Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reporting more than 1,200 new cases; Ontario science table recommends weekly rapid tests in school
The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Thursday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
1:36 p.m. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says the need for MPs to approve a new round of pandemic aid has become more important amid fears related to the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
Speaking to the House of Commons finance committee, Freeland says the variant has injected renewed uncertainty into the economy, in arguing for the government's latest benefits package.
The Liberals are proposing to extend pandemic aid until early May to still-hurting businesses and provide a $300-a-week benefit to workers subject to a lockdown as part of a $7.4 billion aid bill before the House of Commons.
The Liberals want the bill, known as C-2, to get approval before parliamentarians go on their winter break at the end of next week.
1:05 p.m. There are now 59 COVID-19 infections linked to recent graduation ceremonies at St. Francis Xavier University in northern Nova Scotia.
Health officials reported an additional 38 cases today as part of the university cluster, most of them fully vaccinated young people experiencing mild symptoms.
Though the number of related infections is expected to rise in the days ahead, the province says there has been no evidence of spread in classrooms or residences, and no secondary transmission among the 4,000 people living in Antigonish.
The university's administration has reported that about 95 per cent of the student body is vaccinated.
The university's annual X-Ring ceremony for senior students, which was held on Friday, attracted more than 2,000 people to the campus - and the fall convocation was held the next day.
12:47 p.m. Three southwestern Ontario health units are recommending limiting indoor holiday gatherings to fully vaccinated guests, other than young children, to reduce the transmission of COVID-19.
The new recommendations from Huron Perth Public Health, Middlesex-London Health Unit and Southwestern Public Health come as more cases of the Omicron variant crop up in the province and after a science advisory table's projections pointed to higher case counts and ICU occupancy on the horizon.
The first recommendation is that everyone should limit indoor social gatherings in private dwellings to no more than 10 people, and all attendees 12 years of age and older should be vaccinated.
All unvaccinated people 12 years of age and older are advised to avoid any non-essential indoor contact with individuals who are not part of their household.
12:30 p.m. Transat A.T. lost more than $1 million per day last quarter as it began to ramp up operations, but says business is growing steadily despite a persistent pandemic.
The three-month period ended Oct. 31 marked Transat's eighth straight quarter of losses as the travel company struggled to recover from the COVID-19 crisis, which has hobbled the global airline sector amid travel restrictions and lockdowns.
Chief executive Annick Guerard said winter "will see the continuation of our return to more significant volumes," but that she remains "cautious" amid evolving coronavirus variants.
12 p.m. Saskatchewan says it plans to reduce its backlog of surgeries by privatizing certain procedures.
Health Minister Paul Merriman says the goal is to eliminate the backlog by achieving a three-month wait time by 2030.
Merriman says there are 35,000 people currently waiting for surgery in Saskatchewan, as COVID-19 has been overwhelming the health-care system, and it's a big hill to climb.
The government says it is still determining which procedures will be privatized.
11:40 a.m. The U.S. is expanding COVID-19 boosters, ruling that 16- and 17-year-olds can get a third dose of Pfizer's vaccine.
The U.S. and many other nations already were urging adults to get booster shots to pump up immunity that can wane months after vaccination, calls that intensified with the discovery of the worrisome new omicron variant.
On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration gave emergency authorization for 16- and 17-year-olds to get a third dose of the vaccine made by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech -- if it's been six months since their last shot.
11:05 a.m. Citing an abundance of caution" the Raptors cancelled a practice scheduled for late Thursday morning at their OVO training center.
It is the first time the team has stopped a scheduled workout and is due to health and safety protocols" an announcement through social media said.
The Raptors say all members of the organization at fully vaccinated and have not had a positive COVID-19 test since the first day of training camp when centre Khem Birch was forced into isolation along with his entire family.
The team is scheduled to play the New York Knicks at the Scotiabank Arena on Friday night.
10:50 a.m. South Africa should boost the provision of antiretroviral drugs for millions of people infected with HIV to potentially reduce the chance of new COVID-19 variants to emerge, scientists said.
In a revised study of an HIV sufferer with limited adherence to an antiretroviral therapy, or ART program, scientists led by Alex Sigal of the Durban, South Africa-based Africa Health Research Institute analyzed the mutations that developed as the female subject harbored the COVID-19 virus for 216 days. HIV, advanced cancer and some other diseases, suppress immune systems, allowing other infections to take hold. ART treatment restores the body's ability to fight off infections.
