Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario is reporting 447 COVID-19 cases, 4 deaths; Ontario to lift border restrictions at the boundaries with Quebec, Manitoba; Canada’s Wonderland reopens July 7
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.
1:20 p.m. Residents in one of Ontario's COVID-19 hot spots expressed frustration Monday at their inability to book vaccinations close to home amid a crush of demand after the province accelerated second doses in areas where the Delta variant is spreading.
The province had said people in seven regions who got their first dose on May 9 or earlier could book a second shot starting Monday. Spots, however, were quickly filled.
One resident of Mississauga, Ont., Rodrigo Cokting, said he would have to drive more than 100 kilometres to Simcoe, Ont., to get a second dose, initially scheduled for August, after finding nothing nearby.
"It's not ideal but it's what was available so I booked it because I really want to get the second shot and two weeks after that finally feeling fully protected," he said.
Other residents from Mississauga, which is in Peel Region, had similar trouble trying to book an appointment in the city.
Mike Morden, 45, said he waited on the provincial vaccine booking website for 90 minutes to reserve his second dose only to end up booking by phone.
"(They said) there was nothing in Mississauga. It took a lot of effort," Morden said, adding his second dose was now booked at Toronto's Metro Convention Centre.
Health authorities in Peel Region, which has been hit by the more contagious Delta variant, confirmed clinics were fully booked but said more appointments would be offered throughout the week. The health unit encouraged residents to check back later.
"We're grateful that so many of our residents are stepping up to get their second dose to protect themselves, their loved ones and their community," it said in a statement.
Health Minister Christine Elliott said appointment shortages were typical when areas were opened to second doses. She said millions of doses were on the way.
"We're just asking people to be patient," Elliott said. "If they try later on in the day, they generally find that spots are available."
Scientific evidence shows people with one vaccine dose are less protected against the highly infectious Delta variant.
1:10 p.m. Gordon Lightfoot, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Broken Social Scene are among the artists set to perform at a renovated Massey Hall when the historic Toronto music venue reopens in November.
The 127-year-old performance space has announced the first lineup of acts after a three-year closure for an extensive restoration.
Lightfoot, who was the last artist to perform there on July 1, 2018, will play three consecutive shows Nov. 25 through Nov. 27.
Sainte-Marie's concert is set for Nov. 30 with special guests the Sadies.
And indie rock collective Broken Social Scene will mark its 20th anniversary with a Toronto concert on Dec. 16, which will use the venue's new general admission-seating configuration in the centre floor.
Other artists set to take the stage in the coming months include City and Colour, a.k.a. Dallas Green, who will play two intimate solo performances on Dec. 9 and 10.
A complete list of confirmed performers is on the website (masseyhall.com/meetatmassey).
Tickets go on sale to the public June 21.
Massey Hall first opened in 1894 and is considered a national historic site.
Its revitalization includes new performance and education spaces, and meticulously restored ceiling arches and the original stained glass windows.
12:52 p.m. Google revealed a raft of updates to its Workspace productivity suite, including new features for free users, a paid plan for entrepreneurs and fresh capabilities for its Meet video conferencing system in an effort to better compete with Microsoft Corp.'s products.
One of the moves, dubbed Workspace for Everyone, will extend the collaboration tools that corporate users receive to non-paying consumers, the Alphabet Inc. company said Monday in a series of blog posts.
Google will also offer a tier called Workspace Individual designed for entrepreneurs, which extends premium features of the software to small businesses, and it has upgraded Meet for a hybrid work future, in which some employees attend meetings in the office and others from home.
The effort helps make the location of work less relevant, assists in the idea that people should be able to work and do what they need to do regardless of where they are and the device they're using," Javier Soltero, vice president and general manager of Google Workspace, said in an interview.
12:20 p.m. Procurement Minister Anita Anand says Moderna is increasing their vaccine shipments to Canada again for June.
Last week, the Massachusetts-based company announced they'd start shipping Canada's doses from the United States instead of Europe, with 7.1 million doses to be arrive between June 14 and June 21.
