Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reports 4,383 new cases with 420 people hospitalized; NHL players officially pull out of Beijing Olympics
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.
11:50 a.m. Quebec is reporting a record 6,361 new COVID-19 cases as Premier Francois Legault is expected to address the province today after hinting more restrictions are on the way.
Health officials say there have been two more deaths linked to the novel coronavirus and hospitalizations rose by 30 to 445, with 88 patients in intensive care - unchanged from the previous day.
Today's case count is nearly 1,300 higher than on Tuesday, and the latest surge pushed Quebec past 500,000 total cases since the pandemic began in 2020.
Legault wrote on Twitter Tuesday afternoon that Quebec faces "very difficult choices" and said he would announce the government's decisions today.
11:30 a.m. The head of the World Health Organization is warning that blanket booster programs in rich countries risk prolonging the COVID-19 pandemic and says that no country can boost its way out of the pandemic."
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday that while vaccines have saved many lives this year, their unequal sharing has cost many lives."
Tedros has previously called for a moratorium on boosters for healthy adults until the end of this year to counter unequal global vaccine distribution.
He said that about 20% of vaccine doses being given every day are currently boosters. He added that blanket booster programs are likely to prolong the pandemic rather than ending it, by diverting supply to countries that already have high levels of vaccination coverage, giving the virus more opportunity to spread and mutate."
Tedros said that the vast majority of people who are hospitalized or die are unvaccinated.
11:12 a.m. China on Wednesday ordered the lockdown of as many as 13 million people in neighborhoods and workplaces in the northern city of Xi'an following a spike in coronavirus cases, setting off panic buying just weeks before the country hosts the Winter Olympic Games.
State media reported that city officials ordered all residents to stay home unless they had a pressing reason to go out and suspended all transport to and from the city apart from special cases.
The order was to take effect at midnight and last indefinitely.
One person from each household will be permitted out every two days to buy household necessities, the order said.
Xi'an on Wednesday reported 52 new locally transmitted cases of the coronavirus over the previous 24 hours.
10:47 a.m. The National Ballet of Canada has cancelled remaining performances of The Nutcracker because of COVID-19.
Executive Director Barry Hughson says there have been "breakthrough cases of COVID-19 within company ranks."
He says ticketholders have been contacted and have been offered several options, including a full refund.
Performances in Toronto had been scheduled to run through to New Year's Eve.
The ballet company has said all of the performers and crew working on the Nutcracker were fully vaccinated.
10:40 a.m. Bars, cinemas and theatres in Newfoundland and Labrador will have to close as of midnight tonight as public health officials try to beat back the spread of COVID-19.
The province's chief medical officer of health today announced 60 new cases of COVID-19 and said there are now outbreaks in three of the province's four health regions.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says the entire province will move to a heightened alert level requiring limits on gatherings and household bubbles of up to 20 close contacts.
She says restaurants can operate at 50 per cent capacity with social distancing in place, but bars, cinemas and bingo halls must close.
Fitzgerald says the measures take effect at midnight and will be revisited on Jan. 10.
10:20 a.m. (updated) Ontario reported 4,383 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, with 420 people hospitalized and 168 in ICU. There was also nine more deaths, according to the latest report released Wednesday morning.
Of those hospitalized, 311 are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status and 109 are fully vaccinated.
Ontario has administered 230,516 vaccine doses since its last daily update, with 25,860,049 vaccines given in total as of 8 p.m. the previous night.
Read more from the Star's Urbi Khan.
10:05 a.m. (updated) NHL players will not be allowed to participate in the Beijing Olympics after the league pulled the plug amid a rash of postponements caused by positive COVID-19 test results.
Commissioner Gary Bettman made the announcement Tuesday, making official what seemed inevitable in recent days when the list of postponed games quickly grew to 50. The league will use the previously scheduled Feb. 6-22 Olympic break to make up those games and others that need to be rescheduled.
Bettman said, Given the profound disruption to the NHL's regular-season schedule caused by recent COVID-related events ... Olympic participation is no longer feasible." In a separate statement, Players' Association executive director Don Fehr said that while there was a clear path to Beijing before COVID-19 intervened, the Olympic break is now needed to make up games.
