Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reports more than 6,000 cases, 39 deaths the past two days; Vaughan restaurant fined after COVID-19 outbreak
The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Saturday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
2 p.m.: Manitoba is reporting 181 new COVID-19 cases over the past 48 hours.
The province says the total released today includes cases from a day earlier, since it didn't issue a report on the Good Friday holiday.
Three cases have been removed from the province's overall tally due to data correction.
Manitoba is also reporting one new death -- a woman in her 60s from the Winnipeg health region.
1:54 p.m.: British Columbia's public safety minister is urging backcountry enthusiasts to take safety precautions before heading out after a record number of calls to ground search and rescue groups.
Mike Farnworth says volunteer personnel jump into action in dangerous circumstances and inclement weather to help those in trouble, adding their job has become harder over the past year as more people are exploring the outdoors due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The Public Safety Ministry and Emergency Management BC say in a joint release that the search and rescue groups have been deployed 1,959 times since last April and 10 people have died in avalanches.
1:30 p.m.: New Brunswick is reporting nine new cases of COVID-19, bringing the province's active case count to 153.
Health officials say two cases are currently under investigation in the Saint John region and involve a pair in their 40s.
The other seven cases were identified in the Edmundston region - five infections are connected to previously confirmed cases and the other two are under investigation.
Health officials have also announced an outbreak at Residence Rolande Long in Edmundston after identifying one case of the disease.
12:55 p.m.: Health officials in Nova Scotia are reporting four new cases of COVID-19 today.
Two cases have been identified in the central health region which includes Halifax - one is related to travel outside Atlantic Canada while the other is a close contact of a previously reported case.
The other two infections were found in the eastern zone and are both related to out-of-region travel.
Nova Scotia now has 32 active cases of COVID-19.
12:36 p.m.: Quebec is reporting 1,282 new cases of COVID-19 today and three additional deaths linked to the virus.
The Health Department says the number of hospitalizations declined by two to 501, while the number of patients in intensive care rose by three to 124.
Public health authorities say 47,194 doses of vaccine were administered on Friday, for a total of 1,488,347.
Quebec's public health institute says it has confirmed 453 additional cases of coronavirus variants of concern.
There have now been 1,592 confirmed cases of variants in the province.
It says it has also detected an additional 771 suspected cases of variants through screening tests.
Quebec has reported a total of 314,958 cases of COVID-19 and 10,684 deaths linked to the disease.
12 p.m.: York Region Public Health has issued a public safety notice about a Vaughan restaurant where five COVID-19 cases among workers have been confirmed, and two more are suspected.
Of the confirmed cases, two are variants of concern. The restaurant, Cafe Landwer, has been fined $1,000 for failing to enable contract tracing or having a safety plan in place.
Public Health continues to investigate, and suspects the potential COVID-19 exposure would have occurred from March 19 to March 24.
Read the full story from the Star's Manuela Vega here.
10:35 a.m.: The seven-day average is up to 2,552 cases daily or 123 weekly per 100,000, and up to 17.1 deaths/day. Labs report 62,333 & 59,117 completed tests, w. 4.6% & 5.0% positive.
Ontario is reporting 2,088 cases screened positive for the telltale variant-of-concern spike gene in the last two days.
Ontario administered 88,183 vaccine doses Thursday and 59,567 on Good Friday. 321,469 people have been fully vaccinated; 2.10 million have at least one dose.
10:15 a.m.: Ontario is reporting 3,009 cases of COVID-19 today and 3,089 cases reported yesterday, Heath Minister Christine Elliott tweeted Saturday. Thirty-nine deaths have been reported.
Today, there are 954 new cases in Toronto, 434 in Peel, 348 in York Region, 205 in Ottawa and 146 in Hamilton. Over 59,100 tests on April 2 and over 62,300 tests were completed on April 1," Elliott tweeted.
9:54 a.m.: French hospitals brought in extra staff for the Easter holiday weekend to cope with more coronavirus patients.
With a new virus variant spreading fast and French intensive care units as full as they were last April, the government closed all schools and imposed new rules taking effect nationwide on Sunday.
In Paris, police say they're deploying 6,600 officers to enforce the new restrictions, which include a ban on travelling more than 10 kilometres (6 miles), a ban on outdoor gatherings of six people or more and a continued nationwide 7 p.m. curfew. On the Mediterranean shores of Marseille, police patrolled amid sunbathers and fined people drinking in public or not wearing masks.
Crowds filled Paris-area train stations on Friday night to head to the countryside. The SNCF national rail authority says its expecting 600,000 people to travel over the weekend.
France has registered 4.8 million coronavirus cases, the most in Europe and fourth globally. It's confirmed more than 96,000 deaths, eighth highest in the world.
The U.S. leads with 30.6 million cases and more than 554,000 confirmed deaths.
9:16 a.m.: Britain's medicines regulator is urging people to continue taking the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, despite revealing that seven people in the U.K. have died from rare blood clots after getting the jab.
The Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency, or MHRA, said it wasn't clear if the shots are causing the clots, and that its rigorous review into the U.K. reports of rare and specific types of blood clots is ongoing."
Though the agency said late Friday that seven people had died as a result of developing blood clots, it didn't disclose any information about their ages or health conditions.
In total, MHRA said had identified 30 cases of rare blood clot events out of 18.1 million AstraZeneca doses administered up to and including March 24. The risk associated with this type of blood clot is very small," it added.
The benefits of COVID-19 vaccine AstraZeneca in preventing COVID-19 infection and its complications continue to outweigh any risks and the public should continue to get their vaccine when invited to do so," said Dr. June Raine, the agency's chief executive.