Anand says today the company will ship 8.7 million doses in that time frame instead, with two separate shipments of 2.9 million doses this week, and another 2.9 million doses shipped next week.
Moderna had been struggling to get Canada's doses out the door from its European supply and didn't think it would meet its second-quarter contract to ship 12.3 million doses, but this latest schedule will mean the company exceeds that contract.
A total of 12.9 million doses are now expected between April and June, on top of two million shipped before March 31.
12:10 p.m. (updated) Quebec says it will reopen its border with Ontario on Wednesday.
Travel from Ontario to Quebec has been restricted since April 19 due to concerns about the transmission of COVID-19 variants.
Travellers from Ontario will now be subject to the same COVID-19 restrictions as Quebec residents and a requirement that people travelling from Ontario to Quebec to return to their primary residence quarantine for 14 days has been lifted.
Quebec's Public Security Department says the reopening will mean an end the "sporadic" border controls along the provincial boundary.
12:10 p.m. Nova Scotia is reporting one COVID-19 related death Monday and eight new cases in the province.
Health officials say a woman in her 80s has died from the Halifax area, bringing the total number of deaths to 90 since the pandemic began.
All of the new confirmed cases have been identified in the Halifax area, with three being close contacts of previously reported cases, three under investigation and two related to travel.
The province has 124 known active cases of novel coronavirus with six people in hospital, including four in intensive care.
11:50 a.m. Quebec reported 123 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, a ninth consecutive day with fewer than 200 new infections, as the province once again relaxed COVID-19 restrictions.
Authorities reported one additional death linked to the disease Monday, which took place within the preceding 24 hours.
The Health Department said the number of hospitalizations declined by one from the day before, to 214, and 54 people are in intensive care, a decline of four.
The province reported 75,533 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine were administered yesterday. Sunday was the fifth consecutive day that the number of second doses administered in the province was higher than the number of first doses, according to data from the province's public health institute.
According to the Institut national de sante publique du Quebec, 78.8 per cent of Quebecers over 12 have now received at least one dose and 13.2 per cent of all residents are adequately vaccinated.
Montreal reported the most new COVID-19 cases with 48. It was followed by Laval, north of Montreal, and the Monteregie region, southeast of the city, both of which reported 14 new cases. No other region in the province reported more than nine new cases.
As of Monday morning, all Quebec regions that were previously classified as orange zones on the province's pandemic alert system have been downgraded to yellow.
11:15 a.m. With patio season beginning and non-essential retail re-opened, the Toronto Region Board of Trade and the City of Toronto say they will give small and medium businesses hundreds of thousands of free rapid COVID-19 screening kits for their employees to help prevent further spread of the virus.
The kits will be available for pick-up starting June 18, the organizations announced Monday morning. Any business with 150 or fewer employees are eligible, including restaurants and those with storefront retail.
Appointments are required to pick up the kits and can be booked by visiting: https://supportbusiness.bot.com/screening-kits/.
This will help businesses remain vigilant as we re-open, do so safely and stay open," said Mayor John Tory at the virtual announcement on Monday.
Read the full story from the Star's Jennifer Pagliaro
10:34 a.m. (updated) Some pro and elite sports will be allowed to resume with stringent public health and safety protocols," the Ontario government announced Monday, but whether fans will be allowed in the stands is still under discussion.
The announcement includes the Canadian Football League, Canadian Hockey League, Provincial Women's Hockey League, National Lacrosse League, Ontario Junior A Lacrosse League, as well as the under-18 Elite Baseball League of Ontario and the Ontario Scholastic Basketball Association.
We finally have come to a place where we can say now to the Redblacks, the Argos, the Ticats - we're in a position to get you back on to the field," Tourism and Sport Minister Lisa MacLeod said at Queen's Park, adding teams will soon be able to run, practice and eventually get into games" using safety measures such as cohorting sooner than anticipated.
When asked about fans in the stands, MacLeod said those plans are still in the works, but that if allowed, it's safe to say that in the absence of eradicating COVID-19" some capacity limits will be put in place.
