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The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Tuesday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
4:13 p.m.: Daily COVID-19 cases are steadily declining and most businesses have reopened to normal capacity, but Premier Doug Ford says the pandemic is not over yet.
“(It’s) something I hope, but no one can predict the end of this,” Ford told reporters Tuesday during a campaign-style swing through Ottawa.
In his first news conference since Ontario’s broader reopening came into effect Monday — including full indoor capacity for vaccinated patrons of restaurants, bars, and gyms — the premier stressed things are trending in the right direction.
“We’re leading North America in the lowest cases per 100,000. And again, it’s not me, it’s the people of Ontario, it’s the front-line, health-care heroes that have helped us get through this,” he said.
Since the pandemic struck in March 2020, 9,852 Ontarians have died of COVID-19 and there have been 598,110 cases of the virus.
But the seven-day average of new cases has dropped to 364, the lowest level since mid-August, which continued a steady decline that began in September.
There were 269 new cases reported Tuesday, the fewest since Aug. 5.
Read the full story here: Doug Ford says ‘no one can predict the end’ of the pandemic, but Ontario’s COVID-19 trends look promising
4:06 p.m.: Nova Scotia has passed legislation banning protests that block access to hospitals and other health-care facilities.
The Protecting Access to Health Services Act tabled by the Progressive Conservative government passed third and final reading today in the legislature.
The bill establishes a 50-metre “safe access bubble” around hospitals and other facilities, such as doctors’ offices, where protests won’t be permitted.
An adopted amendment clarifies that union picket lines will still be allowed outside health facilities under the legislation.
Nova Scotia joins Quebec, which adopted a law banning COVID-19-related protests outside schools and hospitals.
Alberta recently announced it was adding hospitals, clinics and other health-care facilities to a list of essential infrastructure protected under an anti-blockade law.
3:54 p.m.: Doctors are publicizing a letter they sent to Saskatchewan’s premier and health minister calling for more COVID-19 public health measures to help the province’s health-care system return to sustainable levels.
The letter, penned by senior medical health officers, was sent last Thursday, just four days before Premier Scott Moe said he will not bring in more measures because it would take away the personal freedoms of those who have been vaccinated.
The medical health officers say Saskatchewan will face even higher rates of hospitalizations and deaths in the coming weeks and risk a health-system collapse if restrictions on gathering sizes are not implemented.
Current COVID-19 measures in the province include proof of vaccination or a negative test and a masking order.
The Saskatchewan Party government is to announce a plan later today for vaccinating children between the ages of five to 11.
Dr. Saqib Shahab says the COVID-19 vaccine will be available for that age group in November.
2:44 p.m. Nova Scotia has registered its 100th death since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Officials say a woman in her 70s has died in the province’s western zone.
The province is also reporting seven new cases of novel coronavirus — all in the Halifax area.
As of today, Nova Scotia has 134 active infections.
There are 10 people in hospital due to the disease, including one in intensive care.
According to provincial data, 83 per cent of the province’s population has received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 77.9 per cent are fully vaccinated.
2:30 p.m. Health officials in New Brunswick are reporting 21 new cases of COVID-19 in the province today, along with 89 recoveries.
There are now 521 active reported cases of the virus in the province.
Chief medical officer of health Dr. Jennifer Russell says there are 40 people hospitalized, including 14 in intensive care.
A case has been confirmed at the Dieppe Boys and Girls Club and affected families have been notified.
Mobile pickup sites have been established across the province to provide access to rapid-testing kits.
Officials say 84 per cent of eligible New Brunswickers are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, while 92.2 per cent have received at least one dose of vaccine.
2 p.m. A real estate report says Vancouver, Niagara Falls and Quebec City will continue to outperform other markets next year after benefiting during the pandemic from Canadians travelling within the country due to COVID-19 restrictions on foreign travel.
CBRE says the three well-known destinations experienced increased domestic leisure traffic in 2021.
British Columbia saw more than 14 million overnight visits from Canadian travellers in 2021, compared with 13.5 million in 2019 before the pandemic.
The real estate firm is forecasting that Vancouver will outperform other Canadian markets in 2022 with occupancy projected to hit 55 per cent, average daily hotel rates to rise to $176 and revenue per available room (RevPar) to increase to $97 from $47 in 2020 but down from $175 in 2019.
Occupancy in Niagara Falls is expected to be the highest of any Canadian market at 59 per cent, more than double the pandemic low and down just eight percentage points from 2019. Rates and revenues are expected to further improve next year but remain below pre-pandemic levels.
