins Thursday.
Provided the current encouraging trends in the data continue, it is my expectation that we will be able to end the last domestic restrictions, including the legal requirement to self-isolate if you test positive a full month early," he said.
6:45 a.m.: Testing rules for travellers present a challenge for anyone who recently recovered from COVID, but was unable to access PCR tests after the Ontario government announced restrictions at the end of December, prioritizing tests for high-risk individuals and health-care workers.
With March break approaching, travel agencies say bookings are increasing for departures in February and March. Richard Vanderlubbe, president of Tripcentral.ca, says bookings for the next few weeks are around four times higher than mid-December when the travel agency witnessed a wave of cancellations and a steep drop in bookings during a surge in cases linked to the Omicron variant.
But as the Omicron wave begins to ease, some are asking if it's time to relax COVID-19 testing requirements to board a plane.
Read the full story from the Star's Ghada Alsharif.
6:45 a.m.: Ute Lehrer carried a warning for those gathered at Queen's Park for Saturday's Toronto trucker protest
The message, written in black marker on a simple cardboard sign, caught attention online after a photo of Lehrer in the crowd was posted on social media.
My mom died of COVID," it read, get vaccinated you idiots."
Lehrer's mother, an 83-year-old retired pathologist, died late last year in Switzerland. She was unvaccinated. And if she was still alive and had lived in Canada, her daughter believes she would have joined the truckers in their protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and lockdowns.
Read the full story from the Star's May Warren.
6:07 a.m.: Sweden has halted wide-scale testing for COVID-19 even among people showing symptoms of an infection, putting an end to the mobile city-square tent sites, drive-in swab centres and home-delivered tests that became ubiquitous during the pandemic and provided essential data for tracking its spread.
The move puts the Scandinavian nation at odds with most of Europe, but some experts say it could become the norm as costly testing yields fewer benefits with the easily transmissible but milder omicron variant and as governments begin to consider treating COVID-19 like they do other endemic illnesses.
We have reached a point where the cost and relevance of the testing is no longer justifiable." Swedish Public Health Agency chief Karin Tegmark Wisell told the national broadcast SVT this week.
If we were to have extensive testing adapted to everyone who has COVID-19, that would mean half a billion kronor a week (about $55 million) and 2 billion a month ($220 million)," Tegmark Wisell added.
Starting Wednesday, only health care and elderly care workers and the most vulnerable will be entitled to free PCR testing if they are symptomatic, while the rest of the population will simply be asked to stay home if they show symptoms that could be COVID-19.
6:07 a.m.: The World Health Organization says coronavirus case counts fell 17% worldwide over the last week compared to the previous week, including a 50% drop in the United States, while deaths globally declined 7%.
The weekly epidemiological report from the U.N. health agency, released late Tuesday, shows that the omicron variant is increasingly dominant - making up nearly 97% of all cases tallied by the international virus-tracking platform known as GISAID. Just over 3% were of the delta variant.
The prevalence of the omicron variant has increased globally and is now detected in almost all countries," WHO said. However, many of the countries which reported an early rise in the number of cases due to the omicron variant have now reported a decline in the total number of new cases since the beginning of January 2022."
All told, WHO reported more than 19 million new cases of COVID-19 and under 68,000 new deaths during the week from Jan. 31 to Feb. 6. As with all such tallies, experts say such figures are believed to greatly underestimate the real toll.
6:06 a.m.: Can you get long COVID after an infection with omicron?
It's too early to know for sure, but many doctors believe it's possible to have long-term effects from the omicron variant of the virus.
Long COVID is usually diagnosed many weeks after a bout with COVID-19. Any long-lasting effects typically appear about 90 days after symptoms of the initial infection go away, Maria Van Kerkhove of the World Health Organization said this week.
Overall, some estimates suggest more than a third of COVID-19 survivors will develop some symptoms of long COVID. Symptoms include fatigue, brain fog, shortness of breath, anxiety and other problems. The lingering illness is more likely if you've been hospitalized with COVID-19, but research shows it can happen even after a mild infection.
Omicron began its race around the world late last year. The variant generally causes milder illness than the delta version of the coronavirus, but has still overwhelmed hospitals.
6:06 a.m.: Only five hospitals in Afghanistan still offer COVID-19 treatment, with 33 others having been forced to close in recent months for lack of doctors, medicines and even heat. This comes as the economically devastated nation is hit by a steep rise in the number of reported coronavirus cases.
At Kabul's only COVID-19 treatment hospital, staff can only heat the building at night because of lack of fuel, even as winter temperatures drop below freezing during the day. Patients are bundled under heavy blankets. Its director, Dr. Mohammed Gul Liwal, said they need everything from oxygen to medicine supplies.
The facility, called the Afghan Japan Communicable Disease Hospital, has 100 beds. The COVID-19 ward is almost always full as the virus rages. Before late January, the hospital was getting one or two new coronavirus patients a day. In the past two weeks, 10 to 12 new patients have been admitted daily, Liwal said.
