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March 23, 2022

Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reports 639 people hospitalized with COVID-19, 179 in ICU; Spain to enter new era without isolation for mild COVID

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.

8:00 p.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 interactive story here: Is COVID surging or declining in the GTA? Use our map to see wastewater trends for your area

7:30 p.m.: The Health Ministry says there have been no more deaths related to COVID-19 in British Columbia.

B.C. reported 254 hospitalizations on Tuesday, a slight drop from Monday when there were 271 people in hospital.

It says 48 people were in intensive care.

No new outbreaks have been declared in health-care facilities since Monday, and three others have ended.

That leaves five facilities with ongoing outbreaks across the health-care system.

The government says 91 per cent of eligible people aged 12 and up have had their second dose of a vaccine and 57.1 per cent of those have had a third dose.

5:00 p.m.: As several countries report an uptick in COVID-19 cases partly blamed on a more contagious version of the Omicron variant, the question becomes whether Canada’s next wave will be a surge or a ripple.

The confluence of easing COVID-19 protocols and the rise of BA.2, a sublineage of the Omicron variant, is complicating the epidemiological forecast for spring, experts say.

While most agree that Canada’s immunization rates should blunt the impacts of the so-called “stealth” subvariant, some worry that decreased public health vigilance could clear a path for BA.2 to drive up infections and hospitalizations.

Canada’s chief public health officer suggested last week that the country should be shielded from the worst of the COVID-19 resurgence that’s roiling regions abroad, instead predicting a spring “blip” as public health measures are lifted.

While evidence suggests that BA.2 is more transmissible than its Omicron predecessor, the subvariant is spreading at a relatively slow rate in Canada, said Dr. Theresa Tam.

It doesn’t appear to to cause more severe illness than other variants, she said, but international data suggests BA.2 targets people who aren’t protected by vaccination or previous exposure to the Omicron variant.

That means Canada’s high immunization uptake — with 81 per cent of the population considered fully vaccinated — should keep hospitalizations at manageable levels even if cases rise, said Tam.

But Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Alberta, warned that the risks of BA.2 could be unevenly distributed across Canada.

Omicron reinfection appears to be rare, Saxinger said, so regions that were hit hard by the BA.1 surge may fare better than those where the variant hasn’t been circulating.

“I think it will be very variable between even cities, communities and provinces, and overall across the country,” she said. “In places where they haven’t had a lot of infection recently, I think there is a bit more risk that this highly transmissible variant could make a bigger wave.”

Another factor to consider is uptake of third vaccine doses, which do a lot “heavy lifting” in protecting against severe outcomes from Omicron infection, said Saxinger. Federal numbers suggest that roughly 46 per cent of the population has received a booster shot.

What’s less clear to Saxinger is whether reimposing COVID-19 rules would do much to curb BA.2’s spread, noting that the subvariant has gained steam in places with strict public health measures.

“I think there’s a wide playing field in between giving up, which I don’t think is the right answer, and doing some sort of draconian lockdown on an early signal.”

Caroline Colijn, a mathematician and epidemiologist at Simon Fraser University, isn’t convinced that BA.2 will register as just a “blip” in Canada’s COVID-19 trajectory.

The Canada 150 Research Chair in Mathematics for Evolution, Infection and Public Health said her modelling suggests that Canada is well positioned to weather an uptick in transmission driven by either BA.2 or relaxing COVID-19 restrictions independently, but the combination of the two could cause problems.

“We can be very resilient to a rise in transmission, and BA.2 will give us a rise in transmission. But reducing our measures and removing our protections will also give us another rise in transmission at the same time,” Colijn said.

“I think we are resilient to some increase in transmission. But I think we will probably see a surge from these two increases in transmission arriving at the same time.”

Of particular concern to Colijn is how BA.2 could affect those who are most vulnerable to severe COVID-19 outcomes, such as people who are older or immunocompromised.

These groups were prioritized for early boosters in many parts of the country, Colijn noted, and so the immunity provided by these doses are more likely to have waned in the months since.

As many provinces have restricted access to testing, Colijn said, we may not have the data we need to measure to increased COVID-19 transmission before hospitalizations tick up, at which point, it’ll be too late to contain the situation.

“I think we should be going into this with our eyes open and watching carefully,” she said.

2:45 p.m. Spanish health authorities are moving closer to normalizing life in coexistence with COVID-19, by scrapping mandatory quarantines — from next week — for those infected with the virus but showing no or mild symptoms of the disease.

Under current regulations, seven days of isolation are mandatory for anybody who tests positive for the coronavirus.

Starting March 28, free COVID-19 tests will only be conducted on high-risk groups, at health facilities and nursing homes, and on patients with the worse conditions, Spain’s Health Ministry said Tuesday.

It said the decision was taken by the country’s Commission on Public Health.

Amid high levels of vaccination, the rate of coronavirus contagion remains still above 400 new cases per 100,000 residents in 14 days, a high-risk level but way down from the mid-January record. Fueled by the omicron variant, the two-week variable surged then above 3,400 new cases per 100,000 residents.

Since the first case was identified in early 2020, Spain has officially reported 11.3 million infections and just over 100,000 confirmed deaths, although the accuracy of record-keeping has varied during the pandemic.

2 p.m. (updated) White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that she is positive again for COVID-19 and will not accompany President Joe Biden to Europe this week for urgent meetings with world counterparts on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Biden tested negative on Tuesday, she said.

Psaki’s reinfection follows recent positive tests for Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband and Ireland’s prime minister, who was in the nation’s capital last week for a series of in-person celebrations of St. Patrick’s Day with Biden and other officials.

The scares happened as the Biden administration tries to help the United States ease back into its pre-pandemic patterns, even as cases climb in Europe due to a new, more contagious variant of the omicron strain of the coronavirus.

Psaki tweeted that she took a laboratory test for COVID-19 as part of her preparation for the trip, which gets underway on Wednesday, and was later notified of a positive result.

She said she had two “socially distanced meetings” with Biden on Monday and that he is not considered a “close contact” under Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

Psaki tweeted and released a statement a short time before she was scheduled to step into the White House press room for her daily briefing, accompanied by National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who was joining her to discuss the trip.

After a brief delay, White House deputy press secretary Chris Meagher entered and introduced Sullivan to a waiting White House press corps.

“Obviously, we’ve had some last-minute adjustments to the briefing, which is why I’m up here today,” Meagher said before he read a statement on Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson’s performance at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He took no questions.

Sullivan made a statement and spent about 16 minutes answering questions about the trip.

Psaki said she will follow CDC guidance and not accompany Biden to Brussels, where he will attend a series of meetings with European and other world leaders on Russia’s war in Ukraine. Biden also plans to visit Poland, which shares a border with Ukraine and has taken in more than 2 million Ukrainians fleeing warfare following Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion.

Psaki said she has experienced only mild symptoms of COVID-19 and credited being vaccinated against the disease. Under White House COVID-19 protocols, she said she will work from home and return to work at the end of a five-day isolation period and a negative test.

It’s not unheard of for someone who has had COVID-19 to become infected again. Reinfections became more likely after the super-contagious omicron variant emerged, even among the fully vaccinated, but those cases tend to be very mild.

As coronavirus cases plummeted around the United States this year, and states and localities dropped their mask-wearing requirements, the White House did as well. As of March 1, neither White House staff nor reporters were required to wear face masks inside the building.

But some scientists are beginning to worry that the omicron variant known as BA.2 could soon push up COVID-19 cases in the United States, after months of case declines and people taking off their masks and returning to indoor spaces.

Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff tested positive on March 15, though he is not considered a close contact of the president. Harris has continued to test negative.

The following day, Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin learned he had tested positive for COVID-19 while attending a gala with U.S. leaders, including Biden. Martin was due to appear with Biden at the White House on St. Patrick’s Day but instead made those appearances on video.

This is the second time that COVID-19 has forced Psaki to bow out of accompanying Biden abroad. She sat out last fall’s trip to Rome and Glasgow, Scotland, after learning at the last minute that she had tested positive.

12:40 p.m. Ontarians could again show their faces in stores, restaurants and classrooms on Monday as the province lifted COVID-19 mask mandates in most settings.

But one exemption to the rule change is public transit, where riders can’t officially ditch their masks for another five weeks.

The province says keeping the mask requirement on transit will protect the health of vulnerable riders, but with pandemic-weary residents being told it’s safe to unmask almost everywhere else, some experts are worried passengers will soon stop following the rules.

