Today’s coronavirus news: RCMP arrest 11, seize weapons at Alberta-U. S. border; Judge grants injunction against noise and more in Ottawa; Vaccine passports ending March 1 in ON
The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Monday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
1:37 p.m.: An Ontario judge has granted an injunction to enforce noise and idling bylaws in Ottawa.
The protest by antigovernment demonstrators blockading city streets around Parliament Hill is now in its third week.
City solicitor David White requested the injunction Friday, saying the protesters were flagrantly violating bylaws against relentless noise, idling of trucks, setting off fireworks, and open air fires.
1:34 p.m.: Protesters outside Parliament Hill appear to be in a festive mood, even as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks with premiers about using the Emergencies Act to quell the demonstration.
Trudeau met with his cabinet for an urgent meeting Sunday night and is on a phone call with provincial and territorial premiers today.
A source aware of the planned conversation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, confirms the prime minister is talking to the premiers about using the legislation as the Emergencies Act's criteria requires.
Trudeau also briefed his caucus early this morning in a virtual meeting held two days before the Liberals' regularly scheduled Wednesday gathering.
The Emergencies Act, which replaced the War Measures Act in 1988, allows a government to invoke temporary measures, including barring people from gathering or travelling to certain locations, to protect national security, public order and public welfare.
It has never been used before.
This afternoon a dozen or so protesters danced around waving Canada flags to pop music blasting from speakers, while trucks honked and jerry cans lined Wellington Street.
There were far fewer people on the streets and sidewalks than previous days of the protest.
Still, some children played with toys set up on the street outside the main entrance to the West Block.
1:34 p.m.: Ottawa is investing $672,000 into Nova Scotian organizations to boost COVID-19 vaccine uptake in undervaccinated communities throughout the province and the Atlantic region.
Liberal MP for Halifax Andy Fillmore announced today the money would be invested into three outreach programs through the federal Immunization Partnership Fund to tackle vaccine hesitancy and misinformation.
Fillmore says the goal of the fund is to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.
Maria Cain, a manager at Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia, says $226,000 will be used to target newcomers to Canada by creating culturally relevant tools to address concerns about the vaccine in the immigrant community.
1:33 p.m.: RCMP say they have arrested 11 people at the main United States border crossing in southern Alberta after becoming aware of a cache of firearms and ammunition.
Demonstrators have been protesting against COVID-19 vaccine mandates for cross-border truck drivers and broader health restrictions near Coutts, Alta.
A blockade of trucks and vehicles has been at the crossing since Jan. 29.
Mounties say they learned of a small organized group within the protest that was said to have a "willingness to use force against the police if any attempts were made to disrupt the blockade."
RCMP say in a news release that an investigation began immediately to determine the extent of the threat.
They say officers searched three trailers Monday morning believed to be linked to a criminal organization.
Thirteen long guns, handguns, multiple sets of body armour, a machete, a large quantity of ammunition and high-capacity magazines were seized.
1:23 p.m.: In Britain, the Duchess of Cornwall has tested positive for COVID-19, Clarence House has announced.
Camilla, 74, caught the virus for the first time just days after the Prince of Wales contracted the illness for a second time.
A Clarence House spokesman said: "Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall has tested positive for COVID-19 and is self-isolating.
"We continue to follow government guidelines."
Camilla is triple vaccinated, sources said.
12 p.m. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government is seeking to invoke the never-used Emergencies Act to deal with protesters crippling Canada's borders.
The Act gives the federal government extraordinary 30-day time-limited powers, to prohibit public assembly, travel, and the use of specific property. It would allow Ottawa to designate protected places and force tow-truck companies, for example, to lend their trucks to the government to clear the roads. The Liberal government does not intend to use the Act to call in the army for now, two sources said.
Trudeau's cabinet met last night to discuss the issue. It's the first time the Emergencies Act could be enacted. It was mulled over in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic but most premiers felt the reach was unnecessary.
Read the full story from the Star's Althia Raj
11:45 a.m. Commercial trucks and other vehicles are flowing normally over the reopened Ambassador Bridge Monday, with police keeping a close watch on the busy international border crossing.
Traffic resumed on the key trade route just before midnight after it was blocked for nearly a week due to a protest against COVID-19 measures on the Canadian side of the bridge linking Windsor and Detroit.
Police moved in to clear demonstrators from the foot of the bridge on Sunday, making more than two dozen arrests.