International officials and national federations must now pivot to Plan B for a second consecutive Olympic men's hockey tournament without NHL players. USA Hockey said it will soon announce new management and coaching staffs, and Hockey Canada is expected to draw from the executives, coaches and players who took part in an international tournament in Moscow this month.
9:34 a.m. Authorities in Nigeria have destroyed about one million expired doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine even as the West African country's vaccination rate has almost doubled in the last one week amid a spike in confirmed infections.
The expired doses - numbering 1,066,214 - were destroyed on Wednesday in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, a week after the nation said it will no longer accept donated COVID-19 vaccines with short shelf lives.
Faisal Shuaib, head of Nigeria's National Primary Health Care Development Agency, said Nigeria was put in a difficult situation by developed countries who had procured these vaccines and hoarded them in their stories (and) at the point they were about to expire, they offered them for donation."
Vaccination is also rapidly picking up in the most populous country in Africa, which has set an ambitious goal of fully vaccinating 55 million of its 206 million citizens before February 2022, although only 2% have received their two doses.
9:25 a.m. England said Wednesday that it was reducing the number of days that people are required to isolate after showing COVID-19 symptoms to seven days from 10 - a change that officials said was based on updated guidance from health experts, and that could help alleviate staff shortages in several critical sectors as more people test positive.
Sajid Javid, the health secretary, said the move was based on guidance from the government's Health Security Agency that a weeklong isolation period along with two negative test results had nearly the same protective effect as a 10-day isolation period."
A surge in coronavirus cases has winnowed the staffs of hospitals, clinics, rail services, fire departments and ambulance services across England, where most pandemic restrictions have been lifted since the summer. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has resisted adding new restrictions before Christmas, although he has said that he would not hesitate to act" after the holiday if needed.
9 a.m.: Poland on Wednesday reported 775 deaths from COVID-19 over the past day, the highest death toll in this latest wave of infection.
The last time the nation in central Europe recorded such a high number was in the spring, while vaccines were still being rolled out and when the region was a global hot spot for infection and death.
A spokesman for the Health Ministry said that most of those who died in the past 24 hours were not vaccinated.
The European Union nation of 38 million has now reported nearly 93,000 virus deaths. It has a vaccination rate of 54.8%.
8 a.m.: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to deliver an update on COVID-19 today as the rapid spread of the Omicron variant is prompting more provinces to reinstate and tighten public health restrictions.
Trudeau is expected to speak at noon E.T. alongside Canada's Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam, Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Howard Njoo, and several ministers.
The update comes amid a nationwide surge in COVID-19 cases, with Omicron now the dominant variant in several provinces.
Quebec reported a record number of cases for the third day in a row, with the Omicron variant accounting for nearly 80 per cent of the 5,043 new infections.
Public Security Minister Genevieve Guilbault says she has asked Ottawa for military help to accelerate the province's mass vaccination campaign.
Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair has said the rising case counts in Quebec and across Canada are deeply concerning and the federal government will work with the province.
Ontario is investigating complaints of businesses or individuals reselling rapid antigen COVID-19 tests, with anyone caught doing so facing steep fines, and several hospitals have introduced stricter visitor policies.
Just before midnight tonight, bars, nightclubs, gyms, fitness centres, and dance studios in B.C. must close.
Starting Friday, Alberta is limiting venues that seat more than 1,000 people, including arenas, to half capacity.
Prince Edward Island has joined Newfoundland and Labrador in requiring visitors to isolate upon arrival to the province.
Despite projections that Omicron-driven cases and hospitalizations will increase dramatically by the end of the month without stronger interventions, Saskatchewan is not planning to tighten public health measures for the holidays.
7:30 a.m.: More public health units say they are changing their approach to COVID-19 testing and contact tracing as cases surge due to the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
Niagara Region Public Health says it is beginning to shift resources away from contact tracing to delivering booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines, which it says can better blunt" the Omicron wave.
It says case management and contact tracing will increasingly be handled by artificial intelligence and outsourced support.
The Hastings Prince Edward public health unit says it will no longer be able to call everyone who tests positive within a 48-hour period, and will instead focus on responding to cases in high-risk settings such as schools and long-term care.
The health unit says those who undergo testing should monitor the results online and contact their high-risk contacts if they test positive.
