Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario is reporting 887 new COVID-19 cases, 3 more deaths; 137 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 in Ontario
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.
10 a.m. Ontario is reports 887 new COVID-19 cases, 3 more deaths, according to Dr. Jennifer Kwan; 137 people are hospitalized with COVID-19. There are 168 people in the ICU.
In Ontario, 24,015,833 vaccine doses have been administered. 90.1 per cent of Ontarians 12+ have one dose and 87.3 per cent have two doses.
9:50 a.m. New York City employers will have to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for their workers under new rules announced Monday by Mayor Bill de Blasio.
The vaccine mandate for private businesses will take effect Dec. 27 and is aimed at preventing a spike in COVID-19 infections during the holiday season and the colder months, the Democratic mayor said on MSNBC's Morning Joe."
We in New York City have decided to use a preemptive strike to really do something bold to stop the further growth of COVID and the dangers it's causing to all of us," de Blasio said. All private-sector employers in New York City will be covered by this vaccine mandate as of Dec. 27."
9:35 a.m. A court in Myanmar on Monday sentenced Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's ousted civilian leader, to four years on charges of inciting public unrest and breaching COVID-19 protocols. She is facing a series of rulings that could keep her locked up for the rest of her life.
Suu Kyi, who was detained in a military coup in February, had been facing maximum imprisonment of 102 years on a total of 11 charges.
Her trials, which the United Nations and foreign governments have described as politically motivated, have been held in closed-door hearings in Naypyitaw, Myanmar's capital. The junta has barred all five of her lawyers from speaking to the news media, saying that their communications could destabilize the country."
9:20 a.m. The coronavirus pandemic has derailed the global campaign against malaria, increasing deaths from the mosquito-borne disease for the first time in three years.
The number of malaria cases and deaths in 2020 were at least 40 per cent higher than the Word Health Organization's targets, according to the agency, which said its 2030 goals are now at risk.
While African countries rallied to the challenge and averted the worst predictions of fallout from Covid-19, the pandemic's knock-on effect still translates to thousands of lives lost to malaria," Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO's regional director for Africa, said in a statement. African governments and their partners need to intensify their efforts so that we do not lose even more ground to this preventable disease."
8 a.m. Japan confirmed on Monday its third case of the new Omicron variant - a traveler entering from Italy - as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida vowed to take strict measures based on a worst-case scenario of a possible resurgence of infections.
Japan has seen a sharp drop in daily COVID-19 cases since September.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters that the third confirmed case of the omicron strain is a man in his 30s who tested positive upon arrival from Italy at Tokyo's Haneda airport on Dec. 1 and has since been isolated.
6:55 a.m.: Russia has confirmed the first two cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant in the country in travelers who returned from South Africa, health authorities said Monday.
The Russian public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said a total of 10 people who returned from South Africa recently tested positive for COVID-19, but the new variant has only been confirmed in two cases so far, with other samples still being studied for omicron.
All those returning from South Africa in recent days have been quarantined in observation facilities, according to media reports. All travelers who tested positive for the virus have been hospitalized, Rospotrebnadzor said. It wasn't immediately clear if they were hospitalized as a precaution or because they were seriously ill.
Russia restricted entry for all foreigners traveling from countries in southern Africa and required all Russian nationals returning from South Africa or neighboring countries as of Thursday to quarantine for 14 days because of the omicron variant, which was first reported by scientists in South Africa.
Much remains unknown about the new variant, including whether it is more contagious, as some health authorities suspect, whether it makes people more seriously ill, and whether it can thwart coronavirus vaccines.
Last week, the developer of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine said that it will begin working on adapting its COVID-19 vaccine to counter the omicron variant.
5:58 a.m.: In the first waves of the pandemic, densely populated places like Toronto and Peel were hit hard while many small towns were relatively sheltered from the virus. But this fall, the trouble is increasingly found in wide-open spaces, as more rural communities struggle with higher case counts.
In late October, one in 10 people in the Dunnville area who had a COVID test was positive for the virus as outbreaks hit the local hardware store, hospital and a school. Northern Ontario is also seeing concerning numbers: The most recent data shows Algoma and Timiskaming at the top of the charts for positive tests, along with the Haldimand-Norfolk health unit in southwestern Ontario, which includes Dunnville.
The Star visited Dunville in southwestern Ontario. Read the story from the Star's Katie Daubs.
5:55 a.m.: Nepalese authorities on Monday reported the first cases of the omicron variant in the Himalayan nation.
