Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario is reporting 1,745 COVID-19 cases Friday and 10 deaths; Province will start accepting vaccine appointments for people ages 75+ on Monday
The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Friday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
11:15 a.m. The Ontario government is promising $106.4 million in COVID-19 relief for universities and colleges that have faced extra costs and lost revenue because of the pandemic.
We need to make sure that students continue to receive high-quality post-secondary education and get the skills they need to get good jobs," said Colleges and Universities Minister Ross Romano in a written statement.
That is why we are establishing a fund for severely impacted colleges and universities to help address the financial impacts of COVID-19 and to maintain Ontario's position as a global leader in higher education."
The funding is for schools most affected by decreases in tuition and ancillary revenues and have incurred expenses associated with online learning, personal protective equipment and enhanced cleaning. Institutions can also use the funding in 2020-21 to offset COVID-19 expenses related to student financial supports and human resources," the province said.
Read the full story from the Star's Kristin Rushowy
11:05 a.m. With vaccine supplies increasing, age thresholds are being lowered.
Starting Monday, anyone 75 and over can book a COVID-19 vaccination appointment on the Ontario government's online portal, says Premier Doug Ford.
That's because more than half of the province's 650,000 people aged 80 and older have had at least one of their two shots.
We're moving like greased lightning, we're kicking butt out there," insisted Ford, who has come under fire from those impatient with the pace of Ontario's vaccine rollout.
More than 7,200 Ontarians have died from COVID-19 since the virus struck one year ago.
Read the full story from the Star's Robert Benzie
10:03 a.m. (updated) Ontario is reporting another 1,745 COVID-19 cases and 10 more deaths, according to its latest report released Friday morning.
The seven-day average is at 1,480 cases daily, or 71 weekly per 100,000. Ontario's seven-day average for deaths is at 12.1 daily.
The province says 56,134 tests were completed the previous day, with a 3.3 per cent positivity rate.
There are 759 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in the province, including 309 patients in intensive care. There are 176 people on ventilators.
Ontario has administered 61,146 vaccine doses since its last daily update, the most doses administered in a single day in the province so far.
Read the full story from the Star's Akrit Michael
10 a.m. Quebec is allowing everyone 65 and older across the province to sign up for a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Late Thursday, the province's appointment portal opened up vaccinations in all 15 health regions, after opening it to Montrealers in that age bracket one week ago and Abitibi-Temiscamingue and Cote-Nord residents earlier this week.
The Quebec government intends to vaccinate five million people with a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in the next 100 days.
Quebec has so far vaccinated 9.8 per cent of the population, with 832,469 doses administered as of Wednesday.
Health Minister Christian Dube is expected to make a vaccination-related announcement later today in Montreal.
On Thursday, Dube received his first dose of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine and told reporters afterwards he was confident that every adult Quebecer wanting a vaccine will be able to get their first dose by June 24.
9:34 a.m. (updated) Ontarians aged 75 and older can start scheduling COVID-19 vaccine appointments through the province's booking portal on Monday.
Adults 75 and older were set to become eligible by the first week of April but Premier Doug Ford says the province's immunization effort is ahead of schedule.
Officials say more than 50 per cent of Ontario residents aged 80 and older have now received at least one vaccine dose.
A pilot program offering vaccines in some pharmacies is also expanding and will now offer the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot to anyone aged 60 and older.
The pharmacy project previously only offered the shot to those aged 60 to 64 but the government says it is expanding after new guidelines deemed the shot safe for those 65 and older.
The number of participating pharmacies is also doubling to 700 over the next two weeks.
9 a.m. Seven people have died in an ongoing COVID-19 outbreak at The Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus.
Ottawa public health says 27 patients have been infected, as have 15 staff. The outbreak began Feb. 19 and is the only ongoing outbreak among health-care facilities in the region. Ottawa moved into the red zone of Ontario's recovery framework today.
There are 627 active cases of the novel coronavirus reported in the region. Ontario's Ministry of Health recorded 82 new cases in the area on Thursday.
