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.
8:20 p.m.: With Omicron cases rapidly rising in Ontario and other provinces, public health experts and policy-makers are revising quarantine and isolation rules, due to newly emerging data on the variant and to avoid staffing shortages at hospitals.
On Wednesday, the Ontario government announced hospital workers who have been in close contact with someone who is COVID-positive don’t have to stay home and isolate, as long as they test negative daily for 10 days.
And earlier on Wednesday, the U.K. government announced the reduction of COVID-19 self-isolation periods from 10 to seven days for people who test negative through a rapid test two days in a row — a decision experts lauded as “significant.”
Ontario’s decision to revise isolation protocol for health-care workers comes after reports of a rising number of hospital staff who have recently tested positive for COVID-19, or have been exposed to the virus in the community, prompting worries about critical staffing shortages that could impact patient care.
Read the full story here: Ontario revises COVID isolation rules for health-care workers
8:10 p.m.: Quebec Premier François Legault said Wednesday the province is facing a major challenge as COVID-19 cases climb “exponentially,” but his government will wait until after Christmas to further restrict private gatherings.
Legault told a news conference in Montreal that beginning Sunday, gatherings inside homes will be limited to six people or two family bubbles. Restaurants, which are already operating at half capacity and have to close at 10 p.m., will also have to limit groups at tables to six people or two families.
Legault said Quebec recorded about 9,000 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, which will be reported in Thursday’s official numbers.
“Until Saturday, we’re letting people who absolutely want to gather, but I invite all Quebecers who can put off their gatherings to do so,” the premier said. The province, he added, “will be facing a very difficult test in the coming weeks, but this is not the first time that our people have gone through a big test.”
Read the full story here: Quebec to limit private gatherings to 6 people as of Boxing Day
7:43 p.m.: Canadian research has pulled back the curtain to offer a glimpse of how the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is managing to infect human cells while evading immunity and vaccine protection.
The extremely detailed look at Omicron has emerged thanks to the University of British Columbia, which announced Wednesday it had completed the world’s first molecular-level analysis of the variant.
The analysis was conducted with cryo-electron microscopy, which uses beams of electrons to visualize shapes of tissues. Some such microscopes are up to four metres tall, according to UBC.
The study shows the variant’s spike protein has three to five times more mutations than previous COVID variants.
The Star spoke with Sriram Subramaniam of the department of biochemistry and molecular biology at UBC’s faculty of medicine, one of the researchers behind the project.
Read the full story here: Scientists in Canada took the world’s most detailed look yet at Omicron. Here’s what they saw
7:15 p.m.: British Columbia has recorded its highest-ever daily COVID-19 case count with 1,474 new infections reported Wednesday as the Omicron variant takes over.
The fast-spreading variant led provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry to impose new restrictions, closing bars, dance studios and fitness facilities.
Active cases have surged to 7,253 across B.C., including 187 people in hospital, and six more people have died, bringing the death toll in the province to 2,409.
The biggest jump of 711 new infections and the highest number of active cases were located in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, followed by Fraser Health.
The Health Ministry says in a statement that 86.7 per cent of eligible people aged five and up have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while 82.7 per cent have had two shots and 18 per cent of eligible adults have had a booster.
It says people who have received two doses of vaccine made up nearly 72 per cent of new COVID-19 cases from Dec. 14 to 20, while people who had not been vaccinated accounted for almost 68 per cent of hospitalizations from Dec. 7 to 20.
In response to surging Omicron infections, the University of British Columbia announced Wednesday that most classes would move temporarily online at both its Vancouver and Okanagan campuses starting in the new year.
In a statement, university president Santa Ono says campuses will remain open but instruction after the holiday break will be provided online until at least Jan. 24.
Ono says they intend to allow in-person learning after that, but university officials will monitor the situation and provide an update in the first week of the new year.
Some courses, including those with clinical or performance and studio components, are set to continue in-person with safety protocols in place.
6:40 p.m.: York Region has announced it will open bookings for two new mass vaccination clinics starting Thursday at 8:30 a.m.
The two locations will operate at Richmond Green Sports Centre and Aaniin Community Centre.
The clinics will offer approximately 15,000 appointments for the following priority groups: booster doses for eligible people aged 50 and over (born 1971 or earlier) at least three months (84 days) after receipt of a second dose, and first and second doses for all eligible people above the age of five.
Although people can book their vaccine starting Thursday, appointments will begin Monday, December 27th.
5:35 p.m.: Infection with the omicron variant of COVID-19 may be less likely to land patients in the hospital than cases involving The Delta strain, according to a trio of studies of preliminary data.
Researchers in Scotland suggest omicron is associated with a two-thirds reduction in the risk of hospitalization when compared with the earlier variant, though omicron was 10 times more likely than delta to infect people who’d already had COVID.