Read the full story from the Star’s Ben Spurr

12:24 p.m. Quebec is reporting seven more deaths attributed to COVID-19 and a 41-patient increase in the number of hospitalizations Tuesday.

The Health Department says 1,043 people are hospitalized with the disease after 100 patients were admitted and 59 discharged.

Authorities say there are 46 patients listed in intensive care, a decrease of two from the previous day.

Officials say 1,383 people tested positive for COVID-19 based on PCR testing, which is limited to certain high-risk groups. They say 3,804 doses of vaccine were administered on Monday, including more than 2,500 booster shots.

11:10 a.m. In an attempt to focus on pandemic recovery, a COVID-19 clinic operated at a hospital in Mississauga will be suspending operations at the end of the month.

The vaccination clinic at Credit Valley Hospital will no longer run past March 25, according to an announcement shared by Trillium Health Partners (THP).

Residents can still access their first, second or third dose from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on the 25th through online bookings, said THP.

10:35 a.m. (updated) Ontario is reporting 179 people in ICU due to COVID-19 and 639 in hospital overall testing positive for COVID-19, according to its latest report released Tuesday morning.

Of the people hospitalized, 46.3 per cent were admitted for COVID-19 and 53.8 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have since tested positive. For the ICU numbers, 71.2 per cent were admitted for COVID-19 and 28.9 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have since tested positive.

The numbers represent a 1.1 per cent decrease in the ICU COVID-19 count and a 16 per cent increase in hospitalizations overall. 30 per cent of the province’s 2,343 adult ICU beds remain available for new patients.

Read the full story from the Star’s Isaac Phan Nay

10:30 a.m. Pfizer said on Tuesday that it has agreed to sell up to 4 million treatment courses of its COVID-19 pills for use in 95 lower-income countries that are home to about 4 billion people, with the first supplies expected to become available next month.

The company’s supply agreement with UNICEF, the arm of the United Nations, covers all countries classified as low- or lower-middle-income, as well as some upper-middle-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of the world.

The pills will most likely be the first COVID drugs available in some of the poorest parts of the world. But they are enough for only a small fraction of the patients who could benefit.

8:30 a.m. Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal has tested positive for COVID-19 and gone into isolation, disrupting his team’s preparations for friendly internationals against Denmark and Germany.

The Dutch soccer association said in a statement that the 70-year-old Van Gaal tested positive on Tuesday morning.

Van Gaal’s assistants, Danny Blind, Henk Fraser and Frans Hoek, will stand in for the coach as the Netherlands squad prepares to play Denmark on Saturday and Germany on Tuesday. Both matches are at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam.

8:15 a.m. Almost 1 million people in the United States have died of COVID-19 in the past two years, but the full impact of the pandemic’s collateral damage is still being tallied. Now a new study reports that the number of Americans who died of alcohol-related causes increased precipitously during the first year of the pandemic, as routines were disrupted, support networks frayed and treatment was delayed.

The startling report comes amid a growing realization that COVID-19’s toll extends beyond the number of lives claimed directly by the disease to the excess deaths caused by illnesses left untreated and a surge in drug overdoses, as well as to social costs such as educational setbacks and the loss of parents and caregivers.

Numerous reports have suggested that Americans drank more to cope with the stress of the pandemic. Binge drinking increased, as did emergency room visits for alcohol withdrawal. But the new report found that the number of alcohol-related deaths, including from liver disease and accidents, soared, rising to 99,017 in 2020 from 78,927 in 2019 — an increase of 25 per cent in the number of deaths in one year.

7:10 a.m. A busted elevator at Cedarbrook Community Centre has dealt a losing hand to bridge-playing seniors who can’t climb the stairs.

After a two-year pause due to COVID-19, members of the Mid-Scarborough Bridge Club are excited at the prospect of shuffling up and dealing, with the lifting of restrictions and health advice that grounded its players.

The club began in 2018 and grew to 150 members — mostly seniors — with dozens showing up at a time for twice-weekly sessions in a large, second-floor room at Cedarbrook, on Eastpark Boulevard, until the pandemic.

Read the full story from Jack Lakey

6:30 a.m. Councillor Joe Cressy, the chair of Toronto’s Board of Health, says the city has reached a new milestone with 89 per cent of residents 12 and older now double vaccinated.

“Toronto is already a world leader in vaccination rates, and we’re not slowing down. We’re scaling up our equity-focused strategy to make vaccines accessible for all Torontonians,” he wrote in a tweet.

6:20 a.m. As Suri Weinberg-Linsky wandered the aisles of her small, west-end book shop Monday, she was pleasantly surprised: Customers were still wearing masks.

“I haven’t had to remind a single person today that they need to wear a mask. Everyone’s had one on when they come in, and I’ve been here since 10:30 (a.m.),” said Weinberg-Linsky, owner of Squibb’s Books and Stationery, Toronto’s oldest bookstore.

On the first day that Ontario’s province-wide mask mandate was lifted, Weinberg-Linsky was one of several business owners insisting customers and staff still wear masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Elsewhere, business owners, staff and customers were trying to strike a balance, partly to avoid the heated arguments which took place when mask mandates were first introduced. Retailers, gyms, movie theatres, restaurants and bars are now allowed to have customers and staff mask-free. Many, including Walmart, Cineplex, IKEA and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, have made masking voluntary.

Read the full story from the Star’s Josh Rubin

6:17 a.m. The Omicron subvariant BA.2 is continuing to gain ground in the U.S., according to COVID-19 tests sequenced over the last two weeks. Helix, a San Diego-based genomics firm, estimates that 50 per cent to 70 per cent of all COVID cases in the country are BA.2.

6:17 a.m. Japan’s government lifted quasi-state of emergency measures in Tokyo and other regions across the country, bringing to an end steps introduced in early January as cases continue to tumble. Infections peaked in Tokyo in early February. Bars and restaurants, which were subject to requests to close early, will resume normal opening hours from today.

6:16 a.m. China should stick to its strict Covid Zero strategy, the country’s top virus expert said, hours after Hong Kong set out a plan for easing its most stringent curbs. The comments from Liang Wannian, a seasoned epidemiologist who has overseen China’s response since the beginning of the pandemic, came as Shanghai saw a record number of cases for a second straight day. China added 4,594 local cases overall on Monday.

6:15 a.m. Health officials in South Korea have instructed crematories to burn more bodies per day and funeral homes to add more refrigerators to store the dead as families struggle with funeral arrangements amid a rise in COVID-19 deaths.

The country has been dealing with a massive coronavirus outbreak driven by the fast-moving Omicron variant, which has compromised a once robust pandemic response and is driving up hospitalizations and fatalities.

Officials have already allowed the 60 crematories across country to burn for longer hours starting last week, which raised their combined capacity from around 1,000 to 1,400 cremations per day.

But that hasn’t been enough to meaningfully ease the backlog of bodies waiting to be cremated in the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area, which is home to half of South Korea’s 52 million people and the centre of its COVID-19 outbreak. The backlog has also trickled down to funeral homes at hospitals and other facilities, where families have struggled to make funeral arrangements because of the longer wait for cremations.

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March 7, 2022

Biden discusses crisis with Trudeau after Ontario declares emergency; court approves injunction on protesters

Typical Motors, which halted function at a Michigan car plant on Thursday due to the fact of the border issues, stated it trimmed manufacturing at auto vegetation in Michigan and Ontario Friday.

GM explained generation was reduce for the duration of the 1st change at its Flint Assembly plant exactly where it builds pickup trucks and its CAMI Assembly in Ontario where it builds the Chevrolet Equinox. Creation was scheduled to resume usually in the course of the next shift.

4 vehicles made up of parts for GM’s Spring Hill Assembly in Tennessee crossed the Ambassador Bridge on Thursday, according to a human being acquainted with generation plans. The parts will support creation at the plant Friday.

“We’re in good shape,” the person said.

Personnel at Spring Hill worked an 8-hour shift Thursday compared with their regular 10-12 hour shift.
The plant, which builds the Cadillac XT5 and XT6 and the GMC Acadia crossovers, will get doorway handles and other modest parts from suppliers in Canada, the human being mentioned.

Honda Motor Co. said it will suspend output from a person production line on Friday at its plant in Alliston, Ontario, signing up for Toyota Motor Corp. and the Detroit 3 automakers in saying different output losses stemming from the weeklong bridge blockade by protesters at the U.S.-Canada border.

The Japanese automaker mentioned late Thursday that the non permanent halt arrives as it monitors “the disruption of transportation in between Canada and the U.S.”