8:45 a.m. Paul and Lois Niven plan to celebrate Saturday by going for a walk around Point Pleasant Park.
It doesn't sound like much of a celebration, but that walk will mark their first day out of quarantine, and thus, the first day of their new life in Halifax.
That closes a long loop for them.
He's 57, from Sydney, N.S.; she's 53, and from Montreal. He runs his own management consulting firm. She describes herself as their relocation expert." They got married and moved to Halifax in 1996. Now, a circuitous, 20-plus-year route into the United States, through Chicago, California and Arizona has finally led them back home.
Read the full story from the Star's Steve McKinley
8:32 a.m. The Dufferin-Peel Catholic board now has 10 schools closed because of COVID, including St. Sofia in Mississauga, where an outbreak hit at least 15 students and staff, sending three to hospital.
The board is one of many grappling with an uptick in community cases now making their way into schools, and on Wednesday met with other Peel boards, local public health and the province to urge a switch to remote learning for about a month.
The temporary absences of staff due to COVID-19 and challenges in securing occasional teachers have placed considerable pressure" on the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board's ability to provide safe supervision and to maintain operations in an in-person environment," said spokesperson Bruce Campbell.
Read the full story from the Star's Maria Sarrouh and Kristin Rushowy
8:10 a.m. With the U.S. closing in on President Joe Biden's goal of injecting 100 million coronavirus vaccinations weeks ahead of his target date, the White House said the nation is now in position to help supply neighbours Canada and Mexico with millions of lifesaving shots.
The Biden administration on Thursday revealed the outlines of a plan to loan" a limited number of vaccines to Canada and Mexico as the president announced the U.S. is on the cusp of meeting his 100-day injection goal way ahead of schedule."
I'm proud to announce that tomorrow, 58 days into our administration, we will have met our goal," Biden said. He promised to unveil a new vaccination target next week, as the U.S. is on pace to have enough of the three currently authorized vaccines to cover the entire adult population just 10 weeks from now.
Ahead of Biden's remarks, the White House said it was finalizing plans to send a combined 4 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to Mexico and Canada in its first export of shots. Press secretary Jen Psaki said the details of the loan" were still being worked out, but 2.5 million doses would go to Mexico and 1.5 million would be sent to Canada.
Our first priority remains vaccinating the U.S. population," Psaki said. But she added that ensuring our neighbours can contain the virus is a mission critical step, is mission critical to ending the pandemic."
7:40 a.m. Seniors age 75 and up in some parts of the GTA are already getting appointments for coveted COVID-19 vaccines, while their peers in Toronto and Peel are still waiting, as part of a rollout that has resulted in a handful of public health units racing ahead.
Dr. Karim Kurji, the medical officer of health in York Region, said the health unit was already out of the gate" two weeks ago, vaccinating seniors 80 and older. Now that they have inoculated the majority of that age group, York has been left with excess capacity that can be filled by allowing those 75 and up (born in 1946 or earlier) to start booking slots, he said.
They planned ahead and had their own booking systems ready to go, he said, adding they've learned bookings start to slump once 60 per cent of a priority group has been vaccinated.
Read the story from the Star's May Warren and Olivia Bowden
6:30 a.m.: As temp agencies fill critical staffing gaps caused by COVID-19, some workers delivering essential care across the province are now classified as independent contractors - who are not entitled to basic workplace protections like overtime pay or a union.
The classification is a key feature of platforms like Uber, who say they are not employers. And Staffy is not alone: others have adopted the model, from home care providers to staffing agencies to Toronto-based BookJane - a platform describing itself as the world's first gig economy for care communities."
But some experts say the gig economy doesn't belong in health care, and risks not just working conditions, but the training and oversight needed to keep caregivers and residents safe.
Read the full story from the Star's Sara Mojtehedzadeh here.
6:25 a.m.: Ontario hospitals are bracing for an influx of COVID-19 patients, with the province on track to have 500 patients in intensive care units by the first week of April, overtaking the peak in ICU cases so far seen in the pandemic.