An Imperial College London team working with a larger set of data from England found that people with omicron were 15 per cent to 20 per cent less likely to visit the hospital and 40 per cent to 45 per cent less likely to require an overnight stay.
Read the full story here: Omicron hospitalization risk is far below Delta’s in two studies
4:55 p.m.: New Brunswick health officials advised residents to limit their contacts as much as possible as the province reported 237 cases of COVID-19 and one new death Wednesday.
Public health officials confirm the person who died was in their 60s and lived in the Fredericton region.
Officials also reported 98 recoveries and said 86 cases to date have been confirmed as the Omicron variant.
They said 40 people are in hospital with an infection, including 17 patients in intensive care.
Dr. Jennifer Russell, chief medical officer of health, says the high number of cases isn’t surprising given the numbers seen in other provinces.
She is advising that people should only go out only when they “absolutely need to,” adding that they should book a booster shot of vaccine as soon as they are eligible.
Health Minister Dorothy Shephard said in a news release that people should limit the number of contacts they have to “as small as you can, beginning today.”
“The virus is in every corner of our province, and the only way we can slow the spread is by each of us doing our part,” Shephard said.
4:25 p.m.: The Trudeau government is pushing back at U.S. President Joe Biden’s televised message to vaccinated Americans that they can gather safely for the holidays despite the spread of the Omicron variant.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and top health officials are urging Canadians to limit contacts during the holidays to control the spread of COVID-19 and ease effects on exhausted front-line health workers.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says Canada is not the United States and has a lower death rate from COVID-19 than its neighbour.
In a televised address viewed far beyond the U.S. on Tuesday, Biden said Americans can safely celebrate the holidays with friends and loved ones if they are fully vaccinated, especially if they have a booster shot.
Read the full story here: Trudeau, Freeland push back at Biden on COVID-19 holiday gatherings
4:00 p.m.: An Alberta nurses’ union is asking its members to sign off on a proposed four-year collective agreement that amounts to pay increases of 4.25 per cent.
The increase is among the recommendations from a third party mediating the agreement between Alberta Health Services and the United Nurses of Alberta.
The union says the deal also includes a one-time lump sum payment of one per cent for 2021 in recognition of nurses’ contribution during the COVID-19 pandemic.
There will be $5 million a year toward recruitment and retention strategies in rural and remote areas, and $2.5 million a year for relocation assistance.
The UNA, which represents 30,000 registered nurses and allied health-care workers, says the proposal is a reversal of the government’s earlier position to cut nurses’ wages, along with other rollbacks.
Finance Minister Travis Toews says the deal, if approved, will lay the groundwork for long-term stability in the health-care system while recognizing the work of nurses.
“I respect the front-line and unique clinical role nurses have played — and continue to play — during the COVID pandemic,” Toews said in a statement Wednesday.
“This deal recognizes their hard work and dedication, and the many sacrifices nurses have made since the pandemic began.
“Out of respect for the union’s process I’m unable to speak to the specifics of the deal at this time, but I look forward to the results of the ratification vote.”
UNA labour relations director David Harrigan characterized the latest round of negotiations as the most difficult in his 30 years’ experience.
“We are glad Alberta Health Services was prepared to move away from its initial demands for wage cuts and to drop its efforts to impose more than 200 rollbacks,” said Harrigan.
“The bargaining committee feels strongly this agreement will benefit all UNA members, and also be fair to the people of Alberta.”
The deal would be retroactive to April 1, 2020, and expire on March 31, 2024.
A ratification vote is set for Jan. 17.
It had been an acrimonious process.
Toews initially demanded a three per cent rollback for members of UNA and suggested nurses were putting their needs ahead of their patients’ by pushing to resume collective bargaining during the pandemic.
Harrigan in turn accused Toews of “grossly insulting” hypocrisy from a government that continued collective talks with physicians and other public sector unions, but had no time for nurses.
Toews had also said Alberta nurses were overpaid compared with other jurisdictions, making about 5.6 per cent more by comparison, and that those wages could not be sustained in a province trying to bring its budget back in balance.
“Alberta can no longer afford to be an outlier,” Toews said in a statement as late as July 6.
The impasse had appeared headed to a strike vote by nurses.
Premier Jason Kenney’s government was also facing the optics of slashing the take-home pay of front-line caregivers working to shore up a health system pushed to the breaking point by waves of COVID-19 patients.
3:26 p.m. Nova Scotia is relaunching its paid sick leave program for workers affected by the latest outbreak of COVID-19 in the province.
Under the temporary program, people can qualify for up to four paid sick days if they can’t work remotely and miss less than 50 per cent of their scheduled work time in a one-week period.