Honda described the predicament as “fluid” but that it has no options to curtail output at any of its U.S. car plants.

The enterprise builds its Civic compact sedan and CR-V compact crossover at its plant in Alliston, Ontario. Honda previously verified the plant also quickly suspended production on Wednesday evening because of to border delays.

Ford Motor Co. mentioned its Canadian crops in Oakville and Windsor are working at diminished ability. The company’s Ohio Assembly Plant is “down as a final result of a section lack related with this scenario.”

“This interruption on the Detroit/Windsor bridge hurts buyers, auto employees, suppliers, communities and companies on both equally sides of the border that are by now two decades into pieces shortages ensuing from the world wide semiconductor issue, COVID and far more,” the firm claimed in a assertion. “We hope this scenario is settled immediately since it could have prevalent impact on all automakers in the U.S. and Canada.”

Toyota on Friday stated its North American crops proceed to confront “shortages impacting production.”

“Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama, and Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia have recently been impacted by concerns similar to the Ambassador Bridge blockade. We count on disruptions by means of the weekend, and we’ll keep on to make adjustments as desired. Although the situation is fluid and adjustments commonly, we do not anticipate any effects to work at this time.”

The automaker mentioned its teams are “carefully checking the scenario and doing work diligently to limit the impression on creation.”

On Thursday, a Toyota spokesman informed Reuters the automaker was suspending manufacturing as a result of Saturday at plants on the two sides of the border, in Ontario and Kentucky. The major Japanese automaker claimed it was “suffering from multiple dropped logistics routes” and it is “not isolated to only just one or two sections at this place.”

The shortages affected Toyota’s output of the RAV4 — the finest-advertising non-truck motor vehicle in the U.S., Camry, Avalon, Lexus RX and Lexus ES, the automaker said.

Chrysler mother or father Stellantis, in a Friday statement, explained all its North The united states plants begun output Friday early morning, “but this continues to be an exceptionally fluid problem. We carry on to do the job intently with our carriers to get parts into the crops to mitigate more disruptions.”

Also Thursday, Common Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis explained they experienced been pressured to terminate or scale back again some creation at North American vegetation mainly because of areas shortages stemming from Canadian trucker protests towards pandemic mandates.

The demonstrators, who oppose, amid other matters, a vaccinate-or-quarantine need for cross-border truck motorists, have made use of huge rigs and other autos to snarl traffic at the entrance of the Ambassador Bridge linking Detroit and Windsor — which accounts for about 25 percent of U.S.-Canadian trade.

Ford claimed it was running its plants in Windsor and Oakville, an additional Canadian metropolis, at lowered ability. It added that it hoped for a speedy resolution “for the reason that it could have prevalent affect on all automakers in the U.S. and Canada.”

Stellantis claimed some U.S. and Canadian vegetation reduce short shifts on Thursday following lots of shortened shifts Wednesday night “owing to pieces shortages triggered by the closure of the Detroit/Windsor bridge.”

GM mentioned it was pressured to halt creation Thursday at a Michigan plant where by it builds crossovers immediately after the protests. The automaker claimed it experienced canceled a change on Wednesday and two shifts Thursday at its Lansing Delta Township plant.

Shilpan Amin, GM’s vice president for worldwide getting and provide chain, told suppliers on Thursday in a concept witnessed by Reuters that “whilst we may well have intermittent stoppages, we intend to continue to keep generation working and fulfill current schedules at all of our production functions in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.”

The corporation extra it was “encouraging suppliers to assess option options in order to sustain your operations to fulfill our production schedules.”

February 11, 2022

COVID-19 news for Toronto, Ontario on Feb. 10

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.

7:05 p.m. British Columbia health officials are reporting five new deaths due to COVID-19 bringing the total fatalities in the province to 2,730, reports The Canadian Press.

A news release Thursday says the province reported 1,318 new cases of the virus, although officials have said this number is likely much higher, because B.C. has reached its testing capacity, according to CP.

Officials say they will no longer provide the number of active cases or those who are out of isolation.

They say the number of people in hospital with COVID-19 is 867, a drop from 985 last Thursday, while 138 people are in intensive care.

They say 90.4 per cent of those eligible aged 12 and older have had two shots of a vaccine, while 51.1 per cent of those have also had a booster dose.

Provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, has said all regulated health workers including dentists, pharmacists, doctors and chiropractors will be required to have their first shot of a COVID-19 vaccine by March 24 and the second dose within 35 days.

5:45 p.m. The Ontario government says it has successfully petitioned a court to freeze access to millions of dollars donated through online fundraising platform GiveSendGo to the truckers convoy protesting COVID-19 restrictions in Ottawa and at several border crossings, reports The Canadian Press.

A spokeswoman for Premier Doug Ford says Ontario’s attorney general brought the application to the Superior Court of Justice seeking an order that would prohibit anyone from distributing donations made through the website’s “Freedom Convoy 2022” and “Adopt-a-Trucker” campaign pages, according to CP.

Spokeswoman Ivana Yelich says an order binding “any and all parties with possession or control over these donations” was issued today.

Hundreds of semi-trucks rolled into downtown Ottawa two weeks ago to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates and health restrictions and now trucks are also blockading border crossings in Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario.

Donors initially raised more than $10 million through GoFundMe, which announced last Friday it was pulling the plug on the campaign and that the money would be refunded.

Convoy organizers quickly set up a new campaign on Christian fundraising site GiveSendGo, which had raised US$8.2 million by today.

4:44 p.m. Quebec’s opposition parties are accusing the government of taking too long to give up COVID-19 emergency powers and they say the delay is helping Premier François Legault and his ministers avoid scrutiny, reports The Canadian Press.

Earlier this week, the government renewed the state of emergency. Legault told reporters the emergency order would only be lifted once a bill is passed allowing the government to keep some powers, such as the ability to impose the vaccine passport system and mask mandates, according to CP.

Opposition parties, however, say the government should end the state of emergency and have a debate in the legislature about what measures should remain.

Liberal health critic Monsef Derraji said the government uses ministerial decrees too often.

“It’s the wrong way to govern,” Derraji said in an interview Thursday.

Health Minister Christian Dubé has said he would introduce a bill in March to lift the state of emergency, but he has also said it would be up to the opposition as to whether the legislation passes before June.

Derraji said he’s concerned the state of emergency won’t be lifted in time to ensure the government is held to account on its pandemic spending before Quebecers head to the polls.

Quebec reported 35 more deaths linked to COVID-19 on Thursday and 36 fewer hospitalizations.

The Health Department said there were 2,312 COVID-19 hospitalizations, after 193 people were admitted to hospital in the past 24 hours and 229 people were discharged. It said 173 people were in intensive care, an increase of two from the day before.

4:34 p.m. The Ontario government says it has successfully petitioned a court to freeze access to millions of dollars in donations to the truckers convoy that were raised through online platform GiveSendGo, reports The Canadian Press.

A spokeswoman for Premier Doug Ford says Ontario’s attorney general brought the application to the Superior Court of Justice and an order binding “any and all parties with possession or control over these donations” was issued today, according to CP.

4 p.m. An Ontario Superior Court justice has delayed hearing an application for an injunction that would stop protesters blocking Canada-bound traffic at the Ambassador Bridge border crossing in Windsor.

Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz says he understands that the matter is urgent, but the application is “serious in nature” and the defendants should be given the chance to make their case.

He also granted the City of Windsor intervener status in the injunction application, which was brought by the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association.

Morawetz says he will hear submissions tomorrow at noon.

The mayor of Windsor, Ont., says the situation at the Ambassador Bridge is an occupation and it must end.

Dilkens also says anyone who may wish to join the protest is not welcome in his city.

3:55 p.m. Ontario’s top doctor says he’s reviewing timelines for Ontario’s reopening plan and all other COVID-19 measures now that a massive wave of Omicron variant cases is receding, reports The Canadian Press.

Dr. Kieran Moore says the Omicron wave has peaked and it’s time to focus on resuming other activities in the health system and society at large, according to CP.

Now that hospitalizations, intensive care admissions and other virus indicators are improving, the province is lifting a directive that paused all surgeries deemed non-urgent and is allowing them to resume gradually.

Moore says dates for further lifting restrictions on businesses and social gatherings, set to happen in stages on Feb. 21 and March. 14, could be reviewed next week.

He says he’s reviewing the timelines for ending all public health measures including mask rules and proof-of-vaccination requirements and says he will make recommendations to government as early as next week.

His comments came a day after the Ontario’s health minister said the province wasn’t considering lifting mask rules or its vaccine passport system affecting businesses, as some other Canadian provinces have begun to do.