This morning, police cruisers are on standby along a stretch of the roadway leading to the bridge entrance, while certain intersections are blocked off to prevent demonstrators from returning to the foot of the bridge.
11:35 a.m. Quebec is reporting 17 more deaths linked to the coronavirus Monday and a rise of 14 COVID-19 hospitalizations.
The Health Department says 2,095 patients are in hospital with the disease, after 107 people were admitted in the last 24 hours and 93 were discharged.
Officials say the number of people in intensive care declined by four, to 136. Earlier today, gyms and spas were allowed to reopen at half capacity across Quebec, after they were closed in December to reduce transmission of the Omicron variant of the virus.
11:22 a.m. A handful of demonstrators and a half-dozen vehicles are all that remain today of a protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates in Fredericton.
That's down from about 700 people and 300 vehicles on Saturday at the peak of the noisy protest in front of the provincial legislature.
Protest organizer Mitchell Albert of Moncton, N.B., says he plans to stay until all COVID-19 vaccine mandates in the province are dropped.
Albert says he expects more people from across the Maritimes and Ottawa to join the protest in New Brunswick's capital.
Patty Every of Amherst, N.S., says she plans to stay indefinitely in order to get the government to listen.
10:20 a.m. Ontario is reporting 1,369 people hospitalized with COVID-19, 394 in ICU.
Note that not all hospitals report on weekends. The province is reporting 1,765 new cases of COVID-19.
10 a.m. Large trucks and cars are travelling across the Ambassador Bridge border crossing in Windsor this morning.
The bridge linking Windsor and Detroit reopened to traffic last night after a protest against COVID-19 restrictions on the Canadian side blocked the flow of traffic in the area for nearly a week.
Police cruisers are on standby along a stretch of the roadway leading to the bridge entrance in Windsor.
9:50 a.m. Ontario is easing COVID-19 capacity restrictions starting this Thursday - and as of March 1 proof of vaccination will no longer be required, Premier Doug Ford has announced.
Booster shots are also getting the go-ahead for 12- to 17-year olds.
Given how well Ontario has done in the Omicron wave we are able to fast track our reopening plan," Ford said. This is great news and a sign of just how far we've come together in our fight against the virus. While we aren't out of the woods just yet we are moving in the right direction."
Read the full story from the Star's Kristin Rushowy
9:05 a.m. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has unveiled new coronavirus guidelines for the cruise industry, allowing cruise lines to operate under different tiers based on the vaccination status of passengers and crew as part of a voluntary program.
And those tiers could change how long passengers are recommended to quarantine after exposure to the coronavirus.
In its updated guidelines Feb. 9, the CDC maintained it's best to avoid" cruise travel - and cautioned people should be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 if they can't resist a vacation on the high seas.
Cruise lines have until Feb. 18 to opt into the COVID-19 Program for Cruise Ships, which separates ships into three vaccination status tiers.
8:45 a.m. Premier Doug Ford will make an announcement at 9:30 a.m. on Monday.
He will be joined by Health Minister Christine Elliott and Dr. Kieran Moore, Chief Medical Officer of Health, to make the announcement.
7:25 a.m. New Zealand's prime minister on Monday said protesters who oppose coronavirus mandates were using intimidation and harassment," as authorities appeared to take a harsher stance toward the convoy of demonstrators that has disrupted the capital of Wellington for nearly a week.
Police initially let the protesters set up tents and camp on the grounds of New Zealand's Parliament before arresting 122 people on Thursday and then backing off again. The size of the protest dropped to a few hundred last week but increased again to around 3,000 over the weekend.
Speaking with reporters, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern signaled the thinning patience of authorities.
I very clearly have a view on the protesters and the way that they've conducted their protest because it has moved beyond sharing a view to intimidation and harassment of the people around central Wellington," she said. That cannot be tolerated."
6:07 a.m. Nili Kaplan-Myrth's 13-year-old daughter refused to go back to school after the holidays without a third COVID-19 vaccine dose.
Her daughter, who attends school in central Ottawa, said she did not want to risk catching COVID during periods when classmates were permitted to not wear masks such as lunch or in gym class and opted to continue with online learning, Kaplan-Myrth said.
The idea that we should be concerned about our kids only if they end up in hospital is a fallacy," said Kaplan-Myrth, a family doctor in Ottawa.
Read the full story from the Star's Ghada Alsharif
5:52 a.m. Hong Kong plans to offer COVID-19 vaccines to children as young as 3 as infections rage through the semi-autonomous Chinese city.