The program is expected to begin Jan. 10 and will run until March 31 and will retroactively cover sick days starting from Dec. 21.
It covers employee wages, including wages of self-employed people, up to a maximum of $20 per hour or $160 per day for a maximum payment over the 15-week period of $640 per worker.
3:12 p.m. Yukon’s public service minister says the territory needs more people to help administer the COVID-19 vaccine as it ramps up its booster shot program.
John Streiker says the territory is asking anyone who feels able to give the shot to come forward and training would be provided.
He says the need for people to help comes as the territory moves to increase its COVID-19 booster capacity while the Omicron variant spreads across the country.
Streiker says Yukon has reached out to the federal government to see if it can provide any support.
Chief medical officer of health Dr. Catherine Elliott says the territory will not be bringing in further public health restrictions over the holidays.
2:41 p.m. Infection with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 may be less likely to land patients in the hospital than cases involving the Delta strain, according to a trio of studies of preliminary data.
Researchers in Scotland suggest Omicron is associated with a two-thirds reduction in the risk of hospitalization when compared with the earlier variant, though Omicron was 10 times more likely than Delta to infect people who’d already had COVID.
An Imperial College London team working with a larger set of data from England found that people with omicron were 15 per cent to 20 per cent less likely to visit the hospital and 40 per cent to 45 per cent less likely to require an overnight stay.
The fresh data add to earlier findings Wednesday showing that South Africans contracting COVID-19 are 80 per cent less likely to be hospitalized if they catch the new variant, compared with other strains. Omicron infections are also associated with a 70% lower risk of severe disease than delta, the study by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases showed.
2:35 p.m. Prince Edward Island is reporting 33 new cases of COVID-19 today.
Chief public health officer Dr. Heather Morrison says all of the cases are still under investigation and contract tracing is underway.
Morrison says two outbreaks have been declared, including at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown and at the Riverview Manor, a 49-bed long-term care facility in Montague.
Fewer than five patients have tested positive at the hospital, where visiting to two of its units is restricted, while other patients and staff are being tested and results are pending.
Fewer than five positive cases are also reported at the long-term care home, where no visiting is allowed.
2:21 p.m.: As of Jan. 17, all Town of Pincher Creek employees who are not vaccinated against Covid must participate in rapid testing and screening once per week.
Town council passed the motion Dec. 13 after a heated debate. The policy, proponents said, will help keep workers safe when they return to work in person in the new year.
Although a Covid policy for town employees currently exists, council said accommodations and regulations for the non-vaccinated have not been sufficiently addressed and that its content is vague and could be subject to a wide spectrum of interpretation.
“It just leaves it wide open that, oh OK, if you don’t want to show proof of vaccination and you don’t want to be involved in screening then we’ll just let you work off somewhere where you don’t interact with anybody,” said Coun. Wayne Oliver.
Oliver and Mayor Don Anderberg said that working remotely might not always work for every job or profession and that testing would simply provide another option.
“If your main duty is being a lifeguard, you may have a hard time having that person not interact with the public and have a hard time finding that position something to do,” Anderberg said.
The provincial government will cover the majority of fees associated with screening kits.
Coun. Sahra Nodge said making the decision was difficult, but that it’s for the best. With the new policy, vaccinated individuals can rest assured they work in a safer environment, while unvaccinated workers won’t be forced to work from home or get inoculated.
2:05 p.m. The Trudeau government is pushing back at U.S. President Joe Biden’s televised message to vaccinated Americans that they can gather safely for the holidays despite the spread of the Omicron variant.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and top health officials are urging Canadians to limit contacts during the holidays to control the spread of COVID-19 and ease effects on exhausted front-line health workers.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says Canada is not the United States and has a lower death rate from COVID-19 than its neighbour.
In a televised address viewed far beyond the U.S. on Tuesday, Biden said Americans can safely celebrate the holidays with friends and loved ones if they are fully vaccinated, especially if they have a booster shot.
Biden also told unvaccinated Americans to get a COVID-19 shot, saying it was their patriotic duty to do so.
Biden said the arrival of vaccines means Americans are now protected from hospitalization and death, which was not the case at the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
2 p.m. The COVID-19 infection rate at the troubled Rikers Island jail is rising at an alarming daily rate among largely unvaccinated inmates amid a citywide surge, the city Department of Corrections commissioner warns.
In a letter Tuesday to public defenders obtained by the Daily News, outgoing commissioner Vincent Schiraldi said the COVID-19 infection rate among inmates nearly doubled overnight.
“Our COVID positivity rate was consistently hovering at approximately 1%. Yesterday it was 9.5%,” Schiraldi wrote in the leaked letter. “Today it is over 17%.”
“The risks to the human beings in our custody are at a crisis level,” the commissioner wrote.