3:15 p.m. Health officials in New Brunswick are reporting another three deaths from COVID-19 in the province today, and this increases the toll to 278 since the start of the pandemic, reports The Canadian Press.

The latest deaths involve two people in the Saint John region, one in their 40s and the other over 90, and a person over 90 in the Fredericton area, according to CP.

There are 140 people hospitalized as a result of COVID-19, up one from Wednesday.

That includes one person in intensive care and eight people on ventilators.

There are 321 healthcare workers who are isolating after testing positive for COVID-19.

Provincial data shows 85.7 per cent of eligible New Brunswickers five and older have received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine and 47 per cent have had booster shots.

2:47 p.m. Health officials in Newfoundland and Labrador say there are now 25 people in hospital due to COVID-19, which matches the previous high in the province, reports The Canadian Press.

It’s the second time the province has seen this many pandemic-related hospitalizations; the first was less than two weeks ago on Feb. 1, according to CP.

A government news release today says eight of the hospitalized patients are in intensive care.

Officials are reporting 243 new cases of COVID-19, with 18 per cent of tests completed in the previous 24 hours yielding a positive result.

There are 1,588 active reported cases in the province, although the figure does not include those who may have contracted the disease, but did not qualify for a test to confirm their infection.

Federal data shows Newfoundland and Labrador continues to have the highest COVID-19 vaccination rate in the country, as 95 per cent of eligible residents have had at least one shot as of Jan. 30.

2:19 p.m. Health officials in Prince Edward Island are reporting seven people in hospital due to COVID-19. This is unchanged from Wednesday, reports The Canadian Press.

Chief public health officer, Dr. Heather Morrison, says that number includes one person in intensive care, according to CP.

She says there are five others in hospital who were admitted for non-COVID-19 reasons and have tested positive for the disease.

Morrison is reporting 210 new cases of COVID-19 today, along with 220 recoveries.

There are 1,982 active reported COVID-19 infections in the province.

Six long-term care facilities have outbreaks, and 21 early learning and child-care centres have reported cases or outbreaks.

1:54 p.m. Crowdfunding site GoFundMe will speak to members of Parliament about what measures it has in place to prevent the funding of extremism.

NDP MP Alistair MacGregor announced today representatives from the site have accepted a request to appear before the House of Commons standing committee on public safety and national security.

MacGregor brought forward the motion and says they will appear March 3.

It comes as a protest against vaccine mandates and COVID-19 health restrictions drags on well into its second week on Parliament Hill, clogging up surrounding streets.

Read the full story here on the Star.

1:20 p.m. A high school in southeast Manitoba is in “hold and secure” mode due to a protest against COVID-19 restrictions outside.

Steinbach Regional Secondary School says students will remain in classes with their teachers, while exterior doors are locked except for students and staff.

The local school division says RCMP are on scene at the school.

1:15 p.m. Ottawa’s public school board says it has reached out to local police about the potential for protesters to drive past schools today.

Protesters mused online about driving past schools after snarling traffic around the national capital’s airport earlier today.

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board is calling the idea unacceptable, adding that the safety of students and staff shouldn’t be threatened.

So far, the board says there are no reports of concerning activity.

The board’s statement on Twitter says staff will make safety a top priority.

It adds that students and staff will shelter in place if there is reason for concern about school safety.

1:03 p.m. The Bank of Montreal is projecting that the Ambassador Bridge shutdown could start to cut into Canada’s first quarter GDP growth if the protests continue.

Each day they blockade the Ambassador Bridge, protesters are choking off a $400-million lifeline for the North American economy. They may already, experts say, have caused Canada “incalculable” long-term economic damage.

Everything from car parts and appliances to fruits and vegetables was sitting in long lines of tractor trailers on both sides of the Windsor-Detroit crossing Tuesday, snarled up behind protesters who say they’re against COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Read here for more on the Ambassador Bridge blockade from the Star’s Jacob Lorinc.

12 p.m. RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust is “pruning” its tenant mix to ensure malls and other retail spaces it owns are filled with resilient businesses that are best positioned to weather any further COVID-19 upheaval.

Chief executive Jonathan Gitlin said Thursday that the Toronto-based commercial landlord’s close look at who is renting its spaces will result in the company shedding some assets in enclosed malls, “which are harder to evolve into today’s current demands from our tenants.”

“Within the properties that we are keeping, there is a tenant mix that in order to stay relevant and in order to stay on top of consumer trends, needs to continuously evolve and change,” he said on a call with analysts.

“We are switching over to more necessity-based purveyors and in some cases, it might not be tenants with amazing covenants, but they just have some great uses that will add to…the flavour of the shopping centre.”

11:45 a.m. Michigan’s governor is calling on Canadian authorities to end the protests at two busy border crossings

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says the blockade at the Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor and Detroit, and the Blue Water Bridge in Sarnia, Ont. is threatening her state’s economy.

She says local, provincial and federal governments in Canada must de-escalate what she calls an economic blockade.

Whitmer is calling on Canadian authorities to “take all necessary and appropriate steps” to immediately reopen all lanes of traffic.

11:37 a.m. After racking up debt through years of ultralow interest rates, Canadians are being urged to modify their spending as they face the prospect of rising borrowing costs coupled with soaring inflation.

“Recalibrate your spending completely, recalibrate how you’re living your life,” advises Laurie Campbell, director, client financial wellness at debt relief specialist Bromwich and Smith.

Like going on a diet, she says managing money while under stress requires lifestyle changes to avoid going back to old habits.

Campbell suggests people closely examine their whole financial situation and make a serious effort to reduce debt as much as possible even though the lifting of lockdowns will likely spur a desire to go out and spend.

11:25 a.m. Interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen is calling on protesters to take down the blockades of border crossings.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Bergen says the time has come for them to stop the disruptive action that is causing economic harm.

She says farmers, manufacturers, small businesses and families are suffering because of the border blockades.

Bergen adds that she doesn’t believe that is what the protesters want to do.

Bergen also says the protesters’ anti-vaccine-mandate message has been heard and is pledging her party’s support to that end.

Bergen made the comments today at the start of debate on a Conservative motion calling on the government for a plan for ending COVID-19 restrictions.

11 a.m. Manitoba RCMP say a protest has shut down the province’s main border crossing with the United States.

Mounties say a large number of vehicles and farm equipment is blocking the Emerson port of entry, located about 100 km south of Winnipeg.

They say no traffic is getting through in either direction and people should avoid the area.

A protest over COVID-19 public health measures also continues outside the Manitoba legislature in Winnipeg.

10:53 a.m. General Motors’ assembly plants in Ontario and Michigan have curbed production due to the Ambassador Bridge blockades. GM Oshawa cut workers’ hours yesterday, as did the Lansing Delta plant.

10:32 a.m. Ottawa police say nearly two dozen trucks have left the city. Police say a dozen trucks left a parking lot outside the city’s core after negotiations with protesters who have used the area as a staging and logistics ground.

Police say 10 more trucks have also left downtown, and another vehicle was towed for obstructing traffic.

They are also repeating their request that remaining protesters leave the city after almost two weeks of being encamped in the national capital.

Read the full story here on the Star.

10:16 a.m. Ontario reporting 1,897 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, 445 people are in ICU.

56 per cent were admitted to the hospital for COVID-19 and 44 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have tested positive for COVID-19; 76 per cent of patients admitted to the ICU were admitted for COVID-19 and 24 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have tested positive for COVID-19, according to Health Minister Christine Elliott.

In Ontario, 31,153,087 vaccine doses have been administered. 92.1 per cent of Ontarians 12+ have one dose and 89.6 per cent have two doses.

10:10 a.m. Ontario’s expert science advisers say rapid antigen tests don’t detect COVID-19 infections with the Omicron variant as reliably as they did with the Delta strain, but changing the way the tests are performed can boost their sensitivity.

The science advisory table says in a brief today that the rapid tests, which involve nasal swabs, are less sensitive for Omicron, especially in the first one or two days after infection.

But, they say the tests are better at detecting Omicron if people swab both cheeks, followed by the back of the tongue or throat, then both nostrils.

9:58 a.m. A new poll suggests almost 30 per cent of Canadians believe it’s time to lift pandemic restrictions and “learn to live” with the COVID-19 virus, while more than 40 per cent want measures to ease carefully.

Forty-three per cent of Canadians surveyed by Leger identified their feelings about the current state of the pandemic as “prudent” — the most popular answer of four options — saying they did not want to lift restrictions too quickly.

