Coronavirus news and updates for Thursday, January 20, 2022

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.

10:45 a.m. Three Australian Federal Court judges on Thursday revealed their reasons for backing a government order to deport tennis star Novak Djokovic, explaining they did not consider the “merits or wisdom of the decision.”

The judges on Sunday unanimously endorsed Immigration Minister Alex Hawke’s decision to deport the 34-year-old Serb following an urgent court challenge on the eve of what was to be Djokovic’s first match in defense of his Australian Open title. Djokovic accepted the verdict and flew from Melbourne to the United Arab Emirates hours later.

Chief Justice James Allsop and Justices James Besanko and David O’Callaghan on Thursday released a 27-page explanation of why they rejected Djokovic’s challenge.

10:23 a.m. Ontario is reporting 4,061 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 with 594 in ICU; 55 per cent were admitted to the hospital for COVID-19 and 45 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have tested positive for COVID-19. 

9:30 a.m. An American Airlines flight to London from Miami turned around about an hour into its journey on Wednesday night because of a passenger who refused to follow coronavirus masking rules, the airline said.

Police officers met Flight AAL38 at Miami International Airport when it returned, but it was not immediately clear if they had detained or charged anyone. The Miami-Dade Police Department and Miami International Airport did not immediately respond to phone and email requests for comment early Thursday.

9 a.m. The 75 fatal cases Ontario is set to report this morning are the most in any day since Feb. 4, 2021, ranking as the 8th deadliest day of the pandemic so far, reports the Star’s Ed Tubb.

7:32 a.m. Interest rate hikes are on the horizon as inflation in Canada continues to soar.

Experts say consumers can expect a slight cooling in the real estate market, continuing high prices for food and other products, and possibly higher wages as well.

The annual pace of inflation climbed to a three-decade high in December 2021, according to Statistics Canada, hitting 4.8 per cent compared to the previous year. The steep rise is driven in part by the higher costs of real estate, food and passenger vehicles. And, as 2022 unfolds, economists say it’s not over yet.

Read the full story from the Star’s Rosa Saba

5:54 a.m.: A school in B.C. could be under investigation by public health.

Based on a review of attendance patterns, it has been determined that Rosemont School has met a potential activity signal — a new term coined to refer to a threshold based on school attendance — according to a letter sent out by the school.

Once the threshold has been met it means public health will investigate further to determine if absences are related to a health matter and additional actions are needed.

A large number of absences at the school — which is a kindergarten to Grade 5 school located in the Rosemont neighbourhood of Nelson — prompted suspicions that there might be COVID-19 activity in the school.

Currently, no additional actions are being recommended although attendance throughout the week has been low.

If a school is to be closed it will be announced as early as possible so people can arrange child care, with the principal communicating to staff and all families informing them of the closure as well as how long it will be closed, noted the SD8 website.

5:52 a.m.: Ontario Premier Doug Ford is expected to make a “positive” announcement today about COVID-19 restrictions.

He told Ottawa radio station CFRA that he would have news about changing the level of restrictions this week, and a senior government source says that announcement is coming today.

It follows Health Minister Christine Elliott’s media availability yesterday when she said the province is seeing “glimmers of hope” in the fight against the Omicron variant.

She says COVID-19 cases are expected to peak this month and hospitalizations and ICU admissions will follow.

Elliott says February will continue to pose challenges, but the province is confident in its ability to care for patients in hospital and intensive care.

The province closed restaurants to in-person dining in early January at the same time that it temporarily shuttered gyms and moved schools to remote learning.

Schools reopened earlier this week.

5:51 a.m.: With COVID-19 hospitalizations in Canada still threatening to overwhelm the health-care system, officials hope two antiviral treatments could help ease the strain.

A new study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal suggests the antiviral medication remdesivir could have a “modest but significant effect’’ on COVID-19 patient outcomes, including decreasing the need for mechanical ventilation by approximately 50 per cent.

Billed as the largest single-country trial of remdesivir reported to date, the Canadian research is part of a larger study called the World Health Organization Solidarity, a randomized, controlled trial evaluating the medication’s impact on COVID-19 patients in several countries.

Meanwhile, provinces and territories are to receive their shipments of the antiviral drug Paxlovid, although Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cautions the pill that can prevent COVID hospitalization is not a replacement for vaccinations.

5:49 a.m.: Austria’s Parliament is due to vote Thursday on introducing a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for adults, the first of its kind in Europe.

The mandate drawn up by the government would apply to all residents of Austria age 18 and over, with exemptions for pregnant women, individuals who for medical reasons can’t be vaccinated, and people who have recovered from a coronavirus infection in the past six months.

It appears assured of approval. Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s governing coalition, made up of his conservative Austrian People’s Party and the Greens, worked with two of the three opposition parties in Parliament on the plan. The other opposition party, the far-right Freedom Party, vehemently opposes it.

The plan is for the vaccine mandate to become law at the beginning of February. To start with, authorities will write to every household to inform them of the new rules.

5:47 a.m.: Now, almost two years later, Spain is preparing to adopt a different COVID-19 playbook. With one of Europe’s highest vaccination rates and its most pandemic-battered economies, the government is laying the groundwork to treat the next infection surge not as an emergency but an illness that is here to stay. Similar steps are under consideration in neighbouring Portugal and in Britain.

The idea is to move from crisis mode to control mode, approaching the virus in much the same way countries deal with flu or measles. That means accepting that infections will occur and providing extra care for at-risk people and patients with complications.

Spain’s center-left prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, wants the Europe Union to consider similar changes now that the surge of the omicron variant has shown that the disease is becoming less lethal.

“What we are saying is that in the next few months and years, we are going to have to think, without hesitancy and according to what science tells us, how to manage the pandemic with different parameters,” he said Monday.

Sánchez said the changes should not happen before the omicron surge is over, but officials need to start shaping the post-pandemic world now: “We are doing our homework, anticipating scenarios.”

5:45 a.m.: New Zealand is among the few remaining countries to have avoided any outbreaks of the omicron variant — but Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Thursday an outbreak was inevitable and the nation would tighten restrictions as soon as one was detected.

But she also said that New Zealand would not impose the lockdowns that it has used previously, including for the Delta variant.

“This stage of the pandemic is different to what we have dealt with before. Omicron is more transmissible,” Ardern said. “That is going to make it harder to keep it out, but it will also make it more challenging to control once it arrives. But just like before, when COVID changes, we change.”

Ardern said that within 24 to 48 hours of omicron being detected in the community, the nation would move into its “red” setting. That would allow businesses to remain open and domestic travel to continue, but would require schoolchildren to wear masks and limit crowds to 100 people.

Currently most of New Zealand is at the “orange” setting, which requires some mask wearing and proof of vaccination but doesn’t limit crowd sizes.

Thursday 5:43 a.m.: Because the omicron variant was first identified in late November, it is too early to say how long symptoms of infection can persist. It is also unclear whether, like previous versions of the virus, it can lead to the emergence of problems like brain fog or extreme fatigue after the infection has resolved.

While recent reports suggest that omicron may cause less severe initial illness than other variants, the basic symptoms of infection with omicron are similar to infection with other variants, suggesting that long-term effects could also be similar.

Milder initial illnesses do not necessarily mean that omicron is less likely to lead to long COVID, doctors, researchers and patient-led groups caution. Studies from earlier waves of the pandemic indicate that many people who had mild or asymptomatic initial reactions to coronavirus infection went on to develop long COVID that persisted for months.

Read Wednesday’s coronavirus news.