1:53 p.m. U.S. officials aren’t ruling out the possibility that fully vaccinated foreign visitors will need a recent negative COVID-19 test in order to cross the land border with Canada.
The latest rules for foreign air travellers, updated Monday by the White House, say fully vaccinated passengers will need to show proof of a negative test taken within three days before boarding.
The new international travel rules, which also require that foreign nationals be fully vaccinated, are scheduled to take effect Nov. 8.
Dr. Cindy Friedman, chief of the travellers’ health branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says clarity on the rules for land-border visitors is coming soon.
1:46 p.m. The firing of Tennessee’s former vaccination director caught the state’s top health leaders off guard and sent them scrambling for answers as the health commissioner fumed over the praise coworkers heaped on the ousted employee, documents show.
Earlier this year, Tennessee’s Department of Health sparked national attention after Dr. Michelle “Shelley” Fiscus was fired under pressure from Republican legislators incensed over the department’s efforts to get children vaccinated against COVID-19. Fiscus accused Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey of terminating her “to appease a handful of outraged and uninformed legislators.”
The Associated Press requested a week’s worth of emails among the health department’s top leadership regarding Fiscus’ firing in mid-July. The records, released for review after several months, paint a more complete picture of an agency in turmoil over the firing of an official who was highly regarded by those fighting to contain the pandemic.
1:30 p.m. A Quebec coroner is reminding an inquest into deaths at a privately owned Montreal long-term care home that the regional health authority and the home’s management were both responsible for care of vulnerable patients.
Géhane Kamel told a hearing today that both parties were “accountable” and “responsible” for the elderly who had been placed under their care.
She said she is growing tired of finger-pointing between health authority managers called in to help at Résidence Herron during the pandemic’s first wave and the home’s representatives.
Her comments came as the health authority’s deputy director took the stand for the first time during the inquest.
1:16 p.m. A Brazilian Senate committee will vote Tuesday on a report recommending President Jair Bolsonaro face a series of criminal indictments for actions that allegedly added to the world’s second-highest COVID-19 death toll.
The report is the culmination of the 11-member committee’s six-month investigation of the government’s handling of the pandemic. It calls for Bolsonaro to face charges ranging from charlatanism and inciting crime to misuse of public funds and crimes against humanity, and so hold him responsible for many of Brazil’s more than 600,000 COVID-19 deaths.
If approved, the decision on whether to file charges would be up to Brazil’s prosecutor-general, a Bolsonaro appointee who is widely viewed as protecting the president. The allegation of crimes against humanity would need to be pursued by the International Criminal Court.
1 p.m. Although COVID-19 cases are slightly declining in Alberta, two doctors who treat patients from rural areas say a fifth wave may be inevitable if people in those communities do not get vaccinated at a faster pace.
Provincial data says 78.3 per cent of eligible Albertans overall, including those who are 12 and older, are fully vaccinated and 86.4 per cent have had at least one shot.
But in at least 19 out of 63 municipalities in northern and southern Alberta, on average, 55 per cent of residents have rolled up their sleeves for just one dose. In some of those areas, that rate is less than 40 per cent.
Dr. Raman Kumar, a family doctor at Maxwell Medical in Fort McMurray, Alta., says the rural population is overrepresented in overwhelmed intensive care units “simply because of the fact that there has been more vaccine hesitancy” among them.
“For example, here in Fort McMurray, we’ve had significant issues with our intensive care units being full of patients and we transport our patients to other communities,” said Kumar.
“We had seven nurses come from Newfoundland (to Fort McMurray during the fourth wave), so COVID definitely has been a major, major problem for rural communities.”
12:30 p.m. The importance of talking about and sharing struggles with mental health are the focus of two theatre-related projects happening in Toronto in the coming weeks.
After 19 months of pandemic uncertainty and restrictions, it’s a topic that’s understood around the world.
The play “True,” written and directed by Rosa Laborde and premiering Oct. 29 as part of Workman Arts’ Rendezvous with Madness festival, depicts a family grappling with its aging father’s experience of Alzheimer’s disease, and features a Q&A with the cast following every performance. It is the inaugural production in the new, state-of-the-art CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) Auditorium on Queen St. W.
Read the full story from the Star’s Karen Fricker
12:15 p.m. Advisors to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are meeting Tuesday to discuss whether to endorse Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech’s (BNTX) vaccine for use in young children.
The panel, known as the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, is expected to review data and vote to recommend whether the FDA should authorize use, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
The FDA must clear the vaccine before it can be used outside of testing. The agency does not have to accept decisions by the panel, but a positive recommendation could go a long way towards the FDA approving the treatment for children five to 11 years old.