But 29 per cent said they were ready to move on, selecting the answer that said they were “adequately vaccinated” and viewed the Omicron variant as “less serious.”

9:45 a.m. Inflation soared over the past year at its highest rate in four decades, hammering America’s consumers, wiping out pay raises and reinforcing the Federal Reserve’s decision to begin raising borrowing rates across the economy.

The Labor Department said Thursday that consumer prices jumped 7.5 per cent last month compared with 12 months earlier, the steepest year-over-year increase since February 1982. The acceleration of prices ranged across the economy, from food and energy to apartment rents and electricity.

When measured from December to January, inflation was 0.6 per cent, the same as the previous month and more than economists had expected. Prices had risen 0.7 per cent from October to November and 0.9 per cent from September to October.

9:30 a.m. Spaniards removed their facemasks or stuffed them into their pockets for the first time in nearly two months after the country’s outdoor mask mandate was lifted Thursday. Italians face a similar treat Friday.

Both countries have high vaccination rates, declining infection numbers and lower hospitalization figures than during previous surges of the coronavirus. Sara de la Rubia, a 45-year-old nurse in Madrid, said dropping the masks will be a moment to test the effectiveness of vaccines.

“There has to be a moment in which we have to normalize things, start to (have) a normal life, to test how things work,” she said.

After peaking in January, Spain’s contagion rate has been dropping for two weeks, alleviating pressure on hospitals and encouraging authorities to relax some of the measures adopted in mid-December against the fast-spreading omicron variant of the coronavirus.

9:16 a.m. A protest against COVID-19 measures is preventing Canada-bound traffic from crossing the Ambassador Bridge for yet another day.

Police say those using the border bridge to cross into the U.S. can expect significant delays and are telling all motorists to avoid both access points to the span due to the ongoing demonstration.

The protest on the Canadian side of the bridge has prevented Canada-bound traffic from crossing since the demonstration began Monday.

8:57 a.m. Africa is moving to the “control phase” of the COVID-19 pandemic and increased vaccination rates will be crucial in helping the continent live with the disease, the World Health Organization’s Africa director Matshidiso Moeti said Thursday.

“Although COVID-19 will be with us for the long term, there is light at the end of the tunnel,” Moeti said. “This year we can end the disruption and destruction the virus has left in its path, and gain back control over our lives.”

Africa is heading toward “what might become a kind of endemic, living with the virus … I believe that we are transitioning from the pandemic phase and we will now need to manage the presence of this virus,” she said, addressing reporters at a virtual media briefing.

8:33 a.m. French President Emmanuel Macron said last month he wanted to “p- off” the unvaccinated. He appears to have succeeded.

Protesters against the country’s vaccine mandates aim to use their vehicles to block roads in Paris beginning Friday to show their anger over the restrictions.

The Paris police issued an order banning the demonstration from Friday to Monday, citing the risk of “disturbing the public order.” The protesters, some of whom say they were inspired by the “freedom convoys” in Canada, plan to continue on to Brussels on Monday. Rudi Vervoort, head of the Brussels Capital regional government, said in a statement that the district was also banning the convoy.

8:15 a.m. Toyota’s three Ontario auto plants will stop production for the rest of the week due to the Ambassador Bridge blockade. That’s at least six auto plants shut down or reducing production over the protests.

8:05 a.m. As provinces begin lifting COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, psychology experts expect stress and anxiety to run high among those who remain wary of letting their guards down.

It will take time for many to adjust, they say, but the quick approach some provinces are taking could make the transition more jarring.

Alberta ended its vaccine certificate system on Wednesday, days before its mask requirements for students is set to drop, while Saskatchewan plans to do away with its vaccine mandate on Monday. Other provinces, including Ontario, have taken a more gradual approach to dismantling COVID-19 measures.

Steve Joordens, a psychology professor at the University of Toronto, said it’s natural for people to feel conflicted as restrictions ease.

Though many are tired of the mandates aimed at slowing the spread of the virus, there’s still some underlying fear.

“In the back of our mind there’s this niggling anxiety of: are we doing this too soon?” Joordens said. “Are we going to end up getting our butts kicked again (by a new variant)? And given all the division we’re seeing right now, could this make things worse?”

7:50 a.m. Britain’s Prince Charles has tested positive for COVID-19 and is self-isolating, his office said Thursday.

A message on the royal’s official Twitter page said Charles tested positive on Thursday morning and was “deeply disappointed” not to be able to attend a scheduled visit in Winchester, England.

No other details were immediately available.

Charles, 73, met dozens of people during a Wednesday evening reception at the British Museum.

7:30 a.m. Pope Francis’ first foreign trip of the year is to the Mediterranean island nation of Malta, the Vatican said Tuesday in announcing an April 2-3 trip that had originally been scheduled for 2020 but was postponed because of the pandemic.

Francis, 85, will visit the main island cities of Valletta, Rabat and Floriana as well as the island of Gozo. Further details were to be released later.

Migration is expected to be a theme of Francis’ visit, given Malta has been a flashpoint in Europe’s longstanding migration debate.

6:55 a.m. All extracurricular activities can return to Ontario schools starting immediately — meaning high-contact sports such as hockey and basketball that have been sidelined will be given the go-ahead, as will choirs and wind instruments for music, the Star has learned.

As Ontario continues to slowly ease COVID-19 restrictions while the Omicron surge slows, the province’s chief medical officer of health will announce the new measures for schools at his Thursday news conference.

The move will allow elementary and secondary school athletes to play without masks, but wear them when they are back at the bench, sources told the Star.

Read the full story from the Star’s Kristin Rushowy

6:30 a.m. After two years of living with kids in periodic virtual learning and a partner who is an essential worker, Annette Power was “in desperate need of a vacation.”

She was ready to spend March break visiting her mother in Barbados with her two children, but the trip was cancelled.

The family came down with Omicron during the winter break, delaying the vaccination appointment dates for her kids.

Read the full story from the Star’s Clarrie Feinstein

6:14 a.m. The Toronto Zoo is reopening Thursday, 10 days after most restrictions eased in the province.

Zoo management said, in a statement posted on Facebook, the delay is “to work on some exciting new elements” being added to the facility.

Patrons will have to show their vaccine certificates with QR codes, along with a piece of ID, to enter the zoo, the statement added.

Read the full story from the Star’s Akrit Michael

5:40 a.m. Coronavirus cases continue to rise rapidly in Tonga, and tests have confirmed that the particularly contagious omicron variant is behind the isolated Pacific island nation’s first community outbreak since the start of the pandemic, officials said Thursday.

Health Minister Saia Piukala told reporters that 31 more people had tested positive for the virus, nearly doubling Tonga’s active cases for the second day in a row to a total of 64, the online Matangi Tonga news portal and other media reported.

While the number may seem small, the nation of 105,000 had managed to escape thus far without any infections aside from a single case brought in from a missionary returning to Tonga from Africa last October, which was successfully isolated.

5:37 a.m. Casting the spreading “Freedom Convoy” protests as a grave threat to Canada, the federal government is settling into a back-seat role in the crisis, offering to send police reinforcements to the local officials leading the responses.

Federal ministers outlined the seriousness of the blockades that have now spread across the country, with blockades against COVID-19 health measures choking off key border crossings and threatening jobs, public safety and millions of dollars in trade.

At the same time, police in Ottawa sent their toughest warning yet to protesters occupying the streets of the capital: clear out or face the prospect of arrest.

Read the full story from the Star’s Raisa Patel

5:36 a.m. As countries in Europe and other provinces in Canada begin lifting COVID restrictions, some Ontarians may be wondering why they still have to live with them.

Unlike in Alberta, Saskatchewan and some U.S. states and European countries, there are no immediate plans to do away with mask or vaccine mandates in Ontario, Health Minister Christine Elliott said at a press conference Wednesday.

This is despite Ontario’s COVID situation looking bright, according to Dr. Peter Jüni, scientific director of Ontario’s COVID-19 science table. Though it’s hard to gauge the true presence of COVID in the province, as the speed with which Omicron spread became too much for our testing infrastructure, techniques like wastewater surveillance seem to show Ontario is on the other side of Omicron’s peak.

Read the full story from the Star’s Ben Cohen

5:27 a.m. A teachers’ strike has paralyzed learning at many Zimbabwean schools, which opened this week after a prolonged closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Harare, some schools managed to open Thursday while at others a few teachers reported for work but did not teach, according to unions. The government denounced the strike as “unwarranted conduct” that is depriving children of their right to education.