Characterizing SARS-COV-2 evolution in specific geographies may help predict the properties of variants coming from these regions," Sigal said in the revised preprint, which was submitted on Tuesday. If immunosuppression by advanced HIV drives SARS-COV-2 evolution, ART coverage should be increased to prevent it."
10:40 a.m. It's a group for 500-some members of an industry that is largely ignored for 11 months of the year but shines every December: the Santa industry. But the strictly private group doesn't gather to discuss beard care, preferred cookie flavours or the most common Christmas gift wishes of children that year.
The group has an aim that is more solemn and sweet: To commemorate those among the aging group of Santas and Mrs. Clauses who have died, and the ways they have left their mark on many children around Christmas.
It's a group that, sadly, has seen more activity during the pandemic. Klemm says this year has seen more Santa obituaries on the page than ever before.
Read the full story from the Star's Alex McKeen
10:05 a.m. Ontario is reporting another 1,290 COVID-19 cases and 10 more deaths. One of the deaths occurred more than one month ago and is being added to the cumulative count due to a data cleanup, according to the province's latest report released Thursday morning.
Ontario has administered 75,093 vaccine doses since its last daily update, with 24,225,882 vaccines given in total as of 8 p.m. the previous night.
According to the Star's vaccine tracker, 11,934,401 people in Ontario have received at least one shot. That works out to approximately 85.2 per cent of the eligible population five years and older and the equivalent of 80.3 per cent of the total population, including those not yet eligible for the vaccine.
Read the full story from the Star's Urbi Khan
10 a.m. There are at least 20 confirmed cases of COVID-19 at St. James Catholic Global Learning Centre in Mississauga, according to a spokesperson for the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board.
Three cohorts of students were dismissed. One group was permitted to return to in-person learning on Thursday, subject to a negative PCR test. None of the cases have been identified as the Omicron variant.
The school remains open to in-person learning. However, students who were not asked to isolate were given the option to switch to remote or hybrid learning until the winter break, according to a spokesperson for the school board.
The province reported 252 school-related cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday. There are currently 860 schools with a reported case of COVID-19 and 10 schools that are currently closed.
9:45 a.m. The likelihood the Bank of England will raise rates at its meeting next week is fading as new restrictions to curb the spread of the Omicron variant cast gloom over the nation's markets.
Money markets are pricing in just five basis points of hikes, half of what they had penciled in last week. Traders are betting the BOE will wait for more clarity over the economic impact of the new coronavirus strain after measures such as work-from-home guidance were reintroduced Wednesday.
That kept the pressure on the pound, lingering near its weakest level against the dollar in a year. The yield on 10-year U.K. bonds fell to the lowest since early September, as investors piled into safe government securities amid concern over further restrictions.
9:05 a.m. The British government confirmed Thursday that an inquiry into an alleged lockdown-breaching Christmas party at the offices of Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson nearly a year ago will also look at two prior gatherings involving government officials.
In a statement to lawmakers, Cabinet Office minister Michael Ellis laid out the terms of reference for the inquiry Johnson ordered Wednesday following a week of allegations that officials flouted coronavirus rules that they imposed on everyone else.
The primary charge relates to a Dec. 18, 2020, event at the prime minister's 10 Downing St. offices, where officials are said to have enjoyed wine, food, games and a festive gift exchange at a time when pandemic regulations banned most social gatherings.
8:50 a.m. The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits plunged last week to the lowest level in 52 years, more evidence that the U.S. job market is recovering from last year's coronavirus recession.
Unemployment claims dropped by 43,000 to 184,000 last week, the lowest since September 1969, the Labor Department said Thursday. The four-week moving average, which smooths out week-to-week volatility, fell to below 219,000, lowest since the pandemic hit the United States hard in March 2020.
Overall, just under 2 million Americans were collecting traditional unemployment benefits the week that ended Nov. 27.
7:40 a.m. (updated) Ontario's group of expert advisers on COVID-19 is recommending health officials implement voluntary rapid testing in settings such as schools and workplaces in areas that reach a certain level of infection.
The science advisory table is advising public health units or neighbourhoods where new COVID-19 cases are near 50 per million people per day, and where there is sustained exponential growth, to carry out weekly voluntary screening of unvaccinated or partially vaccinated people in elementary schools.
It says health officials in those areas could also deploy rapid antigen tests in workplaces and congregate settings.
The science table says that if a health unit or area's new daily cases approach 250 per million people per day, "weekly testing is likely not frequent enough to reduce spread effectively."