Our government remains committed to protecting the health and well-being of all athletes by supporting return-to-play protocols that are safe, evidence-based and gradual," said MacLeod also said.
Read the full story from the Star's Kristin Rushowy
10:18 a.m. Canada's Wonderland says it will be opening July 7 with limited capacity and safety protocols in place. Season passholder preview will be held July 5-6 and the park opens to the general public on July 7. Splashworks opens July 12. and reservations to both the perk and waterpark will be required for all guests.
10:10 a.m. A California safety board will vote on a proposal Thursday that would allow most fully vaccinated workers in many workplaces to stop wearing masks and end physical distancing requirements for all workers.
The proposal would also end the requirement to install the cleanable solid partitions designed to reduce viral transmission through the air - like the clear plastic barriers that separate customers and cashiers.
In addition, the proposal calls for employers to maximize the amount of fresh outside air that comes into the building, such as by letting in outdoor air.
Workplaces would be required to provide masks to workers who are not fully vaccinated, and ensure that they are worn when they are indoors or in vehicles. The proposal would require employers to provide respirators - like N95 masks that filter out tiny particles from the air - to employees not yet fully vaccinated if they request them.
If approved by the state Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board, the proposal would go into effect as early as June 28 after a review by the state Office of Administrative Law that can take 10 days.
It would be similar to rules that will go into effect on Tuesday for the public, which will allow people who are fully vaccinated to go into indoor public settings - like a store or gym - without a mask, unless required by the business or venue.
10:04 a.m. (updated) Ontario is reporting another 447 COVID-19 cases and four more deaths, according to its latest report released Monday morning.
Ontario has administered 135,574 vaccine doses since its last daily update, with 11,344,441 vaccines given in total as of 8 p.m. the previous night.
According to the Star's vaccine tracker, 9,450,121 people in Ontario have received at least one shot. That works out to approximately 64.14 per cent of the total population and the equivalent of 74.7 per cent of the adult population.
The province says 1,894,320 people have completed their vaccinations, which means they've had both doses. That works out to approximately 12.9 per cent of the total population and the equivalent of 15.6 per cent of the adult population.
The seven-day average is at 503 cases daily, or 24 weekly per 100,000. Ontario's seven-day average for deaths is at 13.1 daily.
Read the full story from the Star's Zena Salem
10 a.m. The highly contagious Delta variant will likely be the dominant strain of COVID-19 "by early summer," says Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto's medical officer of health.
One dose of vaccine gives people some protection but two doses give much more protection; there are 122 confirmed cases in Toronto.
9:30 a.m. It's been a long lockdown on love for Emma Sykora. But as temperatures climb and more Canadians roll up their sleeves for the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, Sykora is starting to think she has a shot at something special this summer.
The 33-year-old in Toronto became single near the start of the COVID-19 crisis. Since then, Sykora's interest in romance has waxed and waned with each wave of the pandemic, but no relationship prospect proved to be worth the risk of infection.
But lately, she says, the escalation of Canada's vaccine rollout seems to have injected a long-awaited dose of passion into the dating scene.
Sykora said her dating apps have been flooded with matches and messages - many touting vaccination as part of their pickup strategies - as single-dosed singles emerge from extended contagion-forced chastity.
9:20 a.m. South Africa will dispose of 2 million Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines following a U.S. ruling that ingredients for the country's doses may have been contaminated during production in a plant in Baltimore, according to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The news marks a major setback in the country's vaccine rollout just as a third wave of infections is gathering pace. However, Aspen Pharmacare Holdings, Africa largest drugmaker, is set to begin the production of new J&J vaccines by midweek, Ramaphosa told reporters Sunday after he participated in the G-7 summit. He joined the meetings at the invitation of U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
South Africa is heavily reliant on the J&J vaccine to meet a target of inoculating two-thirds of its 60 million people this year, having ordered more than 31 million of the single-dose shot. Aspen has a contract to fill and package the doses at a factory in the coastal town of Gqebherha, until recently known as Port Elizabeth.
