Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario is reporting 411 COVID-19 cases; 14-day quarantine requirement for fully vaccinated Canadian travellers to be lifted; Toronto vaccine rollout accelerates 2nd do
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.
10:12 a.m. (will be updated) Ontario is reporting 411 COVID-19 cases and 33 deaths Wednesday. The seven-day average is down to 657 cases per day or 32 weekly per 100,000, and up to 18.4 deaths per day. Labs are reporting 30,456 completed tests and a 2 per cent positive.
9:51 a.m. The federal government is set to announce today that fully vaccinated Canadian travellers will no longer need to spend 14 days in quarantine upon arriving home.
A federal source familiar with the policy says the change will go into effect in early July.
The source spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss a policy decision that has yet to be made public.
It will apply to Canadian citizens and permanent residents who have had a full course of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Affected travellers will be required to take a COVID-19 test upon arrival in Canada, and remain in isolation until the test comes back negative.
The government will also eliminate the need for fully vaccinated Canadian air travellers to spend three days quarantining in an authorized hotel upon arriving in the country.
9:15 a.m. Billionaire philanthropist Mo Ibrahim is criticizing vaccine hoarding by wealthy nations, urging the international community to walk the talk" as Africa desperately lags behind in vaccinating against COVID-19.
Ibrahim, a British mobile phone magnate who was born in Sudan, is hailed as a voice of moral authority across Africa. The 75-year-old earned his fortune by establishing the Celtel mobile phone network across Africa in the 1990s.
He is now using his fortune to promote democracy and political accountability on the continent, including through his sponsorship of the $5 million Ibrahim Prize for African leaders who govern responsibly and who give up their power peacefully. Speaking during a Zoom call with the Associated Press from London, where he is based, Ibrahim urged at least a reasonable portion" of the vaccines should go to frontline workers in Africa.
We need to hold our leaders accountable," he said. You deny and you pay the price... Unfortunately, your people also pay the price."
Africa has administered vaccine doses to 31 million of its 1.3 billion people. Only 7 million people are fully vaccinated, according to World Health Organization Africa director Matshidiso Moeti. Health experts are concerned the continent will suffer greatly in the long term if more of its people are not vaccinated.
Africa has confirmed more than 4.9 million coronavirus cases and 132,000 deaths.
8:44 a.m. Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce is holding a press conference at 12 p.m. Wednesday.
7:40 a.m. Tourism associations across Canada launched a campaign Tuesday urging the federal government to announce a clear plan for reopening the Canada-U.S. border to non-essential travellers, as the all-important summer season begins and businesses fear losing another chance to get back on their feet.
At the online event launching the campaign, Tourism Industry Association of Canada chair Dave McKenna said the industry associations want a plan - with federal supports such as the wage subsidy beginning to wind down, opening the border to tourists is even more important.
We can't have it both ways. If financial aid is going to decrease, then the border needs to reopen so that the businesses can go back to work and support themselves," said McKenna.
Read the full story from the Star's Rosa Saba
7:30 a.m. As COVID-19 cases dwindle and vaccination numbers climb, businesses are slowly but surely preparing to see their offices become a hive of activity again.
But in the usually bustling downtown core of Toronto, just how many workers will be returning to the office towers - and how best to keep them safe - is still an open question.
According to a new study from the Toronto Region Board of Trade looking at five different business districts across the Greater Toronto Area, the Metropolitan Core" has taken the hardest economic hit from COVID, and faces some of the toughest challenges in getting back to a new normal.
Luring workers back to their office towers after a year of working from home, and bringing back tourists and business travellers, are vital to ensuring a strong rebound, according to the report's author.
Read the full story from the Star's Josh Rubin
7:23 a.m. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga says he is aiming to have everyone in the country vaccinated by November, a target he set with a general election scheduled for later this year.
Suga called vaccines a trump card" of anti-virus measures and said Wednesday: I want vaccines to be given by the October-November period to all the people who want to be vaccinated."
The prime minister is desperately pushing to accelerate Japan's COVID-19 vaccine program ahead of the Summer Olympics, which are scheduled to be held in Tokyo from July 23 to Aug. 8.
Suga is seeking to have 1 million shots administered a day so all of the country's 36 million older adults will be fully vaccinated by the end of July. He also urged major companies to prepare to start vaccinating their employees later this month to accelerate the process ahead of the Olympics.
Less than 4 per cent of Japan's population was fully vaccinated as of Tuesday, according to government figures.
Slow vaccinations and concerns about holding the Olympics amid the pandemic has prompted protests and sent Suga's approval ratings to their lowest levels since he took office in September.