The surge in patients will put extreme stress on a health-care system not yet fully recovered from the second wave, leading to further cancellations of non-urgent surgeries and potential large-scale patient transfers from hard-hit hospitals.
And with variants of concern accelerating transmission, some doctors are reporting more patients who seem younger and sicker arriving to hospital, a trend that may intensify in the coming weeks.
We're seeing a rapid escalation in the number of new patients admitted daily, which is a sign the virus is on the move again," said Anthony Dale, president and CEO of the Ontario Hospital Association.
According to the March 17 daily report from Critical Care Services Ontario, 361 COVID patients are in ICU after a jump of 27 from the previous day.
Read the full story from the Star's Meghan Ogilive here.
6:23 a.m.: Indonesia on Friday cleared the AstraZeneca vaccine for use again after the European Union's drug regulator said the vaccine didn't increase the overall incidence of blood clots.
Southeast Asia's biggest economy delayed the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine after more than a dozen countries in Europe suspended the vaccine due to concerns of some people who received the vaccine developing blood clots.
The benefits of using the COVID-19 vaccine AstraZeneca outweigh the possible risks, so that we can start to use it," Indonesia's Food and Drug Authority said in its announcement.
Previously the World Health Organization said it saw no evidence the vaccine was to blame for the clots.
The Indonesian agency said the risk of death from COVID-19 was much greater, Therefore, the community still has to get vaccination against COVID-19 according to the designated schedule."
6:23 a.m.: Spain's health minister says the country will resume vaccinating with AstraZeneca doses next Wednesday but officials will revise over the weekend which groups to exclude to minimize risks.
Carolina Darias said authorities at the national and regional level will assess the jab's updated technical sheet and give new guidelines to doctors.
The minister spoke after an urgent meeting with health officials from the country's regions following the European Union's drug regulatory announcement that the vaccine is safe.
The head of Spain's drug agency says resuming now after assessing a series of rare blood clots in a dozen patients who had received the AstraZeneca jab should strengthen trust in the vaccines."
After weeks of falling contagion rates, Spain's coronavirus pandemic incidence is on the rise again, prompting fears that the country could soon join the uptick that the rest of Europe is experiencing.
6:22 a.m.: A new analysis suggests the coronavirus pandemic likely began in China's Hubei province a month or two earlier than late December 2019, when a cluster of cases tied to a seafood market was first detected.
Scientists traced mutations back in time to estimate when a common ancestral virus first emerged, did modelling exercises on how the new coronavirus spread, and reported their findings Thursday in the journal Science.
Evolutionary biologist Michael Worobey says the study is pointing pretty strongly to that market not being the original source of the virus but the first place where it encountered sort of one of these superspreading events."
Public health expert William Hanage, who had no role in the study, says the conclusions are very, very plausible" and the work pushes back in time" estimates of the origins of the outbreak.
6:21 a.m.: Philippine officials shut down movie houses and video game arcades anew for more than two weeks and banned cockfighting amid an alarming surge in coronavirus infections.
President Rodrigo Duterte's administration has been gradually reopening businesses to revive the economy and ease unemployment and hunger. But it has started to roll back those actions after infections spiked this month.
Manila's economy has been hit by one of the worst recessions in the region due to more than a year of lockdowns, quarantine restrictions and business shutdowns.
Among businesses being suspended from Friday to April 4 were movie houses, video game arcades, driving schools, libraries, along with museums, cultural centres and some tourist attractions in metropolitan Manila and other key cities under a general quarantine. Popular cockfighting arenas will be temporarily closed too, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Friday in a televised news conference.
The government has also decided to ban the entry of foreigners for a month, except diplomats and authorized officials of international organizations, starting Monday.
The Department of Health in Manila reported more than 7,100 confirmed COVID-19 cases Friday, the highest daily jump in cases since August last year. that brings the total number of infections to more than 648,000, with 12,900 deaths. The totals are the second-highest in Southeast Asia after Indonesia.
6:21 a.m.: Germany is resuming vaccinations with the coronavirus vaccine made by AstraZeneca, following a recommendation by European regulators that the benefits of the shot outweigh the risks.