Many teachers decided to stay at home to protest salaries of about $100 a month. They are demanding that their pay be increased to about $500 per month.

In 2018, teachers earned the equivalent of about $540 a month but that amount has been eroded by years of inflation, currently estimated at 60{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}, and the devaluation of Zimbabwe’s currency.

4 a.m. Dr. Kieran Moore’s weekly COVID-19 news conference comes a day after the province’s health minister said Ontario will keep its mask mandate and vaccine certificate system in place.

Christine Elliott said Ontario won’t follow the lead of other provinces that have already begun lifting proof-of-vaccination rules and intend to end masking rules soon. She didn’t say when those policies would end, but said the province expects mask rules will remain in place for “some time.”

Moore’s news conference also comes after the province began making rapid test kits available for free at grocery stores, pharmacies and other sites. Elliott said expanding access to the tests is part of Ontario’s plan to roll back COVID-19 restrictions in stages.

Thursday 4 a.m. The NDP is calling on the U.S. ambassador to testify before the House of Commons foreign affairs committee, saying American funding of the nearly two-week-long anti-vaccine mandate protest in Ottawa is an attack on Canada’s democracy.

A significant amount of the more than $10 million in donations to the demonstration came from U.S. donors.

The Commons committee meets today and would need unanimous consent of all parties to issue an invitation to Ambassador David Cohen.

Protesters have been warned by police that if they continue blocking streets they could be charged with mischief to property, have their vehicles and other property seized and possibly forfeited, and that charges or convictions may lead to them being barred from travelling to the United States.

The declaration from police comes after municipal officials in Ottawa spoke with the federal government to find solutions to end the protest that has sparked solidarity rallies, some of which have blocked traffic at border crossings in Coutts, Alta., and the busy Windsor-Detroit Ambassador Bridge crossing.

Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair says Ottawa residents have been subjected to “acts of thuggery and disrespect” by demonstrators, and the government is working to ensure Ottawa police have the “resources that they need to enforce the law to restore public order and to bring this unlawful protest to an end.’’

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February 4, 2022

Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reports 2,797 hospitalizations, 541 in ICU; chief medical officer urges Ontarians to get third shot

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.

5:05 p.m. Yukon is making tentative plans to gradually lift its COVID-19 restrictions, but the state of emergency declared in November will remain in place for another 90 days, The Canadian Press reports.

Premier Sandy Silver says starting this weekend limits on sports teams under 19 will be allowed to increase to 25 people or half the venue’s capacity, while the same rules will apply a week later to those over 19 in recreation and arts events, according to CP.

Next week, indoor personal gatherings will be allowed for up to 10 people and it will no longer be limited to two households.

The following week, Silver says Yukon plans to increase the limit on indoor organized events to half of the venue’s capacity, and will allow groups of up to six people per table at bars.

He says the government aims to allow bars and restaurants to return to normal operating hours starting March 1, no longer requiring them to close at 10 p.m.

Silver says the state of emergency may be revoked if it’s no longer needed, while the territory’s reopening plans may also be changed, based on case counts and the number of people in hospital.

5:05 p.m. Another four people have died in New Brunswick as a result of COVID-19, bring the total number of deaths in the province to 251, The Canadian Press reports.

Four other COVID-19-related deaths were reported yesterday, according to CP.

The province says 165 people are in hospital due to the disease, including 14 in intensive care.

It says 392 healthcare workers have tested positive for COVID-19 and are in isolation.

Officials are reporting 411 new COVID-19 cases today.

New Brunswick has 4,012 active reported infections.

4:13 p.m. Nova Scotia is reporting four more deaths due to COVID-19, for a total of 157 since the start of the pandemic, The Canadian Press reports.

Health officials said today the deaths involve one woman in her 60s, a woman in her 80s, and a woman and a man in their 90s, according to CP.

Officials say there are about 351 patients in hospital with COVID-19.

Chief medical officer of health, Dr. Robert Strang, says the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus continues to have devastating impacts on the province’s most vulnerable residents.

About 26 per cent of the people in hospital with COVID-19 are unvaccinated.

That percentage is close to triple the percentage of unvaccinated people in the general population.

4:13 p.m. The government has issued an order-in-council clarifying that truckers are not exempt from a vaccine mandate after bureaucrats were confused by their own policy, reports The Canadian Press.

The Canada Border Services Agency created widespread confusion last month after it issued a statement to media saying that unvaccinated truckers would remain exempt from quarantine and testing requirements after entering the country at the Canada-U.S. border, according to CP.

The federal government said the next day the statement had been sent in error, but not before some unvaccinated big-riggers had already been dispatched across the border.

The Canadian Press later revealed the confusion stemmed from bureaucrats misinterpreting policy at both the border services agency and the Public Health Agency of Canada, including whether an order-in-council, which sets out decisions made by cabinet, covered truckers or not.

The government this week issued another order-in-council to “clarify” that unvaccinated and partially vaccinated truckers are not exempt from the COVID-19 vaccine mandate when entering Canada, except if they are delivering medically necessary supplies and equipment.

The Public Health Agency said the government had extended most of its border measures and made updates to some others. It said they would be in effect until at least the end of February.

3 p.m. Dr. Kieran Moore, chief medical officer of health for Ontario, said that health indicators show a gradual improvement in the spread of COVID-19 in the province, as Ontario proceeds to reopen gradually.

The number of hospitalizations are stable, Moore said, and ICU numbers are still high, but the number of COVID-19 cases is dropping. The number of outbreaks at long-term care (LTC) homes is declining and the number of cases among residents and staff is dropping.

“We must remain vigilant and adhere to public health measures,” said Moore, who added that people should stay home if sick, wear a mask, keep a distance from others and look to get a booster shot.

Asked what learning to live with COVID-19 entails, Moore said it meant acknowledging that Omicron is highly contagious and hard to limit and so the question is how many public measures does it make sense to keep in place.

“We need to have a discussion in society about this,” said Moore, who added that countries that do not have a full suite of public health measures are also seeing a decline in cases.

Asked by a reporter if there really is a greater risk of transmission in the unvaccinated than in the doubly vaccinated, Moore said that this may not be significant, however, having three shots is of “great benefit.

“Three doses provides 95-per-cent protection against severe outcomes,” said Moore, who added that two doses does protect against severe outcomes, too, although not to the degree that three shots do.

If it seems that two doses does not work especially well against the Omicon variant, the government may reconsider its passport system. He added that passports do protect those among the unvaccinated who are most at risk.

Moore urged more Ontarians to get their third shot.

“It is so beneficial against the risk of transmissions, but especially against severe outcomes,” Moore said.

Asked what public health measures are likely to endure, Moore said masking would be the last to go. He added that, at some point, proof of vacination may be reviewed.

Moore said he hopes it becomes a community standard to get vaccinated regularly and that, perhaps, drug companies may be able to integrate the COVID-19 vaccine with other flu vaccines so people find it convenient to take them in the fall when the viruses intensify each year.

“I hope that the combination of vaccination and anti-viral (pills) will enable us to return to normality,” he said.

“We are in a much better position to be less fearful of this virus and to learn to live with it,” Moore said.

Moore said Ontario is monitoring the new BA.2 variant emerging. So far, there are 29 cases. “It is early days and we are monitoing it closely,” he said.

Asked about the amount of PCR testing being done, Moore said that it is this kind of testing is a limited resource and must be prioritized for those working in ICUs and their families. Ontario will rely on different data points to guage the level of COVID-19, he added.

1:35 p.m. It’s been a crisis long in the making. Now, as we head into the third year of a global pandemic, Ontario’s nurses are barely holding on.

Across Canada, nurses are leaving their jobs in droves, citing burnout, inadequate pay, dangerous conditions and more. With COVID cases anticipated to climb as Ontario reopens, Premier Doug Ford is set to sit down with Ontario Nurses Association (ONA) president Cathryn Hoy Thursday to discuss solutions.

“We entered the pandemic short on nurses to begin with,” Hoy told the Star Wednesday. “We have been telling the government that for years… Now, a pandemic has enhanced it.”

Read the full story from the Star’s Kevin Jiang

1:15 p.m. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was back in a New York City courtroom Thursday, more than a week after the start of a trial in her libel lawsuit against The New York Times was postponed because she tested positive for COVID-19.

After a jury was quickly selected, Palin attorney Shane Vogt told Manhattan federal court jurors in an opening statement to put aside their opinions about Palin and determine if the newspaper defamed her.