The panel is reportedly likely to debate the risk of a heart inflammation condition known as myocarditis that has been found in a some young men who have received messenger RNA vaccines.
12 p.m. Quebec is reporting 340 new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday and four additional deaths linked to the coronavirus.
The Health Department says 259 people are in hospital, unchanged from the day before, and 66 people are in intensive care, a decline of three.
Authorities say 8,464 doses of vaccine were administered within the previous 24 hours.
According to the province’s public health institute, 90.4 per cent of Quebecers 12 and over have received a least one dose of vaccine and 87.6 per cent are considered adequately vaccinated.
The Institut national de santé publique du Québec says the northern region of Nunavik is the most affected part of the province on a per capita basis, with 721.6 active cases per 100,000 people. There are 104 active cases in the region.
10:30 a.m. U.S. consumer confidence rose in October for the first time in four months as concerns around the Delta variant eased.
The Conference Board’s index advanced to 113.8 from an upwardly revised 109.8 reading in September, according to the group’s report Tuesday. Economists in a Bloomberg survey had called for a drop to 108.
The data suggest that a recent drop in new COVID-19 infections is beginning to boost consumers’ outlook for the economy. That said, higher prices for household goods could hold back further improvement in sentiment in the coming months.
“While short-term inflation concerns rose to a 13-year high, the impact on confidence was muted,” Lynn Franco, senior director of economic indicators at the Conference Board, said in a statement. “The proportion of consumers planning to purchase homes, automobiles, and major appliances all increased in October.”
10:18 a.m. (updated) Ontario is reporting another 269 COVID-19 cases and six more deaths. Of the six deaths, one of the deaths occurred more than a month ago and is being added to the cumulative count due to a data cleanup according to the province’s latest report released Tuesday morning.
Ontario has administered 18,428 vaccine doses since its last daily update, with 22,413,315 vaccines given in total as of 8 p.m. the previous night.
According to the Star’s vaccine tracker, 11,463,641 people in Ontario have received at least one shot. That works out to approximately 87.9 per cent of the eligible population 12 years and older, and the equivalent of 77.1 per cent of the total population, including those not yet eligible for the vaccine.
Read the full story from the Star’s Urbi Khan
10:10 a.m. (updated) Ontario is doubling the number of nursing home inspectors in the wake of COVID-19 to keep a closer eye on living conditions in long-term care and to zero in on infractions.
By September, there will be 344 inspectors in place, which is “better than one inspector for every two homes” in the province, Long-Term Care Minister Rod Phillips said Tuesday.
A total of 193 new inspectors are being hired and will be in place by next September at a cost of $20 million.
“What we will see is a different culture in terms of enforcement,” Phillips said, adding the goal is to help identify and resolve problems quickly to improve the quality of care for the elderly and frail residents.
Read the full story from the Star’s Rob Ferguson
10 a.m. Sweden which has stood out among European nations for its comparatively hands-off response to the pandemic, has passed the threshold of 15,000 deaths with COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, according to official figures released Tuesday.
Thomas Linden of the National Board of Health and Welfare, told Swedish public radio that it was difficult to say whether Sweden has an unusually high excess mortality due to the virus.
“Internationally, Sweden has not had a higher mortality rate. But if you compare with the other Nordic countries, we are significantly higher,” Linden told SR.
In comparison, Denmark has recorded 2,703 deaths, Norway 895 and Finland nearly 1,150. Each of those countries has slightly over half as many people as Sweden.
8:55 a.m. Coronavirus infections and hospitalizations are shooting upward in Belgium, pushing the government on Tuesday to consider reimposing some pandemic restrictions that it only relaxed a few weeks ago.
Daily infections in the European Union nation of 11 million increased 75 per cent to reach 5,299 cases a day last week. Hospitalizations have increased 69 per cent to reach 102 daily cases. Deaths have increased slightly, with an average of 13 a day.
To turn around this trend, the Belgian government and regional officials are deciding later Tuesday whether to increase restrictions again, although stopping well short of going into a lockdown. Indications are that authorities are looking at using mandatory face masks is more places and virus passports.
8:40 a.m. Haldimand-Norfolk MP Leslyn Lewis is raising eyebrows at home and on Twitter by using her online platform to question the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines.
Lewis also likened herself to civil rights activist Rosa Parks for objecting to the recently announced mandatory vaccination policy for MPs.
“The media and the power structure expect me to sit in the back of the bus. I won’t!” Lewis tweeted on Saturday.
“They will try to paint me as a reckless lunatic in order to lynch me into silence. I will always tell Canadians the truth, and no bully or threats will succeed against us!”