Ramaphosa also called for equitable access to vaccines and urged G-7 nations to support the proposed Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights waiver to address and engage in negotiations that would allow for the rapid and widespread production of medical products in Africa and across the world. Leaders have committed to support waiver talks at the World Trade Organization and the text is being negotiated, he said.
9:10 a.m. Carnival is expanding its return to cruising plans for July and August including its new ship Mardi Gras out of Port Canaveral, and for now requiring vaccines, even though that runs afoul of a Florida law going into effect July 1 that prohibits so-called vaccine passports.
The cruise line had already announced plans to sail from Galveston, Texas, and Seattle with only vaccinated passengers, but had yet to make the call on the first ship it had planned to sail from Florida - Carnival Horizon from PortMiami.
Part of that delay was due to an existing executive order and new law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis that would fine companies $5,000 per incident if they require proof of vaccination.
Despite that, Carnival announced it was moving forward with Horizon's return on July 4, but did not give details on how the vaccine requirement will be enforced.
In addition, the line announced its plans to sail its new ship Mardi Gras, the largest ever built for Carnival, from the new terminal at Port Canaveral by the end of the month.
It is brilliant news. After cancellation, after cancellation, after cancellation of Mardi Gras, this new ship that thousands of you came to welcome into Port Canaveral, which shows how excited you are, that we finally can say, Yep, we are cruising on July 31,'" said brand ambassador John Heald on a Facebook live video hosted Friday.
That sailing will be a seven-night voyage to San Juan, Puerto Rico; Amber Cove, Dominican Republic; and Nassau, Bahamas. It's the beginning of sailing for Mardi Gras on seven-night Caribbean itineraries that have been delayed four times since original plans for the ship to debut in summer 2020.
9 a.m. Former President Donald Trump committed three key deadly sins" during the coronavirus pandemic, a former top White House adviser said on Sunday.
Denying the COVID-19 threat, stifling dissent and encouraging divisiveness among Americans all were missteps by the nation's 45th commander-in-chief, said Andy Slavitt, who served on the White House's COVID response team during the Trump administration and through the start of President Biden's term.
We would have had a pandemic without the Trump administration. But there were three ... deadly sins that the Trump administration made that played out," Slavitt told CBS's Face the Nation."
The first was his power that he believed to deny the very existence of the virus or the potency of it, and to get his followers to go along with it," he said.
Last February, Trump publicly played down the threat posed by COVID-19 through statements such as: I think the virus is going to be - it's going to be fine."
At the time, he was privately concerned the pandemic was deadly stuff," legendary journalist Bob Woodward later reported.
Trump continued to take a dismissive tone toward the virus as it ravaged New York and other parts of the country, claiming in March that it might just go away by Easter.
If he simply hadn't done that and simply said, Hey, we've got a problem,' we would have been in a very different situation," Slavitt said.
Trump's second deadly sin" was stifling dissent, Slavitt said.
8:20 a.m. Canada paid a premium to get more than 250,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine delivered last December, weeks earlier than planned.
The detail is contained in heavily redacted contracts released to the House of Commons health committee late Friday, but any specifics on what price was paid or how the delivery schedule was amended were deleted before the contract was published.
Canada reached a deal with Pfizer in July 2020 to buy at least 20 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine it was developing with German-based BioNTech. The first contract was signed on Oct. 26.
8:10 a.m. Blue Jays starter Steven Matz was placed on MLB's COVID-19 list Sunday after an inconclusive test result Saturday night.
Matz was isolated and symptom-free as he underwent additional testing, according to the club.
The unvaccinated players that we have and the close contacts, they all rapid-tested today and they all came back negative, so that's good news," manager Charlie Montoyo said after Sunday's 18-4 win in Boston.
Citing privacy concerns, the manager didn't say if Matz had been vaccinated. There is no minimum stay on the COVID list. Players can return once they're cleared.