Palin will be the trial’s star witness. She’s seeking unspecified damages based on claims that an editorial in the Times hurt her budding career as a political commentator.

1 p.m. Africa’s top health official is launching a campaign to enlist young people to encourage vaccinations, as just 11.3 per cent of the continent’s 1.3 billion people are vaccinated against COVID-19.

Youths will be encouraged “to play an active role” in ramping up inoculations across the continent where the vaccination rate is far below other regions in the world, Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director John Nkengasong said Thursday.

Africa so far has 10.8 million confirmed infections and 240,000 deaths and vaccination efforts have been accelerating as vaccines doses are “becoming readily available” on the continent, Nkengasong said. In the last four weeks, Africa has seen an average 10 per cent decrease in new cases, he said.

12:40 p.m. Police and city officials are preparing for a convoy of truck drivers protesting vaccine mandates to converge upon Toronto this weekend, with Mayor John Tory vowing to do “everything we can” to avoid the disruption on display in the nation’s capital.

“I have made it clear to (Toronto police) Chief Ramer that we must work together to do everything we can to avoid the kind of situation currently faced by Ottawa residents and businesses, to keep Toronto residents safe, and to try to ensure that any protests are respectful and peaceful,” Tory told city council Thursday morning.

Toronto police issued a statement Wednesday saying the force was “aware” of and preparing for a demonstration planned Saturday in the city’s downtown core, Flyers circulating online call for supporters of the “Convoy for Freedom” to meet in designated spots throughout the GTA then head towards Queen’s Park for a midday protest.

Read the full story from the Star’s Wendy Gillis and David Rider

12 p.m. Quebec is reporting 42 more deaths attributed to the coronavirus as hospitalizations related to COVID-19 again dropped.

The Health Department says there are 2,637 people in hospital, a drop of 93 compared to the previous day as 193 patients were admitted and 286 left.

Of those in hospital, 191 patients are listed in intensive care, a decline of 13 patients.

The province is reporting 3,592 new cases confirmed by PCR testing — which is limited to certain higher-risk groups — and 963 positive rapid tests declared through a provincial online platform.

11:30 a.m. Ottawa’s mayor is calling on several Conservative MPs and a senator from Saskatchewan to apologize for praising the anti-vaccine mandate protest that has brought the capital’s downtown to a standstill for close to a week.

A photo shows MPs Warren Steinley, Kevin Waugh, Andrew Scheer, Fraser Tolmie, Rosemarie Falk and Sen. Denise Batters grinning — some giving the thumbs-up — in front of one of the protest trucks, which have been barricading roads and honking horns in the city almost non-stop since Saturday.

On Twitter, Waugh said a few of Saskatchewan caucus members “went to show their appreciation for the hardworking, patriotic truckers who have kept our supply chains healthy & grocery shelves stocked for the past two years.”

11:07 a.m. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says his government will soon end COVID-19 measures that restrict people’s rights and freedoms.

Moe makes the comment in a four-minute video posted last night on social media.

He says it’s impossible to eliminate COVID-19, so we must learn to live with the virus while continuing to protect ourselves with vaccines, anti-viral treatments and testing.

He says that moving forward Saskatchewan will manage COVID-19 like it does with other common respiratory viruses since Omicron is less severe and people who are vaccinated can still get the virus.

10:35 a.m. NFL and SoFi Stadium officials joined with local leaders to reiterate that masks will be required for fans at the Super Bowl in Inglewood to help protect against Omicron transmission.

The mask requirement in outdoor stadiums, an order issued in L.A. County last August, was criticized as unnecessary this week by a member of the Board of Supervisors, Kathryn Barger, who represents a northern part of the county, after photos emerged of many fans maskless in their seats at Sunday’s Los Angeles Rams game.

But at a press conference Wednesday, several local elected officials backed the mask mandate, including Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr. and L.A. County Supervisor Holly Mitchell, whose district includes SoFi Stadium. Guests at the Feb. 13 game will also need to show proof they’ve been vaccinated or recently tested negative for the coronavirus prior to entry, a requirement that has been in place for large outdoor events in the county since October.

10:20 a.m. Ontario is reporting 2,797 COVID hospitalizations and 541 people in ICU. Another 74 deaths were reported over the last 23 days.

83 per cent of patients admitted to the ICU were admitted for COVID-19 and 17 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have tested positive for COVID-19.

In Ontario, 30,832,550 vaccine doses have been administered. 92 per cent of Ontarians 12+ have one dose and 89.3 per cent have two doses, according to Health Minister Christine Elliott.

9:40 a.m. Palestinians are facing a winter coronavirus surge driven by the omicron variant, placing stress on the medical system even though vaccines are widely available.

The Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry reported over 70,000 active cases in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, annexed east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip on Thursday, more than twice the number at the height of previous surges.

The real figure is likely much higher, as omicron tends to cause milder symptoms, especially in vaccinated patients, and many people are testing at home.

At least 268 people have been hospitalized in the parts of the occupied West Bank administered by the Palestinian Authority, including 80 in intensive care and 24 people on ventilators. Gaza currently has at least 63 serious cases.

8:25 a.m. Nordic combined star Jarl Magnus Riiber of Norway has tested positive for COVID-19.

The 24-year-old Riiber is No. 2 in the World Cup rankings after a three-year run of being the top-ranked athlete in the sport that combines ski jumping and cross-country skiing. He fell just short of a medal twice at the 2018 Olympics, finishing fourth in the large and normal hill competitions.

Riiber said on Instagram “the (gold) is yours guys.”

7:50 a.m. For millions of people in rich countries, COVID-19 self-tests are abundant and free, including in Britain, Canada, France and Germany. But most people across Africa have limited access to them.

Zimbabwe introduced free walk-in testing centers in November 2020, but supplies are tight and the country still has no national program to distribute at-home tests.

Although self-tests are available in some Zimbabwean pharmacies, they cost up to $15 each, a fortune in a country where more than 70{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of the population lives in extreme poverty made worse by the pandemic. The situation is similar elsewhere across the continent — and in parts of Asia and Latin America — with few, if any, opportunities for people to easily test themselves.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle to making inexpensive, self-tests widely available in the developing world is that the World Health Organization has yet to issue guidance on their use. Without the resources of wealthy countries to buy tests or evaluate their safety, poor countries must wait for WHO approval before aid groups and international agencies are willing to donate them in large numbers.

7:22 a.m. Czech hockey star David Krejci tested positive for the coronavirus upon arrival in Beijing and missed the team’s first full pre-Olympic practice.

Coach Filip Pesan says Krejci is still in the athletes village awaiting more COVID-19 test results. Pesan voiced optimism about Krejci being cleared Friday after a similar situation unfolded with another player.

The 35-year-old longtime Boston Bruins center is expected to be among the best players in the tournament without NHL players. Krejci won the Stanley Cup with Boston in 2011 and has 854 points in 1,118 regular-season and playoff games.

6:05 a.m. Rufsa Hasina Afroze, a teacher and academic supervisor at a leading private school in Bangladesh’s capital was relieved to see students return to its campus in September after it was closed for 543 days because of the pandemic.

It was only a brief respite from online learning. With the recent surge in coronavirus cases mostly because of the omicron variant, authorities have ordered the schools to close once more.

“It was not the same campus, but still we were happy to return,” she said. “During the whole period I missed my students and colleagues. It was a big challenge for me to adjust to the new reality.“

The closure initially was just for two weeks, until Feb. 6. But on Wednesday Education Minister Dipu Moni announced it was to be extended for another two weeks.

Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reporting 2,983 people hospitalized with COVID-19, 583 in ICU; Boris Johnson says sorry after ‘partygate’ report released

The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Monday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.

6:15 p.m.: The Star’s Rosie Dimanno has touched down in Beijing for the upcoming 2022 Summer Olympics. But as the columnist writes, “never before … have I ever felt so alien and menacing a presence, not to mention barely tolerated.”

Read the full column here.

6:02 p.m.: U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in letters to seven governors, is reaffirming the need for members of their states’ Army and Air National Guards to get the mandatory COVID-19 vaccine or lose their Guard status.

In nearly identical letters signed late last week, Austin tells the governors that the virus “takes our service members out of the fight, temporarily or permanently, and jeopardizes our ability to meet mission requirements,” according to copies obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

The letters, which have not been publicly released, come as the military services begin to ramp up the number of active-duty troops being discharged for refusing the vaccine. Nearly 600 Marines, airmen and sailors have been thrown out of the military or dismissed from entry-level training at boot camps as of last week.