The situation is worsening day by day," said Liwal, speaking inside a chilly conference room. Since the Taliban takeover almost six months ago, hospital employees have received only one month's salary, in December.
6:05 a.m.: Alberta's vaccine passport is gone but protesters are promising to hunker down for the long term on the highway leading to the province's main U.S. border crossing.
Any thought that the announcement Tuesday by Premier Jason Kenney to scrap the public health measure at midnight and to remove most other rules in Alberta by March 1 would end the protest near Coutts, Alta., was quickly put to bed.
We're here for the big picture. It started with the border thing, it started with Trudeau and until Trudeau moves, we don't move," said John Vanreeuwyk, a feedlot operator from Coaldale, Alta.
Vanreeuwyk said he's grateful for the steps that Kenney has taken but is angry that people still have to wear a mask.
Overall it's disappointing. Yeah, there was some good that come out of it but not even a 10 per cent."
The protesters have closed and opened the lanes of Highway 4 on and off. RCMP said late Tuesday night the lanes were again closed due to the protest.
6:05 a.m.: There is a noticeable decline in how trusting Canadians are of their leaders and institutions as the pandemic drags on, and it's particularly striking among those who remain anxious or stressed about COVID-19, a new survey suggests.
When we have 46 per cent of Canadians saying they still feel anxiety and stress, it's taking a toll on trust in Canada," said Bruce MacLellan, CEO of Proof Strategies.
The data is part of the 2022 edition of Proof's trust index, a survey Proof normally does annually but has been conducting more than once a year since the pandemic began.
This version is based on an online poll completed by 1,536 people, Jan. 4-14, but cannot be given a margin of error because internet polls are not considered random samples.
The trust index suggests general trust in governments, business, media and advocacy groups was already falling before the pandemic. The 2018 poll said 45 per cent trust those groups to be competent and effective. By 2020, that had fallen to 38 per cent, and this year it has fallen to 34 per cent.
That is driven largely by cratering trust in governments, with only 22 per cent saying they trust governments or politicians, compared with 40 per cent in the early days of the pandemic in May 2020.
It's been a huge issue to manage and politicians have made decisions that are sometimes contradictory. They sometimes had to reverse course and it's shaken confidence and trust," MacLellan said.
Nationally, one in three people surveyed said they trust the prime minister and almost that many said they trusted their provincial premier. In the early part of the pandemic, 43 per cent trusted the prime minister and 44 per cent said they trusted their premier.
6:05 a.m.: Ottawa police say 23 people have been arrested in the ongoing anti-vaccine mandate protest in the city's downtown, and there are 85 ongoing criminal investigations related to the nearly two-week-long demonstration.
More than 1,300 tickets have been issued to protesters.
Deputy Chief Steve Bell says officers are focused on hardening the perimeter around downtown and preventing fuel from getting to the trucks parked there, saying the 1,800 additional officers Ottawa has requested would help that effort.
He says police are greatly concerned that almost 25 per cent of the 418 large vehicles still blockading Ottawa's streets are occupied by families with children.
Bell says the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa has been called in to assess the situation, pointing out the frigid temperatures, access to sanitation, and risk to the children's safety should there be a police operation in the area.
Police are not looking to remove the children, but rather want advice from the society about whether further steps are necessary.
The demonstration has seen the downtown capital shut down, with businesses closing out of safety concerns and residents complaining of harassment by protesters.
Federal officials have been talking with City of Ottawa and provincial representatives to find solutions to end the protest that has sparked solidarity rallies across the country, some of which have blocked traffic at border crossings in Coutts, Alta., and Windsor, Ont.
6 a.m.: Statistics Canada is scheduled this morning to release the first set of findings from last year's census taken against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Today's release will detail the population count on census day last year, outlining how quickly the population grew over the preceding five years and where that growth took place.
There will also be details on the population of the country's downtown cores and rural regions, as well as dwelling counts.
The census provides the most detailed portrait of the Canadian population that is used by governments to plan for new schools, roads and hospitals, and also for calculating federal transfers to provinces to cover health-care costs.
Statistics Canada plans to add more flourishes to the paint-by-numbers exercise as the year rolls on to reveal more information about how the country has aged, changes among Indigenous populations, and working during the pandemic.
The pandemic is expected to have an effect on census results, although experts suggest the country may have to wait a few years to learn whether COVID-19 caused a permanent or temporary shift in the portrait of the population.
6 a.m.: The Ontario government will distribute free COVID-19 rapid antigen tests at grocery stores, pharmacies and other settings.
A government source with knowledge of the plan told The Canadian Press that Health Minister Christine Elliott will announce more details on Wednesday.
The source said there will be a limit of one box of five tests per household per visit.
Ontario provided free rapid antigen test kits at malls and liquor stores in December ahead of the holidays.
The source said Ontario has directly procured more rapid tests and will distribute up to 5.5 million per week.
The news comes weeks after the province restricted access to gold-standard PCR tests as the Omicron variant overwhelmed capacity.