6:25 a.m.: In the global race to vaccinate people against COVID-19, Africa is tragically at the back of the pack.
In fact, it has barely gotten out of the starting blocks.
In South Africa, which has the continent's most robust economy and its biggest coronavirus caseload, just 0.8% of the population is fully vaccinated, according to a worldwide tracker kept by Johns Hopkins University. And hundreds of thousands of the country's health workers, many of whom come face-to-face with the virus every day, are still waiting for their shots.
In Nigeria, Africa's biggest country with more than 200 million people, only 0.1% are fully protected. Kenya, with 50 million people, is even lower. Uganda has recalled doses from rural areas because it doesn't have nearly enough to fight outbreaks in big cities.
Chad didn't administer its first vaccine shots until this past weekend. And there are at least five other countries in Africa where not one dose has been put into an arm, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The World Health Organization says the continent of 1.3 billion people is facing a severe shortage of vaccine at the same time a new wave of infections is rising across Africa. Vaccine shipments into Africa have ground to a near halt," WHO said last week.
Read more from The Associated Press.
6:15 a.m.: After fears Canada is doomed to a one-dose summer," COVID-19 vaccinations in Toronto have accelerated to the point that we are having a two-dose spring.
In local clinics, more Torontonians are getting second vaccines doses than first, a daily trend that started last Wednesday and gained steam. On Saturday, 18,532 people became fully vaccinated compared to 13,973 receiving a first jab.
By Monday, 72 per cent of Toronto adults had a least one dose. Eleven per cent were fully vaccinated - a figure that started climbing quickly after Ontario widened eligibility criteria and vaccine supplies from Ottawa increased.
But the growing risk from the extra-contagious B.1.617 virus variant means we have to pick up the second-dose pace even more as Ontario prepares to start to ease restrictions Friday, said University of Toronto immunology professor Tania Watts.
The most vulnerable are at risk," because one dose of Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine offers only 33 per cent protection against B.1.617, Watts said in an email, referring to research from the U.K. where B.1.617 is now the dominant strain.
Two doses offer people much greater protection, the researchers found.
Read more from the Star's David Rider.
5:30 a.m.: An announcement could come as soon as Friday on how fully vaccinated people can more easily travel between Canada and the U.S as the first step in a plan to reopen the border.
Less than eight per cent of the Canadian population is at that mark, and although about 42 per cent of Americans have had both shots, the announcement is unlikely to mean hordes of tourists can come roaring across the border this weekend.
Instead, multiple sources told the Star, the announcement will signal the start of what will be a long process of gradually peeling back every single layer of public health protection at the border, which has been closed to most for nearly 15 months.
Read the Star Exclusive by Stephanie Levitz.
5:15 a.m.: Despite being in the throes of COVID's third wave, when many neighbourhoods have neared crisis points with business closures and other pandemic-related challenges, Toronto's Gay Village has persevered. Customers still come for what is available - very few businesses have closed in the last year.
The gay community has been through a pandemic before, that made us stronger," says Dean Odorico, the general manager of the bar Woody's, referring to the AIDS crisis. People learn to fight. They learn to keep going ... You always gotta hope that things are going to get better."
And like in any crisis, Odorico says people find comfort in being together any way they can. For businesses, that has meant customer loyalty.
Read the full story from the Star's Brian Bradley.
4 a.m.: The latest numbers on COVID-19 vaccinations in Canada as of 4:00 a.m. ET on Wednesday, June 9, 2021.
In Canada, the provinces are reporting 352,502 new vaccinations administered for a total of 26,843,033 doses given. Nationwide, 3,184,367 people or 8.4 per cent of the population has been fully vaccinated. The provinces have administered doses at a rate of 70,827.296 per 100,000.
There were 294,882 new vaccines delivered to the provinces and territories for a total of 30,123,314 doses delivered so far. The provinces and territories have used 89.11 per cent of their available vaccine supply.
4 a.m.: The latest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 4:00 a.m. ET on Wednesday, June 9, 2021.
There are 1,395,410 confirmed cases in Canada.
Canada: 1,395,410 confirmed cases (21,539 active, 1,348,080 resolved, 25,791 deaths).*The total case count includes 13 confirmed cases among repatriated travellers.
There were 1,268 new cases Tuesday. The rate of active cases is 56.67 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 12,199 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 1,743.
There were 30 new reported deaths Tuesday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 225 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 32. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.08 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 67.86 per 100,000 people.
There have been 35,364,353 tests completed.