7:41 a.m.: Premier Doug Ford conceded recently he was kind of shocked" to see vaccine appointments not being filled by older adults in the province.
But for physicians and those who work for community associations serving the populations hardest hit by COVID-19, the province's inequitable vaccine rollout is what's causing those issues.
They say factors connected to the health-care system neglecting priority populations, especially lower-income and people of colour, are resulting in appointments left vacant for those over 70.
And those factors have never been shocking." They're a reflection of how harder-hit neighbourhoods have always been treated by the health system, they said.
Read the full story from the Star's Olivia Bowen.
7:40 a.m.: California on Friday cleared the way for people to attend indoor concerts, theatre performances and NBA games for the first time in more than a year as the rate of people testing positive for the coronavirus in the state nears a record low.
State officials won't require testing or proof of vaccination for some of those events, but they do limit the number of people allowed to attend. Events that do require testing and vaccinations will be allowed to have more paying customers than those that don't. Only people who live in California can attend these live performances.
The rules are different for private indoor gatherings, including weddings, meetings or conferences. Those are only to be allowed if all guests test negative for the coronavirus at least 72 hours in advance or show proof of full vaccination.
7:40 a.m.: South Korea's daily increase in coronavirus infections exceeded 500 for the fourth straight day, a pace unseen since January, as experts raise concern about another viral surge amid a slow rollout in vaccines.
The 543 new cases reported by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Saturday brought the national caseload to 104,736, including 1,740 deaths.
More than 320 of the new cases came from the Seoul metropolitan area, home to half of the country's 51 million people, where officials have struggled to stem transmissions tied to various places, including bars, offices, factories, schools, and gyms.
Health authorities this week said they are considering whether to approve rapid coronavirus tests that would allow people to regularly test themselves at home as they look for further tools to fight the virus.
South Korea has wrestled with a slower rollout of vaccines than many other developed economies, with officials insisting they could afford a wait-and-see approach as its outbreak isn't as dire as in the United States or Europe.
7:39 a.m.: Octogenarians in Tuscany watched in disbelief and indignation as lawyers, magistrates, professors and other younger professionals got vaccinated against COVID-19 before them, despite government pledges of prioritizing Italy's oldest citizens.
Even some of their adult children jumped ahead of them. By one estimate, Italy's failure to prioritize the over-80s and those with fragile health conditions has cost thousands of lives in a country with Europe's oldest population and its second-highest loss of life in the pandemic.
As the elderly were elbowed aside, a dozen prominent senior citizens in Tuscany published a letter calling out the authorities for what they said was a violation of their health care rights enshrined in Italy's Constitution.
7:39 a.m.: President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that Germany is enduring a crisis of trust" and urged the country to pull together" as it weathers a second Easter amid pandemic restrictions and dissatisfaction over the government's response.
In the text of an address to be broadcast Saturday, Steinmeier conceded that there have been mistakes" regarding testing, digital solutions and vaccinations.
Trust - in a democracy it rests on a very fragile understanding between citizens and the state: You, state, do your part, I, citizen, do mine,'" he said. I know that you, the citizens, are doing your part in this historic crisis. You have done much and you have gone without much."
Your expectation for those in government is, get it together.'"
7:37 a.m.: Britain's medicines regulator said it has identified 30 cases of rare blood clot events associated with the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine but stressed the benefits continue to outweigh any risks."
The Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency said the risk associated with this type of blood clot is very small" and that the public should continue to take up the vaccine when offered it.
The agency said late Friday the cases relate to the period up to March 24, during which 18.1 million doses of the vaccine had been administered and that it hadn't received any similar reports with regard to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Concerns over the AstraZeneca vaccine prompted some countries including Canada, France, Germany and the Netherlands to restrict its use to older people.
The World Health Organization has urged countries to continue using the jab.
7:35 a.m.: Canada's deputy chief public health officer wouldn't hesitate to roll up his sleeve if the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine were offered to him tomorrow, he said this week.
Dr. Howard Njoo, along with chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam, has become one of the most prominent voices on COVID-19 in Canada.
For the last week, both have spent most of their time trying to explain why a vaccine that may have caused deadly blood clots is still considered to be safe, at least for some.
Their defenses of the vaccine highlight one of the most serious problems facing Canada's immunization program to date, and medical experts are trying desperately to explain to Canadians that the twists and turns around vaccination advice and authorizations are not a sign of looming danger.
I think the fundamental challenge with this pandemic is that science and evidence and knowledge is always evolving and is emerging fast," said Tam during a March 31 Facebook Live event on vaccines.
So we have to act fast to adapt and evolve the guidance when new evidence warrants it."
Read the full story from the Canadian Press
7:35 a.m.: Public health restrictions have tightened across Ontario as the province is now under a shutdown."
The measures were introduced to combat what Premier Doug Ford calls an alarming" surge in COVID-19 infections and are set to last for four weeks.
The government is asking Ontarians to limit trips outside the home to necessities such as food, medication and other essential services, but stopped short of imposing a stay-at-home order like it did in January.
Capacity is limited in retail stores - to 50 per cent for those deemed essential, and 25 per cent for non-essential retailers - while restaurants are restricted to takeout, delivery and drive-through service.
Personal care services must also close.
But schools are set to remain open following the spring break, which ends on April 9, because the province says they are crucial to students' mental health.
Thursday's announcement came hours after the province's science advisers said stay-at-home orders were needed to control the third wave driven by more contagious and deadly COVID-19 variants.