On Tuesday, Ontario's top doctor said the province is preparing to change its strategy on COVID-19 testing and case management in light of Omicron, with guidance expected in the coming days.
Earlier this week, Ottawa Public Health asked residents who show symptoms of COVID-19 but can't book a test quickly to assume they are infected and self-isolate.
Health officials in Kingston, Ont., also reported a strain on testing resources last week.
6:30 a.m.: A wave of slashed hours and job losses is headed for the hospitality, entertainment and retail sectors, and labour advocates say workers will be left with little to no income support from the government.
Amid the surge of the Omicron variant, Ontario has cut capacity limits at restaurants and bars and introduced other restrictions on large event spaces. As a result, a growing number of bar and restaurant owners have voluntarily shut down temporarily instead of operating at half capacity.
The uncertainty for many low-wage workers is an unwelcome rerun of March 2020 and it may be even worse this time. The federal government ended the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB) program in October and many people have been unable to work enough hours this year to qualify for Employment Insurance (EI).
Read the full story from the Star's Christine Dobby.
6:30 a.m.: As the Omicron variant takes hold in Toronto, the very shape of infections in the city has shifted - with the hot spot for positive cases now concentrating in the dense downtown core.
While in earlier waves, the virus scorched through Toronto's northwest corner - and just weeks ago, hot spots started popping up in new areas such as Old East York and Mimico - now, the worst-hit part of the city has become the waterfront neighbourhood, with an infection rate of 625 cases per 100,000 people over the last three weeks, excluding cases in retirement homes and long-term care.
Other nearby areas such as Trinity-Bellwoods and Niagara have seen similarly high rates.
The precise reason for the downtown concentration is unclear, with epidemiologists suggesting theories from unequal testing access to the impacts of postinfection immunity; while Toronto Public Health and Toronto's board of health chair Joe Cressy point to social gatherings as a likely driver behind the surge.
Read the full story from the Star's Victoria Gibson and Irelyne Lavery here.
6:25 a.m.: Life expectancy in the U.S. dropped by the most in more than 75 years in 2020, according to CDC data. Covid was the third-leading cause of death, behind only heart disease and cancer.
6:25 a.m.: South Africa's noticeable drop in new COVID-19 cases in recent days may signal that the country's dramatic Omicron-driven surge has passed its peak, medical experts say.
Daily virus case counts are notoriously unreliable, as they can be affected by uneven testing, reporting delays and other fluctuations. But they are offering one tantalizing hint - far from conclusive yet - that Omicron infections may recede quickly after a ferocious spike.
South Africa has been at the forefront of the Omicron wave and the world is watching for any signs of how it may play out there to try to understand what may be in store.
After hitting a high of nearly 27,000 new cases nationwide on Thursday, the numbers dropped to about 15,424 on Tuesday. In Gauteng province - South Africa's most populous with 16 million people, including the largest city, Johannesburg, and the capital, Pretoria - the decrease started earlier and has continued.
The drop in new cases nationally combined with the sustained drop in new cases seen here in Gauteng province, which for weeks has been the centre of this wave, indicates that we are past the peak," Marta Nunes, senior researcher at the Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics department of the University of Witwatersrand, told The Associated Press.
6:24 a.m.: Finland is tightening existing coronavirus restrictions by taking several measures, including stepping up border checks, restricting restaurant opening hours, as well as boosting its vaccination scheme to slow down the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
The Finnish government led by Prime Minister Sanna Marin decided at its meeting late Tuesday evening that the Nordic nation of 5.5 million would further step up COVID-19 vaccination. While Finland's active working population is currently gearing up for booster vaccine shots, some 800,000 citizens, or 15% of Finland's population, haven't yet received any vaccination shot.
The government said it would, effective Dec. 24, restrict the use of the European Union's common COVID-19 certificates and passports in high risk" environments and situations including nightclubs, karaoke restaurants, bars and mass events where there is no seating.
In practice, this means that these venues will either face limited opening hours or be shut down and can no longer just rely on asking for COVID-19 passes.
Effective Dec. 28, Finland will require negative coronavirus tests from passengers arriving from the European Union. In addition visitors will also need to demonstrate that they have been fully vaccinated or recovered from the illness in the past six months. The restriction remains valid until Jan. 16.