The document comes as the new COVID-19 Omicron strain overtakes delta in the city. According to Schiraldi, the rise is more worrisome at the lockup since “only 45% of our incarcerated population has received one shot of the vaccine, and only 38% is fully vaccinated.”
1:27 p.m. (updated) The federal and provincial governments announced plans Wednesday to offer more financial support for workers and businesses affected by recent capacity restrictions.
In the face of the omicron surge, many parts of the country including Ontario have introduced new restrictions on businesses, primarily in the hospitality, entertainment and retail sectors.
Ottawa said Wednesday that it is temporarily expanding eligibility for wage and rent subsidy programs as well as income support of $300 per week for certain employees who have lost work. Ontario announced a rebate program for property tax and energy costs for businesses.
Business and labour groups had been calling for more to be done to help those who have been hit hard by the latest round of public-health measures.
Read more from the Star’s Christine Dobby.
1:15 p.m. President Joe Biden has tested negative for COVID-19, the White House said Wednesday.
“This morning, President Biden received a PCR test and the test result was negative,” the White House press office said in a statement emailed to reporters, referring to a sensitive test used to detect the presence of coronavirus.
Biden had close contact on Air Force One last Friday with a staff member who later tested positive for the coronavirus and showed signs of COVID-19, the White House said.
That led to the further testing for the 79-year-old president, who is regularly tested for the coronavirus.
1:05 p.m. The head of an association representing Ontario laboratory workers says its members are putting in long hours and being asked to cancel vacation plans to handle a huge surge in COVID-19 tests.
Michelle Hoad, CEO of the Medical Laboratory Professionals’ Association of Ontario, says 70 per cent of labs in the province were already short-staffed when the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
Since then, Hoad says that many laboratory professionals have opted to retire early or leave their professions entirely due to the pressures they’ve faced during the pandemic.
Hoad says that has left remaining laboratory assistants and medical laboratory technologists working “beyond humanly possible” to make sure that COVID-19 testing and other diagnostic tests are completed in a timely fashion.
She says the recent surge in tests as the Omicron variant drives a spike in cases has laboratory professionals working more overtime and reporting burnout.
The province’s top doctor said Tuesday that Ontario is preparing to change its approach to COVID-19 testing and contact tracing as the Omicron variant strains resources, with residents being warned they could face long waits for tests.
12:25 p.m. U.S. health regulators on Wednesday authorized the first pill against COVID-19, a Pfizer drug that Americans will be able to take at home to head off the worst effects of the virus.
The long-awaited milestone comes as U.S. cases, hospitalizations and deaths are all rising and health officials warn of a tsunami of new infections from the omicron variant that could overwhelm hospitals.
The drug, Paxlovid, is a faster, cheaper way to treat early COVID-19 infections, though initial supplies will be extremely limited. All of the previously authorized drugs against the disease require an IV or an injection.
An antiviral pill from Merck also is expected to soon win authorization. But Pfizer’s drug is all but certain to be the preferred option because of its mild side effects and superior effectiveness, including a nearly 90% reduction in hospitalizations and deaths among patients most likely to get severe disease.
12:20 p.m. The Manitoba government has introduced a new program to help support businesses affected by the most recent COVID-19 public health orders.
The province says it will provide up to $22 million to about 1,800 businesses as part of its sector support program.
Various level of funding will be available through the program based on the number of employees at the business.
It is available to businesses such as restaurants, hotels and bars that provide dine-in food services, fitness and recreation facilities, movie theatres, performance venues and museums.
12:15 p.m. (updated) The federal government is expanding access to its newest pandemic benefits as the latest variant of COVID-19 whips across Canada, sending thousands of people into isolation and forcing business to slash capacity.
Even the prime minister’s inner circle hasn’t escaped a surge of new COVID-19 cases propelled by the Omicron variant, with Justin Trudeau telling a news conference Wednesday that three members of his staff and three members of his security detail have tested positive.
Parliament recently passed a new set of targeted financial supports designed to respond to regional flare-ups of COVID-19 and support industries in sectors that were taking longer to rebound.
Read more from the Star’s Stephanie Levitz.
12 p.m. The Raptors, ravaged by COVID, have had another NBA game postponed.
The league announced that Wednesday night’s Toronto-Chicago game has become the ninth postponed in the last two weeks as the coronavirus continues to wreak its havoc.
OG Anunoby became the eighth Toronto player to be put under the league’s health and safety protocols, according to an ESPN report. He joins Pascal Siakam, Dalano Banton, Gary Trent Jr., Precious Achiuwa, Fred VanVleet, Scottie Barnes and Malachi Flynn on the list.
Read more from the Star’s Doug Smith.
11:50 a.m. Quebec is reporting a record 6,361 new COVID-19 cases as Premier François 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 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 François 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 Dubé 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.
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