Today’s coronavirus news: COVID-19 vaccines in national stockpile starting to expire as uptake slows
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.
1:15 p.m. Stevenson Memorial Hospital (SMH) in Alliston has amended its visitor policy once again due to the increase of COVID-19 cases in the community.
As we have now entered wave six of the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to be cautious with the growing number of cases we are seeing daily," said Jody Levac, hospital president and CEO.
We know how important visitors are to a patient's care journey and we will continue to allow visitors in a safe way. As always, adjustments to our visitor policy are made as we monitor trends in positivity rates at our COVID-19 Assessment Centre, our patients, staff, physicians and community."
12:20 p.m. Health Canada says almost 1.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines held in a national inventory have expired since January.
That includes more than 420,000 doses of Moderna's vaccine that expired on Tuesday.
The 1.5 million expired doses amount to less than two per cent of the 118 million doses delivered to Canada since December 2020.
There are more than 18 million doses in Canada's national stockpile at the moment, the vast majority of which will expire in the next four months.
Health Canada says that until late last year, demand for vaccines was largely in line with supply so very few doses expired before they were used.
12:05 p.m. Quebec is reporting more than 2,000 people in hospital with COVID-19 for the first time since mid-February.
Officials say there are 122 additional patients in hospital, bringing the estimated total to 2,060, as well as 13 more deaths from the disease.
The Health Department said 83 of the patients are in intensive care, an increase of 16.
Officials say the latest tally isn't fully representative of the situation because the Health Department recently updated its policy for publishing data on hospitalizations, and adjustments could be made on Thursday.
11:40 a.m. The Biden administration will extend for two weeks the nationwide mask requirement for public transit as it monitors an uptick in COVID-19 cases, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was set to extend the order, which was to expire on April 18, by two weeks to monitor for any observable increase in severe virus outcomes as cases rise in parts of the country. The move was being made out of abundance of caution, the person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to preview the CDC's action. The requirement will now extend through May 3, 2022.
When the Transportation Security Administration, which enforces the rule for planes, buses, trains and transit hubs, extended the requirement last month, it said the CDC had been hoping to roll out a more flexible masking strategy that would have replaced the nationwide requirement.
The mask mandate is the most visible vestige of government restrictions to control the pandemic, and possibly the most controversial. A surge of abusive and sometimes violent incidents on airplanes has been attributed mostly to disputes over mask-wearing.
11:32 a.m. The trial of a man charged in Quebec's Halloween night sword attack has been postponed until next week after a second juror tested positive for COVID-19.
Carl Girouard, 26, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the killings of Suzanne Clermont, 61, and Francois Duchesne, 56, in the historic Old Quebec district on Oct. 31, 2020.
He is also charged with five counts of attempted murder for allegedly injuring five other people with a sword that night.
11:30 a.m. (updated) Ontario is reporting 182 people in ICU due to COVID-19 and 1,332 in hospital overall testing positive for COVID-19, according to its latest report released Wednesday morning.
Of the people hospitalized, 47 per cent were admitted for COVID-19 and 53 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have since tested positive. For the ICU numbers, 61 per cent were admitted for COVID-19 and 40 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have since tested positive.
The numbers represent 4.2 per cent decrease in the ICU COVID-19 count and a 2.5 per cent decrease in hospitalizations overall. 27 per cent of the province's 2,343 adult ICU beds remain available for new patients.
Read the full story from the Star's Erin LeBlanc
10:30 a.m. Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger has tested positive for COVID-19.
He is experiencing symptoms and is following public health guidelines and self-isolating," his office said in a statement Wednesday.
Ontario - including Hamilton - is in the sixth wave of the pandemic fuelled by the more transmissible BA.2 Omicron subvariant. Public Health Ontario has also linked the rise in cases to the removal of the province's mask mandate on March 21.
10:06 a.m. The Bank of Canada has raised its key interest rate by half a percentage point to 1 per cent from 0.5 per cent, the first half-point hike in more than two decades amid soaring inflation.
10 a.m. Passengers on U.S. airlines and public transit will get their first chance in more than a year to travel without a mask next week, if the federal government sticks to its current plan to let a pandemic-era mandate expire.
President Joe Biden is being urged by transportation groups and state and local officials to allow the mask rule to end, after extending it for a month through April 18 as the Omicron variant added to the nation's COVID case count. In recent weeks, cases have started to tick up and some local governments, like in Philadelphia, reimposed indoor mask wearing.