Read the full story from the Star's Laura Armstrong
7:45 a.m. With the outdoors being the safer option during the pandemic, the public has put more pressure on the city's green spaces - especially one of the largest oases in the city, Toronto Island.
Besides being home to more than 600 people, the island also contains 600 acres of public green space. It's a pocket of peace" just off the waterfront downtown, but getting there isn't so pretty.
Even without COVID-19 restrictions, access to the island is no walk in the park. You need to line up and purchase a ticket to ride one of three aged ferries - unless you're a passenger at Billy Bishop Airport, in which case you can walk through an $82.5-million underground tunnel to the terminal.
The recent warm weather provided a glimpse of what's in store for a second pandemic summer - access made worse by COVID rules. Last week, many waited for a ferry with restricted capacity in a physically distanced line that stretched for hundreds of metres in the hot sun.
Read the full story from the Star's Irelyne Lavery
7:35 a.m. I get it. You'd spend almost anything right now to change the scenery for a week or two this summer.
But the good old-fashioned local vacation is anything but a money saver right now.
Demand for local car, truck and RV rentals, Airbnbs, campsites and more has shot through the roof - and so, prices have jumped. It isn't uncommon to hear about the same cabin or cottage you rented last year costing 30 to 40 per cent more this year for the same length of booking.
So, should you still go ahead if your local vacation costs as much as your pre-pandemic luxury trip?
The answer is yes, possibly. The benefits to your mental health and well-being of taking a break somewhere a bit different are unequivocal - and, if you have excess savings due to decreased spending during the pandemic, you might be able to foot the bill without whipping out your credit card.
Still, going wild and spending more than you can afford would be hard on your peace of mind - hard enough to outweigh the tonic of a local vacation.
Read the full story from Lesley-Anne Scorgie
7:22 a.m. Iran's state TV is reporting that the country has approved an emergency use of its first domestically developed coronavirus vaccine that could bring the hardest-hit country in the Middle East closer to inoculating its citizens against COVID-19.
The emergency authorization was approved after the country faced with problems from importing enough vaccines.
The TV quotes the health minister, Saeed Namaki as saying, Permission to use the Iranian vaccine COVIran Barekat was issued yesterday."
Iranian pharmaceutical company Shifafarmed made the vaccine based on deactivated virus, and the first study of the safety and effectiveness began in late December.
Iran has also said it is working on a vaccine with cooperation from a foreign country. Namaki said that another vaccine, produced jointly by Iran and Cuba, will join the country's vaccine package in the next week.
7:08 a.m. Lauren Arnold and her husband, David Pilat, are all too aware that when Ontario reopens, their work life won't look quite as it has since the onslaught of COVID-19.
Like so many others, Arnold, a business director, and Pilat, an e-commerce manager, began working from home more than a year ago. As the months wore on, enticed by greener pastures and low mortgage rates, they decided to make the leap, moving out of the city where their offices are located.
With the knowledge that their jobs would likely be more flexible going forward, we were re-evaluating what the future of work would look like for us," said Arnold.
So a month ago, they bought a home in Pickering and moved in. Going from renting to owning is a big jump, but the couple was prepared.
We were really able to map out all of the extra costs of what living outside of the city would entail," said Arnold.
Read the full story from the Star's Rosa Saba
6:20 a.m.: Vaccine maker Novavax said Monday its shot was highly effective against COVID-19 and also protected against variants in a large, late-stage study in the U.S. and Mexico.
The vaccine was about 90% effective overall and preliminary data showed it was safe, the company said.
While demand for COVID-19 shots in the U.S. has dropped off dramatically, the need for more vaccines around the world remains critical. The Novavax vaccine, which is easy to store and transport, is expected to play an important role in boosting vaccine supplies in the developing world.
That help is still months away, however. The company says it plans to seek authorization for the shots in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere by the end of September and be able to produce up to 100 million doses a month by then.
6:05 a.m.: British Columbia seems poised to relax public health measures imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19 today as it seeks to have the province fully reopened soon after Labour Day.
Premier John Horgan, a slew of his cabinet ministers and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry will hold a news conference to announce the next steps in B.C.'s plan to safely restart the province.