The group says that in that case, unvaccinated and partially vaccinated people should undergo rapid testing two to three times a week.
It notes public health units in that situation may also want to look into voluntary testing of fully vaccinated people at the same frequency.
The science table says it considers rapid testing in elementary schools a priority since students under 12 are not fully vaccinated yet in the province.
But it adds Ontario could use rapid testing in "many ways" to curb the spread of the virus.
The group's latest advice comes as calls continue to grow for broader rapid testing ahead of the holiday season.
6:13 a.m.: Most GTA school boards can't or won't say how many unvaccinated employees are still working with children, even as active COVID-19 outbreaks in elementary schools - where most students remain unprotected - have reached a record high and the Omicron variant has been detected in at least one Toronto school.
The Star asked all 12 major boards in the GTA how many unvaccinated staff continue to work with students. Just three provided the data sought. But those that did revealed what Dr. Richard Hamat, a pediatrician at Humber River Hospital and the Vaughan Pediatric Clinic in Woodbridge, called a surprisingly large number."
Read the full story from the Star's May Warren and Kenyon Wallace.
6:11 a.m.: Prevention and treatment of COVID-19 and its variants may one day be a few spritzes of nasal spray away, according to one University of Toronto researcher.
Taking aim at cancer and HIV could be next.
Philip M. Kim's laboratory has developed a new method of targeting diseases like COVID-19, a method invisible to the body's defences and orders of magnitude" cheaper than traditional antibody treatments, he said. Their peer-reviewed research was recently published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.
Read the full story from the Star's Kevin Jiang.
6:10 a.m.: How will the world decide when the pandemic is over?
There's no clear-cut definition for when a pandemic starts and ends, and how much of a threat a global outbreak is posing can vary by country.
It's somewhat a subjective judgment because it's not just about the number of cases. It's about severity and it's about impact," says Dr. Michael Ryan, the World Health Organization's emergencies chief.
In January 2020, WHO designated the virus a global health crisis of international concern." A couple months later in March, the United Nations health agency described the outbreak as a pandemic," reflecting the fact that the virus had spread to nearly every continent and numerous other health officials were saying it could be described as such.
The pandemic may be widely considered over when WHO decides the virus is no longer an emergency of international concern, a designation its expert committee has been reassessing every three months. But when the most acute phases of the crisis ease within countries could vary.
There is not going to be one day when someone says, OK, the pandemic is over,'" says Dr. Chris Woods, an infectious disease expert at Duke University. Although there's no universally agreed-upon criteria, he said countries will likely look for sustained reduction in cases over time.
Scientists expect COVID-19 will eventually settle into becoming a more predictable virus like the flu, meaning it will cause seasonal outbreaks but not the huge surges we're seeing right now. But even then, Woods says some habits, such as wearing masks in public places, might continue.
Read the full story from the Associated Press.
6:10 a.m.: Vaccine makers are racing to update their COVID-19 shots against the newest coronavirus threat even before it's clear a change is needed, just in case.
Experts doubt today's shots will become useless but say it's critical to see how fast companies could produce a reformulated dose and prove it works - because whatever happens with omicron, this newest mutant won't be the last.
Omicron is pulling the fire alarm. Whether it turns out to be a false alarm, it would be really good to know if we can actually do this - get a new vaccine rolled out and be ready," said immunologist E. John Wherry of the University of Pennsylvania.
It's too soon to know how vaccines will hold up against omicron. The first hints this week were mixed: Preliminary lab tests suggest two Pfizer doses may not prevent an omicron infection but they could protect against severe illness. And a booster shot may rev up immunity enough to do both.
Better answers are expected in the coming weeks and regulators in the U.S. and other countries are keeping a close watch. The World Health Organization has appointed an independent scientific panel to advise on whether the shots need reformulating because of omicron or any other mutant.
But authorities haven't laid out what would trigger such a drastic step: If vaccine immunity against serious illness drops, or if a new mutant merely spreads faster?
This is not trivial," BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin, Pfizer's vaccine partner, said shortly before omicron's discovery. A company could apply to market a new formula but what happens if another company makes another proposal with another variant? We don't have an agreed strategy."
It's a tough decision - and the virus moves faster than science. Just this fall the U.S. government's vaccine advisers wondered why boosters weren't retooled to target the extra-contagious Delta variant - only to have the next scary mutant, omicron, be neither a delta descendent nor a very close cousin.