8:16 a.m. A COVID outbreak at an Ancaster gym reached 12 cases on the same day fitness centres across Ontario were allowed to move to full capacity.
The outbreak at Lean and Fit Elite in Ancaster includes seven staff and five patrons, according to a Hamilton public health outbreak chart. The outbreak was first declared Oct. 19.
On Oct. 20, the gym was also fined twice — once for failing to “determine indoor capacity limit” and once for violations relating to the COVID safety plan, according to the city’s website.
8:05 a.m. Ukraine reported another record daily number of COVID-19 deaths Tuesday as vaccinations in the nation of 41 million people lags.
Ukraine’s Health Ministry registered 734 deaths in 24 hours, raising the country’s pandemic death toll to 64,936.
Ukrainians can freely choose between the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Sinovac vaccines, but just about 16% of the population has been fully vaccinated, Europe’s second-lowest rate after Armenia.
7:45 a.m. Coronavirus infections in the Czech Republic have soared to the highest levels in more than half a year as authorities call on people to get vaccinated.
The Health Ministry said the daily tally of new cases jumped to 4,262 on Monday, 1,733 more than a week ago. It was the highest daily increase since April 13.
The trend was not expected to be reversed any time soon.
The ministry predicted that in the next few days the country will have more than 300 people infected per 100,000 in a seven-day period, a significant increase from 217 on Monday.
7:30 a.m. Rosie Karavos has worked at the Pan Pacific Toronto hotel (formerly the Prince Hotel) for 17 years. After months of closures, layoffs and work reductions, she was finally recalled to her dishwashing job in September as visitors started to trickle back into the hotel.
Although there are now cars in the Don Mills parking lot again and more housekeeping staff to clean guest rooms, things aren’t back to normal, she said.
The hotel’s restaurants haven’t reopened so Karavos only works for banquets, meetings and weddings.
“I went from an eight-hour day, 40-hour work week to now four hours, not every day. Sometimes I get 12 hours a week,” said the unionized employee, who has taken a second job to pay her bills.
Read the full story from the Star’s Tess Kalinowski
6:55 a.m.: The daily number of COVID-19 deaths in Russia hit another high Tuesday amid a surge in infections that forced the Kremlin to order most Russians to stay off work starting this week.
The national coronavirus task force reported 1,106 deaths in 24 hours, the most since the start of the pandemic. The number brought the country’s pandemic death toll to 232,775, Europe’s biggest by far.
Russia registered 36,446 new daily coronavirus cases, slightly fewer compared to the past few days.
In a move intended to stem the spread of the virus, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a nonworking period between Oct. 30 and Nov. 7, when the country will observe an extended holiday.
5:55 a.m.: According to Ontario’s regulatory body of nurses, there are currently at least 41 applicants who meet all of its registration requirements but are waiting for the immigration authorization to work in Canada. It’s not sure what the numbers are for other provinces.
Statistics Canada reported that in the first three months of this year, the health-care and social-assistance sector had the largest year-over-year increase in job vacancies compared to other sectors, rising by 27,700 to 98,700 vacancies — an increase of 39 per cent. The positions with the largest vacancy increase were registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses. Half of those positions had been vacant for 90 days or more, according to Statistics Canada.
Ontario has, so far, been hardest hit. With a ratio of 725 registered nurses per 100,000 people, it ranks as the lowest province in Canada and well below the national average of 811 nurses per 100,000 people, according to 2019 data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
Hospitals across the province currently have a vacancy rate of 18 to 22 per cent for nurses, the Ontario Nurses’ Association says.
Read the full story from the Star’s Nicholas Keung.
5:53 a.m.: Hong Kong will tighten COVID-19 restrictions despite a lack of local outbreaks to better align with China’s policies and increase chances of quarantine-free travel between the territory and mainland, leader Carrie Lam said Tuesday.
It will step up contact tracing, such as requiring the use of its LeaveHomeSafe app in government premises to record the coming and going of visitors. It will also tighten quarantine rules to exempt only emergency workers or those in essential industries such as logistics. Currently, those exempt from quarantine include airline crew, banking and insurance executives, directors of public companies, as well as crew members on cargo and passenger ships, among others.
Hong Kong has not had a major local outbreak since the beginning of the year, with virtually no local transmission in recent months. But it is largely closed to international travel, and travellers from countries deemed high-risk such as the U.S. must serve a 21-day quarantine.
Authorities say resuming quarantine-free travel with the mainland is the top priority, compared to reopening travel internationally.
5:52 a.m.: Children under 18 and people from dozens of countries with a shortage of vaccines will be exempt from new rules that will require most travellers to the United States be vaccinated against COVID-19, the Biden administration announced.