A Health Ministry statement said a 66-year-old foreign national who arrived by air on Nov. 19 tested positive for the variant along with another 71-year-old person who was in contact with the tourist. Both are being kept in isolation under the supervision of a medical team.
Authorities said 66 other people who had contact with the two confirmed cases tested negative.
The tourist had both negative PCR test report and was fully vaccinated on arrival in Nepal.
5:55 a.m.: One of the scientists behind the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is warning that the next pandemic may more contagious and more lethal unless more money is devoted to research and preparations to fight emerging viral threats.
In excerpts released ahead of a speech Monday, Prof. Sarah Gilbert says the scientific advances made in fighting deadly viruses must not be lost" due to the cost of fighting the current pandemic.
This will not be the last time a virus threatens our lives and our livelihoods,'' Gilbert is expected to say. The truth is, the next one could be worse. It could be more contagious, or more lethal, or both."
Gilbert is scheduled to make the remarks Monday night when she delivers this year's Richard Dimbleby lecture, named after the late broadcaster who was the BBC's first war correspondent and a pioneer of television news in Britain. The annual televised lecture features addresses by influential figures in business, science and government.
Gilbert is set to call on governments to redouble their commitment to scientific research and pandemic preparedness, even after the threat of COVID-19 wanes.
We cannot allow a situation where we have gone through all we have gone through, and then find that the enormous economic losses we have sustained mean that there is still no funding for pandemic preparedness,'' she said. The advances we have made, and the knowledge we have gained, must not be lost."
5:55 a.m.: Initial data from South Africa, the epicentre of the outbreak of the omicron variant, don't show a resulting surge of hospitalizations. Thus far, it doesn't look like there's a great degree of severity to it," Anthony Fauci, U.S. President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser, said on Sunday, while cautioning it's too early to be certain.
Even as omicron has spread to at least 17 U.S. states, Fauci said the Biden administration is reevaluating the travel ban on southern African countries as more information becomes available. Moderna Inc. President Stephen Hoge said there's a real risk" that existing vaccines will be less effective against omicron.
5:53 a.m.: As the rest of the world struggles to vaccinate adults in the face of a threat from a new coronavirus variant, China has embarked on an ambitious campaign that it says will give the country better protection against COVID-19: full inoculation of 160 million of its youngest citizens by the end of the year.
The campaign - powered in part with red flower stickers, balloons and boxes of toys for children who step up to become what nurses call little inoculated warriors"- has gotten off to a fast start. In the first two weeks of the effort, which began in late October, 84 million boys and girls between the ages of 3 and 11, about half of the eligible population, received the first of two shots, according to the most recent government data.
By contrast, in the United States, 2.6 million children between ages 5 and 11, or about 10% of the eligible population, received one dose over roughly the same time period.
The push is part of Beijing's unrelenting march toward herd immunity, the point at which enough people are immune to the virus that it cannot spread through the population. With less than three months before the Winter Olympics in Beijing, Chinese officials are doubling down on that strategy. And with 1.1 billion adults already vaccinated, young people are seen as an important part of its success.
The campaign faces significant obstacles, including parental reluctance in a country with a checkered history of safety on children's vaccines. The government insists that child inoculations are voluntary, but parents have described coming under pressure to get their children vaccinated.
5:50 a.m.: Italy is making life more uncomfortable for unvaccinated people as the holidays draw near, excluding them from indoor restaurants, theaters and museums to reduce the spread of coronavirus and encourage vaccine skeptics to get their shots.
Starting Monday through Jan. 15, Italian police can check whether diners in restaurants or bars have a super" green health pass certifying that they are either vaccinated or have recently recovered from the virus. Smart phone applications that check people's health pass status will be updated and those who have merely tested negative in recent days for COVID-19 will no longer be allowed into concerts, movies or performances.
The number of new COVID-19 infections in Italy has been on a gradual rise for the past six weeks, even before concerns arose about the new omicron variant. That's a worrying trend as Italians plan holiday parties and getaways to spend time with friends and family. Christmas travel and holiday gatherings were strictly limited last year due to a steeper rise in contagion.
While both Germany and Austria are moving toward making vaccines obligatory, Italy is instead tightening restrictions on the unvaccinated at the most convivial time of the year - while allowing those who are vaccinated go about life more or less as usual.
Italy's vaccination rate is higher than many of its neighbors, at 85 per cent of the eligible population aged 12 and older and 77 per cent of the total population. But people in their 30s, 40s and 50s have proved the most reluctant to get vaccinated, with nearly 3.5 million still not having received their first doses.