6:10 a.m.: Denmark's government has decided that school students up to the 10th grade must study remotely for the last few days before Christmas break and ordered nightclubs, bars and restaurants to close at midnight as part of efforts to counter an uptick in COVID-19 cases.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen also banned concerts where audiences have more than 50 people standing and required restaurant patrons to wear face masks when they are not seated. She further recommended Wednesday that people work from home,
The measures apply as of Friday and are set to last for four weeks. The virtual teaching starts Wednesday, Dec. 15. In Denmark, schools go on Christmas break as Dec. 20.
Speaking of the omicron variant, Frederiksen said that it is expected that this will mean more infected, more sick and thus potentially more hospitalized patients."
Thus, the new variant also entails a significant risk of critically overloading the health service, and that is why we now have to do more," Frederiksen said.
Norway on Tuesday introduced a 10-person limit for gatherings at private homes, although the number will be increased to 20 on Christmas and New Year's eves. It also is capping attendance at public events without assigned seating at 50. In addition, the government says it's advising people to work from home when possible and reintroducing a social distancing requirement for restaurants.
Neighbouring Sweden also has recommended that employers give their workers the opportunity to work from home, and face masks are required on public transportation when crowding can't be avoided.
6:08 a.m.: Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said Thursday he'd tested positive for the coronavirus while travelling in Washington D.C.
Joyce, who is fully vaccinated, said in a Facebook post that he'd been experiencing mild symptoms and decided to get tested. He said he would remain in isolation while seeking further advice.
He said the remaining members of his travelling delegation had tested negative.
Two British Cabinet ministers - Justice Secretary Dominic Raab and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps - are self-isolating while awaiting the results of PCR tests after meeting earlier this week with Joyce.
It wasn't immediately clear what variant of the virus Joyce had contracted. Before arriving in the U.S., he'd travelled to London and met with top officials there as part of a 10-day trip to discuss his government's plans for regulating social media.
6:07 a.m.: A small spa town in western Ukraine is standing out in a European country where only 29% of the people have received COVID-19 vaccine shots, and locals credit their community spirit for fending off the worst of the pandemic.
In Morshyn, a scenic town nestled at the Carpathian foothills in the Lviv region, 74% of its 3,439 residents had been fully vaccinated as of late November.
While Ukrainian authorities have imposed new restrictions amid a surge of infections and deaths blamed on a slow pace of vaccination and designated the region around Morshyn as a red zone" where most public places have been shut down, the wellness centres in Morshyn have remained fully open.
Morshyn's mineral water has made it a European attraction since the 19th century, when it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Over 2,800 of its residents are currently employed by 10 different spas, which only accept guests with certificates proving vaccination, recovery from a past COVID-19 illness or a negative test.
I was making plans to travel somewhere this year and I chose Morshyn when I learned that many people here were vaccinated," said Valentyna Panchuk, a retiree visiting the town.
A united, broad-based approach seems to be going a long way in protecting the residents of Morshyn. Locals have embraced a host of public health measures that have proven effective against the spread of the disease: they wear masks, observe social distancing and vaccine uptake is high. The town's low density also helps too - with houses spread out amid parks and squares.
6:06 a.m.: Food prices in Canada are expected to surge to record highs next year as ongoing pandemic-fuelled supply chain disruptions, labour market issues and adverse weather events drive up grocery bills, a new report on food prices says.
The 12th edition of Canada's Food Price Report released Thursday predicts the average Canadian family of four will pay an extra $966 for food in 2022, for a total annual grocery bill of $14,767.
That's a seven per cent increase compared with 2021 - the biggest jump ever predicted by the annual food price report.
The era of cheap food has ended," said Sylvain Charlebois, lead author and Dalhousie University professor of food distribution and policy.
Prices have been increasing since 2010 and the pandemic accelerated that trend."
Soaring food costs are expected to contribute to rising food insecurity in Canada, putting increasing demands on food programs intended to help, the report said.
6 a.m.: Putting an end to the COVID-19 pandemic will mean priming the immune systems of everyone on Earth but the virus is spreading quickly and may take years to settle down," says an infectious disease specialist.
Just as some scientists started to voice the idea that COVID-19 might have reached the peak in its evolution with Delta and people began taking steps to learn how to live with the virus, a new variant struck. Omicron has been identified in several parts of the world.
Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Toronto, said while vaccines are extremely important, strong political leadership and policy is what will help bring COVID-19 under control, a strategy reinforced by the emergence of the Omicron variant.
I'm just guessing here, but what's likely going to happen is this virus is not going to go away for a long, long, long time," he said in an interview.