The government said Monday it will require airlines to collect contact information on passengers regardless of whether they have been vaccinated to help with contact tracing, if that becomes necessary.
Beginning Nov. 8, foreign, non-immigrant adults travelling to the United States will need to be fully vaccinated, with only limited exceptions, and all travellers will need to be tested for the virus before boarding a plane to the U.S. There will be tightened restrictions for American and foreign citizens who are not fully vaccinated.
The new policy comes as the Biden administration moves away from restrictions that ban non-essential travel from several dozen countries — most of Europe, China, Brazil, South Africa, India and Iran — and instead focuses on classifying individuals by the risk they pose to others.
It also reflects the White House’s embrace of vaccination requirements as a tool to push more Americans to get the shots by making it inconvenient to remain unvaccinated.
5:52 a.m.: New Zealand’s government said Tuesday it will expand a vaccine mandate to include thousands of workers who have close contact with their customers — including employees at restaurants, bars, gyms and hair salons.
The changes will mean that about 40 per cent of all New Zealand workers will need to get fully vaccinated against the coronavirus or risk losing their jobs, up from about 15 per cent previously.
Speaking with reporters, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she didn’t believe the new rules were an overreach of government power.
“This requirement means staff and customers are treated equally and it will play a big part in helping to minimize the spread of the virus in the highest-risk venues by reducing the potential for COVID to enter the business in the first place,” Ardern said.
5:51 a.m.: Coronavirus indicators are shooting upward in Belgium, pushing the government on Tuesday to consider re-imposing some pandemic measures that it only relaxed a few weeks ago.
Daily infections in the nation of 11 million increased 75% to reach 5,299 case on a daily basis last week. Hospitalizations have increased by 69% to reach 102 daily cases. Deaths have increased slightly, with an average of 13 a day.
To turn around this trend, the government and regional officials are set to decide later Tuesday to boost measures again, although stopping well short of a going into a lockdown. Indications are that authorities are looking at increased mandatory use of face masks and virus passports.
The urgency is such that the meeting has already been brought forward three days.
5:51 a.m.: Moderna says it will make up to 110 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine available to African countries.
Tuesday’s announcement says Moderna is prepared to deliver the first 15 million doses by the end of this year, with 35 million in the first quarter of 2022 and up to 60 million in the second quarter. It says “all doses are offered at Moderna’s lowest tiered price.”
The company called it “the first step in our long-term partnership with the African Union,” which has been outspoken about the need for many more COVID-19 vaccine doses. Africa and its 1.3 billion people remain the least-vaccinated region of the world against COVID-19, with just over 5% fully vaccinated.
Moderna said this agreement is separate from its deal with the global COVAX project to supply up to 500 million doses from late this year through 2022. COVAX aims to supply doses to low- and middle-income countries.
5:50 a.m.: The deadline for British Columbia health-care workers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 is today.
The provincial health officer’s order covers doctors, nurses, students, residents, contractors, volunteers and all other health-care professionals.
Premier John Horgan says he’s hopeful that the small number of workers who are resistant to getting vaccinated will get the information they need to get their shots.
Those who don’t have their first dose of vaccine by the deadline can’t work unless they have a recognized exemption.
5:50 a.m.: Many parents are planning to let their children go trick-or-treating this year — but a new poll suggests they may find fewer doors open than in pre-pandemic Halloweens.
Some 93 per cent of respondents whose kids trick-or-treated last year intend to have them go candy hunting again this Sunday, according to a new survey by Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies.
But the online poll suggests fewer than half of Canadians will open their doors to trick-or-treaters due to COVID-19.
Of the 56 per cent who checked no, half said they would typically dole out candy on Halloween but will not this time “given the current pandemic.”
Leger executive vice-president Christian Bourque says some parents who kept their kids at home last year may allow them to hit the pavement on Oct. 31, given the high vaccination rates now versus the absence of vaccines a year ago.
Either way, the poll figures suggest they’ll face a few more darkened doorways.
5:45 a.m.: Reducing patient wait times; expanding mental health, addiction and home care services; and preparing for the next pandemic are among top priorities for a group representing Ontario doctors.
The Ontario Medical Association shared its recommendations for improving the province’s health system in a new report published today.
It also highlights the need to strengthen public health units and assign a linked team of health-care providers to every patient.
The group is calling on political parties to include its recommendations in their platforms leading up to next June’s provincial election.
It says tackling the pandemic backlog of services must be done along with reducing the long-standing problem of patient wait times.
Read the full story from The Canadian Press here.
Read Monday’s coronavirus news here.
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