White House and Transportation Security Administration officials are talking with their counterparts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on whether to revise or extend the mask rule. The decision will have implications for the nation's economy, health-care system and millions of daily commuters.
9:30 a.m. St. Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Elementary School is closing for two days due to insufficient staffing levels with a number of teachers either testing positive with COVID-19 or isolating due to COVID-19 protocols.
On Tuesday, a letter addressed to families and staff was sent home outlining reason for this decision during the Catholic Holy Week in the run-up to Easter. A number of students and staff have tested positive for COVID-19.
The number of people currently isolating is such that we are experiencing challenges having enough staff to safely deliver program at St Teresa of Calcutta during this time," the letter reads.
9:07 a.m. The number of new coronavirus cases and deaths reported to the World Health Organization fell for a third consecutive week, a trend likely helped by the dismantling of testing and surveillance programs.
In its latest weekly report on the pandemic, issued late Tuesday, the U.N. health agency said the more than 7 million new cases reported represented a 24 per cent decline from a week earlier. The weekly worldwide number of COVID-19 deaths, was down 18 per cent, at over 22,000.
WHO said the decreases should be interpreted with caution" as numerous countries where the virus is starting to subside have changed their testing strategies, meaning far fewer cases are being identified.
New cases and deaths are falling in every region of the world, including the Western Pacific, where a surge of infections has triggered severe lockdown measures in China.
7:45 a.m. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has refused to resign after being fined for breaking his government's pandemic lockdown rules, saying he would instead redouble efforts to strengthen the economy and combat Russian aggression in Ukraine.
London police fined Johnson and other people Tuesday for attending a birthday party thrown for the prime minister at his Downing Street offices on June 19, 2020. The penalty made Johnson the first British prime minister ever found to have broken the law while in office.
Gatherings of more than two people were banned in Britain at the time of the birthday party to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
7:30 a.m. Greece's health minister announced Wednesday that most remaining coronavirus measures will be lifted over the next couple of months until the end of August, including the use of vaccine certificates for access to certain services and the mandatory use of masks indoors.
Health Minister Thanos Plevris said the need for vaccine certificates or negative COVID-19 tests will be lifted from May 1 to Aug. 31, and would be re-evaluated on Sept. 1. The use of masks indoors will no longer be mandatory as of June 1, he said, adding that some exceptions will remain, with details to be announced.
The requirement for regular self-tests for students and teachers to attend schools will also be lifted May 1, while any remaining restrictions on the number of people allowed into indoor areas will be lifted on the same day.
For the first time in two years, Greeks will also be able to celebrate Orthodox Easter, which falls on April 24 this year, with no restrictions on gatherings or attendance at churches or other public events. Plevris said the use of masks was still recommended for crowded outdoor events.
7:15 a.m. Residents of neighbourhoods hit hard by COVID-19 must be prioritized as the province expands its rollout of the antiviral Paxlovid, advocates and front-line community workers say.
The drug, which can help keep higher-risk people out of hospital, needs to be taken quickly - within a five-day window after the onset of symptoms - and requires skilled health-care workers to assess patients and guard against adverse medication interactions.
On Monday, the province announced expanded eligibility to testing and antiviral treatments for high-risk individuals as the sixth wave in Ontario continues to grow, with COVID-related hospitalizations reaching their highest level in seven weeks.
Read the full story from the Star's Megan Ogilvie, Kenyon Wallace and May Warren
Wednesday 5:52 a.m.: A pill to treat COVID-19 appears to be the country's best hope, outside of vaccines and strong public health measures, to keep hospitals from being overrun with cases of the virus now and in the future, doctors say.
But with infections surging across the country, experts say the patchwork distribution system for Paxlovid in various parts of Canada may inhibit those who most need the drug from getting it in time.
Paxlovid, an antiviral, has shown a 90 per cent reduction in hospitalizations among unvaccinated patients with the Delta variant who received the drug within five days of symptom onset.
Those who might need the drug the most would do well to learn ahead of time how they might access it, the country's chief public health officer said this week.
My message to all Canadians who may be at high risk, such as the immunocompromised: figure out in your community, right now, how you can get access to that medication should you need it because it is a bit different across different areas of Canada," Dr. Theresa Tam said on Tuesday.