Today’s coronavirus news: Moderna says its low-dose COVID shots work for kids under 6
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.
10:10 a.m. Statistics Canada says the number of people travelling to Canada in January was up from a year earlier, but remained a fraction of where it was before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The agency says the number of trips by U.S. residents to Canada in January was 218,600, up from 86,500 a year earlier, but well short of the 1.2 million in January 2020.
The number of residents of countries other than the U.S. arriving in Canada in January totalled 79,700, up from 34,500 in January 2021, however that total was nearly 365,600 in January 2020.
Statistics Canada says Canadian residents returned from 690,200 trips to the United States in January, up from 265,000 a year earlier, but down from the 3.1 million trips in January 2020.
9:35 a.m. Preliminary data from the Canadian Medical Association's (CMA) National Physician Health Survey offers a concerning outlook on the health of physicians, battered from over two years of a global pandemic.
The survey, conducted in November 2021, shows more than half of physicians and medical learners (53 per cent) have experienced high levels of burnout, compared to 30 per cent in a similar survey conducted in 2017. As well, nearly half (46 per cent) of Canadian physicians who responded are considering reducing their clinical work in the next 24 months.
"We should be deeply alarmed that half of the physician workforce is considering reducing their clinical workload. The downstream impact to patient care will be significant as we are already experiencing access to care issues," says Dr. Katharine Smart, CMA president. "There is no question that the pandemic has greatly affected our health workforce. As we look to rebuild our health care system, we need to prioritize the people who work within it and call on all governments to take action now."
9:15 a.m. Niagara Region Public Health is urging residents to continue wearing masks, despite no longer being required to do so.
Although the provincial mask mandate has been lifted for most locations, public health issued a media release Tuesday recommending people continue wearing masks for the next few weeks while COVID-19 infections remain high.
While masks protect our self from infection, even more importantly they protect everyone around us, especially those who are more vulnerable," public health said in the release. Masks work best at keeping us safe when everyone is wearing them, not just those who are at greater risk. By continuing to wear masks over the next several weeks, even if we ourselves are not at great risk, we will protect our friends, family, loved ones and fellow citizens who are at much more risk."
8:30 a.m. Hillary Clinton has tested positive for COVID-19. Clinton, 74, said she's experiencing mild cold symptoms and that her husband, former President Bill Clinton, had tested negative.
I'm more grateful than ever for the protection vaccines can provide against serious illness," the former secretary of state tweeted. Please get vaccinated and boosted if you haven't already!"
Neither Hillary nor Bill, 75, had reported a positive COVID test before Tuesday. Current White House press secretary Jen Psaki also tested positive Tuesday.
8:10 a.m. Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine works in babies, toddlers and preschoolers the company announced Wednesday -and if regulators agree it could mean a chance to finally start vaccinating the littlest kids by summer.
Moderna said in the coming weeks it would ask regulators in the U.S. and Europe to authorize two small-dose shots for youngsters under 6. The company also is seeking to have larger-dose shots cleared for older children and teens in the U.S.
The nation's 18 million children under 5 are the only age group not yet eligible for vaccination. Competitor Pfizer currently offers kid-sized doses for school-age children and full-strength shots for those 12 and older.
8:05 a.m. The number of new coronavirus cases globally increased by 7 per cent in the last week, driven by rising infections in the Western Pacific, even as reported deaths from COVID-19 fell, the World Health Organization said.
There were more than 12 million new weekly cases and just under 33,000 deaths, a 23 per cent decline in mortality, according to the U.N. health agency's report on the pandemic issued late Tuesday.
Confirmed cases of the virus had been falling steadily worldwide since January but rose again last week, due to the more infectious omicron variant and the suspension of COVID-19 protocols in numerous countries in Europe, North America and elsewhere.
8 a.m. With declining cases of COVID-19, South Africa's president has announced that it is no longer mandatory to wear masks outdoors and vaccinated travelers entering the country are no longer required to produce a negative PCR tests.
The relaxed restrictions will also allow sports stadiums and musical venues to fill up to 50% of their capacity with people who are vaccinated or who present a valid negative PCR test.
South Africa has been the hardest-hit by the coronavirus pandemic in Africa recording nearly 100,000 deaths and more than 3.7 million infections since the outbreak started in 2020. In recent weeks it has seen a significant drop in COVID-related deaths and severe illness.