The European Medicines Agency said Thursday that the vaccine is safe but it can't rule out a link to a small number of rare blood clots reported on the continent, and patients should be told to look out for any warning signs.
The move paved the way for more than a dozen European countries, which had suspended use of the shot over the past week, to begin using it again.
Authorities in Berlin said two large vaccination centres that offer the AstraZeneca shot to people in the German capital will reopen Friday, and people whose appointments were cancelled this week will be able to get the vaccine over the weekend without making a new one.
6:20 a.m.: Denmark is opening up a bit more, allowing upper school classes and vocational education to return to classes if there is no local outbreak, and increasing the number of people who can gather outdoor to 10, up from five.
At the same time, the ceiling for people who can attend leisure activities and competitions organized by local sports clubs is raised from 25 to 50. Religious services can be held outdoor with a maximum of 50 people, but indoor services are still banned.
In neighbouring Norway, Prime Minister Erna Solberg apologized for holding a birthday party last month in a restaurant with 13 people for her 60th birthday, thereby violating a recommendation of maximum 10 people gathering for one event.
If you think you know the rules, you don't check them, and I thought I knew them. I apologize for not knowing them well enough," Solberg told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
6:20 a.m.: Tokyo organizers and the International Olympic Committee are poised to finally make it official that most fans from abroad will be prohibited from attending the postponed Olympics when they open in four months.
The announcement is expected to come after five-party" talks on Saturday with the IOC, local organizers, the Japanese government, the Tokyo metropolitan government and the International Paralympic Committee.
People are waiting eagerly for an early decision so they can move to the next step," Seiko Hashimoto, the president of the organizing committee, said Friday in a news briefing. We need to be able to make the decision soon."
Despite some calls to delay it, Hashimoto has promised a decision before the torch relay opens on Thursday from the northeastern prefecture of Fukushima.
6:17 a.m.: Limitations on weddings varied across the country throughout 2020, with most areas permitting five-person ceremonies during the initial lockdown last spring. That later expanded to 10, 50, or a reduced capacity percentage depending on venue size.
The volatile nature of the pandemic, however, meant restrictions could change from month to month, causing couples to adapt on the fly.
Read the full story from the Canadian Press here.
6:15 a.m.: There is no evidence that Canada's history of colonialism has made Indigenous people any more hesitant to get vaccinated against COVID-19 than the general population, says an Indigenous studies professor casting a critical eye on the oft-repeated theory.
The federal government is among those who have suggested colonialism and systemic racism have fostered mistrust in vaccines. But Veldon Coburn, an assistant professor at the University of Ottawa's Institute of Indigenous Research and Studies, says available data on vaccine hesitancy suggest that is not the case.
The historic events that were bad and unethical ... didn't have the same or the effect that's being claimed and maybe it's just naive good intentions but it doesn't stand up," Coburn said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
Coburn says there's no evidence of a causal link between vaccine hesitancy and the historical and intergenerational trauma Indigenous people feel live with because of residential schools and other colonialist practices.
4 a.m.: The latest numbers on COVID-19 vaccinations in Canada as of 4 a.m. ET on Friday, March 19, 2021.
In Canada, the provinces are reporting 155,623 new vaccinations administered for a total of 3,565,023 doses given. Nationwide, 615,679 people or 1.6 per cent of the population has been fully vaccinated. The provinces have administered doses at a rate of 9,406.573 per 100,000.
There were 1,170 new vaccines delivered to the provinces and territories for a total of 4,773,170 doses delivered so far. The provinces and territories have used 74.69 per cent of their available vaccine supply.
4 a.m.: The latest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 4 a.m. ET on Friday, March 19, 2021.
There are 922,848 confirmed cases in Canada (29,280 active, 870,978 resolved, 22,590 deaths). The total case count includes 13 confirmed cases among repatriated travellers.
There were 3,599 new cases Thursday. The rate of active cases is 77.04 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 23,091 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 3,299.
There were 34 new reported deaths Thursday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 220 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 31. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.08 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 59.44 per 100,000 people.
There have been 26,250,445 tests completed.