Horgan announced a four-step plan last month he says could allow residents to attend live concerts, watch indoor sports events and leave their masks off by September 7.
Last month's reopening efforts started with relaxed restrictions on gatherings, sports events and both indoor and outdoor dining.
Step 2 of the plan indicates today's announcement could signal the lifting of provincewide travel restrictions, the return of high-intensity indoor fitness classes and the extension of liquor service hours to midnight.
Horgan has previously said that B.C.'s strong immunization rate is bringing the province back to normal, but the extent of reopening will depend on COVID-19 case data.
5:45 a.m.: More Ontarians will be able to book an accelerated second dose of COVID-19 vaccine starting today.
Those who received a first jab of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine can now book their second shot after eight weeks.
The Ontario government had previously set a minimum wait time of 12 weeks for people who took a first dose of AstraZeneca.
They can choose whether to get a second dose of AstraZeneca, or switch to an mRNA vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna.
People who live in regions where the Delta variant of COVID-19 is spreading and who received their first shot on or before May 9 can also now make an appointment for their second dose.
The strategy is focused on Toronto, Peel, Halton, Porcupine, Waterloo, York and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph.
The government is also encouraging unvaccinated residents in those areas to get a shot.
5 a.m.: Canada is poised to receive around 9.5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses this week thanks to a massive infusion of shots from Moderna.
The federal government says the Massachusetts-based pharmaceutical firm will deliver a total of 7.1 million jabs in two separate shipments this week.
The first shipment of 2.9 million doses is scheduled to arrive and be sent to provinces in the middle of the week. The remaining 4.2 million will arrive later in the week, but won't be sent to provinces and territories until next week.
Another 2.4 million doses are also due to come from Pfizer and BioNTech, which have been consistently delivering large weekly shipments since mid-March.
The shipments expected over the next seven days will more than double the number of shots Moderna has sent Canada's way. The company had only delivered 6.2 million by the end of last week, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
4:45 a.m.: Quebec is once again easing COVID-19-related restrictions in some parts of the province, including Montreal and Quebec City.
As of this morning, all the regions that were previously classified as orange zones on the province's pandemic alert system have been downgraded to yellow.
Those include Montreal, Quebec City, Laval, Monteregie to the south of Montreal, the Laurentians, Lanaudiere, Estrie, Outaouais and parts of Bas-St-Laurent.
The change means people from two different households can gather indoors, outdoor team sports can resume and more people can attend weddings, funerals and religious services.
4:15 a.m.: Yukon's acting chief medical officer has declared an outbreak of COVID-19 in Whitehorse.
There are currently 18 active cases of the virus in the territory, 15 of which are in its capital.
Dr. Catherine Elliott says the outbreak is affecting people who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19.
She says some of the people who have been infected participated in organized gatherings and informal events, such as high school graduations and house parties.
Six of the cases were reported on Friday.
Yukon has seen a total of 104 cases of COVID-19 over the course of the pandemic.
4 a.m.: The latest numbers on COVID-19 vaccinations in Canada as of 4:00 a.m. ET on Monday June 14, 2021:
In Canada, the provinces are reporting 383,285 new vaccinations administered for a total of 29,008,156 doses given. Nationwide, 4,593,695 people or 12 per cent of the population has been fully vaccinated.
The provinces have administered doses at a rate of 76,540.13 per 100,000.
There were no new vaccines delivered to the provinces and territories for a total of 31,432,264 doses delivered so far. The provinces and territories have used 92.29 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 Monday June 14, 2021:
There are 1,402,126 confirmed cases in Canada. Canada: 1,402,126 confirmed cases (16,955 active, 1,359,240 resolved, 25,931 deaths).The total case count includes 13 confirmed cases among repatriated travellers.
There were 1,122 new cases Sunday. The rate of active cases is 44.61 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 9,216 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 1,317.
There were 17 new reported deaths Sunday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 197 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 28. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.07 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 68.23 per 100,000 people.