7:45 a.m. With Ontario partway through its first week without mask mandates and a lack of widespread provincial testing, you may be wondering about the COVID-19 spread in your community.
In the absence of any official public database of COVID signals in the GTA's sewage, the Toronto Star brings you its own COVID wastewater signal map to give you a sense as to whether cases are increasing, decreasing or remaining stable in your area.
The Star's signal map uses data sourced from each GTA public health unit into one location, showing trends in sewersheds or wastewater catchment areas for each treatment plant across the region.
Read the full story from the Star's May Warren and Kenyon Wallace
7:02 a.m. The vaccine clinic at CF Lime Ridge Mall will offer catch-up shots for thousands of Hamilton youth who missed crucial immunizations during the pandemic.
As demand for COVID vaccines dwindle, the mall clinic will add appointments for hepatitis B, meningococcal ACYW-135 and human papillomavirus (HPV) for students in Grade 7, 8 and 9.
It's estimated as many as 15,000 youth are behind on these vaccines.
6:10 a.m. It's been three years since you've gone on a summer vacation, thanks to COVID.
Now, with pandemic-related travel restrictions falling away, you're considering a trip to California or finally taking that dream vacation to Europe. But you're still a bit gun-shy, thanks to Omicron and its variants spreading around the globe.
You're not alone, according to travel insurance experts, who say would-be travellers are calling in droves ahead of April 1, when testing requirements for vaccinated people flying back into Canada will be dropped.
Read the full story from the Star's Josh Rubin.
6:08 a.m. A third of European nations, including Germany, France and the U.K., are seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases after brutally" easing restrictions, the World Health Organization's regional head said.
The countries where we see in particular an increase are the United Kingdom, Ireland, Greece, Cyprus, France, Italy and Germany," Hans Kluge, the WHO's director for Europe, said at a briefing in Moldova on Tuesday. Those countries are lifting restrictions brutally from too much to too few."
Europe is trying to leave COVID-19 behind, but the rush to unwind restrictions is now setting the stage for a revival of pandemic risks. Newly confirmed cases climbed to 5.4 million in the past seven days, up from 4.9 million at the end of February, according to WHO data. More than 12,400 people died from COVID in the past week, according to WHO.
6:08 a.m. Malaysia and Singapore's health ministers agreed that the pandemic situation in both countries have stabilized, Malaysian Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin wrote on Twitter Wednesday.
The ministers agreed to work immediately toward the full resumption of air and land travel for the fully vaccinated. Malaysia will reopen its borders to international tourists April 1, while Singapore is aiming to allow anyone who is fully inoculated to enter the country.
6:05 a.m. China imposed its fifth lockdown over about the past two weeks to stamp out a rise in COVID-19 cases. The nation is pushing to build more than 60 makeshift hospitals across its provinces.
A full temporary lockdown was put in place on Tangshan City, a steel hub in China's northern Hebei province, according to local authorities. The restrictions started on March 22 with residents not allowed to leave their buildings until further notice.
Shanghai's government dismissed online rumours that it will impose a citywide lockdown on the financial capital for one week while mandating further tests for residents in some areas on Wednesday and Thursday.
6 a.m. New Zealand will remove many of its COVID-19 pandemic mandates over the next two weeks as an outbreak of the Omicron variant begins to wane.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Wednesday that people will no longer need to be vaccinated to visit places like retail stores, restaurants and bars from April 4. Gone, too, will be a requirement to scan QR barcodes at those venues.
A vaccine mandate will be scrapped for some workers - including teachers, police officers and waiters - though it will continue for health care and aged-care workers, border workers and corrections officers.
Also gone from Friday is a limit on outdoor crowds of 100. That will allow some concerts and big sporting events like marathons to resume. An indoor limit of 100 people will be raised to 200 people, and could later be removed altogether.
Remaining in place is a requirement that people wear masks in many enclosed spaces, including in stores, on public transport and, for children aged 8 and over, in school classrooms.
Ardern said the government's actions over the past two years to limit the spread of the coronavirus had saved thousands of lives and helped the economy.
But while we've been successful, it's also been bloody hard," Ardern said.