6:23 a.m.: England has trimmed the self-isolation period for vaccinated people who have tested positive for COVID-19 to seven days in many cases provided two negative lateral flow tests are taken.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said Wednesday the decision to shorten the period from 10 days to seven will help limit the disruption to people's daily lives.
I think this is a very sensible, balanced and proportionate take,'' he told the BBC. Of course this new variant is spreading very rapidly, it is disrupting many people's lives. It is great that when people do get infected that they are properly isolating, I think that clearly helps prevent infection.''
The UK Health Security Agency says that starting Wednesday vaccinated people who receive negative lateral flow tests on day six and day seven of their self-isolation period will no longer have to self-isolate for the full 10 days. The tests must be taken 24 hours apart and the first test must be taken no earlier than day six.
There was no change to the guidance for unvaccinated positive cases or unvaccinated close contacts of people who test positive, who must still self-isolate for 10 days.
6:22 a.m.: Health professionals and provincial governments are drawing up battle plans to curb the spread of COVID-19 by bringing back restrictions, while speeding up booster doses as the highly transmissible Omicron variant washes over the country.
As the holidays draw near, restrictions on social gatherings and visits to hospitals have been reintroduced with provincial governments trying to blunt the impact of Omicron.
British Columbia's health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry highlighted the risk posed by Omicron on Tuesday, saying it works differently than other variants and more easily infects those who are vaccinated or have had COVID-19. Omicron is now the dominant variant in B.C.
It is inevitable now that most of us in the province will be exposed at some point," she told a news conference. The way this strain of the virus is being transmitted through communities across the province, it is very likely that all of us will have exposure to it over time."
It is estimated that the Omicron variant made up about 88 per cent of cases as of Tuesday in Ontario. The variant has largely overtaken the rising wave of infections in the province, even for those vaccinated with both COVID-19 shots. The province announced 3,453 new COVID-19 cases and 11 fatalities on Tuesday.
The spike brought stricter visiting policies in several Ontario hospitals, while in-patients staying fewer than seven days will not be allowed visitors.
The Unity Health network, which runs three hospitals in Toronto, said it had made the difficult decision" to pause non-essential ambulatory care and surgical procedures, with the exception of urgent cases.
6:22 a.m.: Premier Francois Legault is expected to address the province later today and may announce new restrictions as COVID-19 cases continue to surge in Quebec.
The province reported a record number of new COVID-19 infections for the third straight day Tuesday, with 5,043 new cases.
Legault wrote on Twitter Tuesday afternoon that Quebec faces very difficult choices."
Health Minister Christian Dube announced new restrictions Monday, shutting bars, gyms and schools, and warned that further restrictions could be coming once the government had received new projections on the spread of the virus and its impact on hospitalizations.
Quebec's public health institute said Tuesday that the more-transmissible Omicron variant now accounts for around 80 per cent of new infections in the province.
Quebec has asked the federal government to provide military support as it attempts to increase the pace of administering third doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
Late Tuesday, Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said the rising case counts in Quebec are deeply concerning and the federal government will work with the province.
6:20 a.m.: The rapid spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant is prompting more provinces to reinstate and tighten public health restrictions, with new regulations taking effect this week.
Quebec reported a record number of cases for the third day in a row, with the Omicron variant accounting for nearly 80 per cent of the 5,043 new infections.
Public Security Minister Genevieve Guilbault says she has asked Ottawa for military help to accelerate the province's mass vaccination campaign.
Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair says the rising case counts in Quebec and across Canada are deeply concerning and the federal government will work with the province.
Ontario is investigating complaints of businesses or individuals reselling rapid antigen COVID-19 tests, with anyone caught doing so facing steep fines, and several hospitals have introduced stricter visitor policies.
Just before midnight tonight, bars, nightclubs, gyms, fitness centres, and dance studios in B.C. must close.
Starting Friday, Alberta is limiting venues that seat more than 1,000 people, including arenas, to half capacity.
Prince Edward Island has joined Newfoundland and Labrador in requiring visitors to isolate upon arrival to the province.
Despite projects that Omicron-driven cases and hospitalizations will increase dramatically by the end of the month without stronger interventions, Saskatchewan is not planning to tighten public health measures for the holidays.