The announcement Monday came as the government reported 1,347 new cases, all but two of them locally acquired.
The wave blamed on the Omicron variant has already prompted new restrictions limiting in-person gatherings to no more than two households. Hong Kong residents have been rushing to grocery stories to stock up on vegetables and to hair salons to get haircuts.
5:40 a.m. Cabinet will meet early Monday morning to discuss easing COVID-19 restrictions in the province, sources say.
The meeting comes as both Premier Doug Ford and Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore indicated last week that given the improved COVID-19 situation, measures such as vaccine passports - which they had always said were temporary - could soon be dropped.
With encouraging trends in community transmission and our hospitalization and ICU admission trending downwards, we can now see that the Omicron peak is behind us," Moore said at his weekly press conference last Thursday.
Read the full story from the Star's Kristin Rushowy
5:30 a.m. South Korea's parliament on Monday approved plans to provide a special time for COVID-19 patients to vote during the March 9 presidential election as the country grapples with a record-breaking omicron surge.
The proposed revision of an election-related law will take effect if it is endorsed by the Cabinet Council and signed by the president - steps widely considered a formality since the governing and opposition parties have already agreed on the measure.
Voters diagnosed with highly infectious diseases such as COVID-19 and others placed in quarantine would be allowed to visit polling stations and cast ballots after regular voting closes at 6 p.m., according to a copy of the legislation on the website of the National Assembly. The special voting time would close at 7:30 p.m.
5:22 a.m. As the crushing pressure from the Omicron wave eases, Ontario hospitals must now confront a massive surgical backlog that has forced hundreds of thousands of people to wait for scheduled surgeries, including joint replacements, cataract surgeries and some cancer procedures.
Surgical shutdowns during the pandemic - needed to free up hospital resources for COVID-19 patients - have created system-wide disruptions and a backlog of surgeries that experts say will take years to clear.
And despite efforts to catch up in between pandemic waves, experts say the wait lists for many non-urgent surgeries and procedures have continued to swell. They warn the province must not only fund additional system capacity but rethink how it offers surgical care.
Read the full story from the Star's Megan Ogilvie
5 a.m. Ontario's finance minister is set to release an update Monday on the province's finances.
Peter Bethlenfalvy will release Ontario's third-quarter finances and discuss the province's economic and fiscal outlook.
The financial update comes not long before the province's anticipated budget, which has to be tabled by March 31.
Ontario's Financial Accountability Office released a report last week that predicted smaller deficits than the government's previous projections, largely due to increases in revenue.
The FAO expects a budget deficit of $2.8 billion by 2023-24, compared to a government outlook last fall of $11.4 billion.
The government's fall economic statement projects far less revenue compared to the FAO's assessment, and the fiscal watchdog says some of that gap - $1.7 billion in 2023-24 - could be potential unannounced tax cuts.
4 a.m. After nearly two years of going to school with their faces covered, students in Alberta now have the option to ditch their masks.
While some have said they welcome the step toward normalcy, others say they are anxious and worried over what has become a divisive, political issue in the COVID-19 pandemic.
"There's very little information about how the schools are doing, so maybe it'll be fine," said Emma Stephens, a mother of two from Lethbridge, Alta.
"I don't personally believe it'll be fine ... because when you when you take your mitigation measures off, then the cases go up.
"So the issue now is there's going to be some kids who feel differently than we do, families feel differently than we do and they won't want to wear masks and then that causes tension for my kids."
The government announced last week that starting Monday, students in schools would no longer be required to wear masks. As well, children 12 and under don't have to wear masks in any setting.
4 a.m. Gyms and spas are set to reopen at half capacity across Quebec Monday as the province enters the next phase of its COVID-19 reopening plan.
The latest effort to ease public health measures that forced thousands of businesses to close in late December takes effect amid an ongoing decline in virus-related hospitalizations and deaths.
Indoor sports and recreation activities can also resume as of today, including extracurriculars at colleges and universities, with a maximum of 25 participants per group.
Capacity caps at outdoor events are increasing to 5,000 people, while sports competitions and tournaments remain prohibited until Feb. 28.
Premier Francois Legault initially presented a go-slow reopening plan in early January before announcing last Tuesday that most public health measures would be lifted by March 14, though the provincial vaccine passport system and mask mandates will remain in place.
The accelerated reopening road map began over the weekend when all limits on indoor private gatherings were removed and restaurants were allowed to seat a maximum of 10 people at the same table.