Two of the letters — to Alaska and Texas state leaders — note that they have an ongoing lawsuit over the vaccine and that, Austin said, limited his abililty to comment further on their concerns.

Texas, Oklahoma and Alaska filed lawsuits challenging the military’s vaccine mandate, but a federal judge has already rejected the Oklahoma challenge. The Alaska governor was one of five Republican state leaders who sent a letter to Austin asking him not to enforce the mandate on National Guard troops. The other four were governors from Wyoming, Mississippi, Iowa and Nebraska.

The latest letters were to those five governors along with Idaho and Texas.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 87 per cent of the U.S. population age 18 or older has gotten at least one shot.

5:30 p.m.: Joe Rogan has apologized after being critized for hosting two guests in recent weeks on his popular podcast who espoused dangerous COVID misinformation.

In his apology episode, Rogan also thanked his listeners who have enjoyed his podcast and said he would “try harder to get people with differing opinions on right afterward” and “do my best to make sure I have researched these topics, the controversial ones in particular, and have all the pertinent facts at hand before I discuss them.”

Read the full story by the Star’s Alessia Passifiume here.

5:22 p.m.: Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says Saskatchewan’s proof of vaccination against COVID-19 has run its course, but he won’t commit to removing the requirement before the public health order expires at the end of the month.

He says the government doesn’t make decisions overnight, but discusses them with health officials who provide input.

On the weekend, Moe said in a letter in which he supported a truck convoy against mandatory vaccines that Saskatchewan would remove the public health order in the “not-too-distant” future.

Since then, the premier has said proof of vaccination or a negative test no longer help with preventing transmission of COVID-19.

5:00 p.m.: With leaders such as Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Toronto chief medical officer of health Dr. Eileen de Villa calling for Canadians to learn to “live with” COVID-19, what does that exactly mean?

The Star’s Jenna Moon spoke with several doctors to try to map out a way forward past the pandemic.

4:47 p.m. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he will neither meet with nor be intimidated by the convoy of Canadians he says spent the last few days harassing local businesses, waving Nazi flags and stealing food from the homeless.

Speaking to Canadians from isolation after testing positive for COVID-19 Monday, Trudeau said “freedom of expression, assembly and association are cornerstones of democracy.”

“But Nazi symbolism, racist imagery, and desecration of war memorials are not,” he said. “It is an insult to memory and truth. Hate can never be the answer.”

Trudeau and his family were moved to an undisclosed location Saturday as thousands of people converged all over Ottawa, including some near his official residence on the grounds of Rideau Hall.

3:40 p.m. For nearly two years, Canadians have faced rolling restrictions on public life due to the ongoing threat of COVID-19. As the Omicron wave begins to wane in the province, politicians and doctors alike are beginning to envision a world where we move beyond emergency measures and live alongside the virus.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Friday that the province needs to learn to “live with” COVID-19. That thought was echoed the same day by Toronto’s medical officer of health Dr. Eileen de Villa, who said a mix of vaccinations, masking, distancing and ventilation will help lessen the risk of severe flare-ups of the virus as Toronto moves away from a “COVID-zero” approach to handling the pandemic. As of Monday, some restrictions placed on indoor dining, gyms and movie theatres have been lifted, though they will only be able to operate at 50 per cent of their regular capacity.

Meanwhile, a study released Monday has shown just how far the virus spread in Canada as a result of the highly-contagious Omicron variant: One in every five households has seen at least one case of COVID since the beginning of December. The same study found that more than half of respondents support an end to restrictions.

But what does “living with” COVID-19 look like? As Dr. Nelson Lee, interim director of the Dalla Lana Institute for Pandemics, told the Star, it’s not so much about living with the virus as it is about overcoming it.

Read the full story from the Star’s Jenna Moon.

3:32 p.m. The Quebec government loosened more COVID-19 restrictions Monday, permitting small private indoor gatherings and reopening restaurant dining rooms at half capacity, after it imposed an abrupt lockdown over the holidays.

After lifting the provincial curfew and allowing in-person classes to resume on Jan. 17, the government is permitting restaurants to host no more than four people at one table, or two households, and forcing them to close at midnight.

3:12 p.m. The prime minister says the government will introduce legislation today to continue providing as many rapid tests as possible to the provinces and territories.

Justin Trudeau made the announcement today during a news conference that addressed the Parliament Hill protest against government-imposed COVID-19 measures.

The bill was added to the order paper on Saturday, ahead of MPs returning to Parliament Monday.

Liberal House leader Mark Holland said at a news conference today that Bill C-10 would accelerate the funding and provision of rapid tests because there is “great” need for them.

2:30 p.m. A truck blockade snarling border traffic between Montana and Alberta is causing political and police tensions to ratchet up.

It began over the weekend alongside the “Freedom Convoy” that made its way into Ottawa, bringing thousands of protesters upset with public health measures and the federal government.

The blockade of trucks in southern Alberta near the village of Coutts is made up of a line of vehicles that backed up traffic for about two kilometres on Sunday, according to local reports.

The Star’s Kieran Leavitt has the latest.

1:55 p.m. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have “concerns” about how Spotify has allowed and promoted the spread of COVID-19 misinformation on its platform.

Prince Harry and Meghan, who inked an exclusive multiyear partnership with the service in December 2020, said Sunday that they are pressing Spotify to take more care about the rhetoric spread on its airwaves.

“Since the inception of Archewell, we have worked to address the real-time global misinformation crisis. Hundreds of millions of people are affected by the serious harms of rampant mis- and disinformation every day,” a representative for their foundation said in a statement Sunday.

1:45 p.m. As promised by the province, a number of COVID-19 restrictions in Ontario were lifted on Monday.

As of 12:01 a.m., several limits on social gatherings, and indoor and outdoor capacities were eased, as part of a “cautious” three-stage reopening plan released earlier this month. The plan consists of three consecutive phases of public health measures being eased, with 21 days between each phase.

This comes just after Premier Doug Ford said Ontarians need to learn to live with COVID-19 in an interview Friday.

A change in social gathering limits, a return to indoor dining and gyms reopening are all part of the loosened restrictions that are now in place.

Read the full story from the Star’s Akrit Michael

1:30 p.m. It was back to class Monday for students in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island as a result of eased COVID-19 restrictions.

Both provinces have installed portable HEPA filters in classrooms without mechanical ventilation systems.

Heather Mullen, president of the P.E.I. Home and School Federation, says it’s important for students to be back in school and benefit from social interaction with their classmates.

She says while some parents were nervous about sending their children back today, she believes it’s safe because all students and school staff on the Island needed two negative rapid tests from the weekend, and all are wearing new high-quality masks.

High school students in New Brunswick head back to class Wednesday, while P.E.I. high school students return Thursday.

Last week, New Brunswick Education Minister Dominic Cardy thanked teachers and parents for their efforts during the extended period of online learning that resulted from the Omicron wave of the pandemic.

1:15 p.m. The mayor of a village in southern Alberta says there will be no mail and some students have not gone to school because of a truck convoy that has blockaded a highway at a busy U.S. border crossing as part of a protest against vaccine mandates.

Mayor Jim Willett says he’s angry and frustrated because about 100 trucks lined up on Highway 4 are preventing a mail truck and a school bus from entering Coutts, Alta.

The convoy is one of many in Canadian towns and cities on the weekend that coincided with truckers and their supporters meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa to protesting the federal government’s COVID-19 measures.

Willett says he understands freedom to protest, but he adds the Alberta government needs to act to allow the movement of goods and services near the border, where only foot traffic has been able to get through.

1 p.m. Ontario is reporting 583 people in ICU due to COVID-19 and 2,983 in hospital overall testing positive for COVID-19, according to its latest report released Monday morning.

This marks the fifth straight day hospitalization numbers due to COVID have shown a downward trend. It is important to note that all hospitals don’t report COVID numbers on the weekend.

Around 22.6 per cent of the province’s 2,343 adult ICU beds remain available for new patients.

Read the full story from the Star’s Akrit Michael

12:37 p.m. Quebec is taking its first steps on Monday toward reopening the province after partially shutting down over the holidays due to record-high hospitalizations.

Premier François Legault announced plans last week to gradually loosen public health restrictions as the COVID-19 situation began to improve.

Beginning Monday, restaurant dining rooms can open at half capacity, with no more than four people or two different households at a table, and they must close by midnight.

The changes come as Quebec is today reporting 33 additional deaths attributed to COVID-19.

The Health Department says 2,888 people are hospitalized, a drop of seven patients from the previous day, and 223 people are in intensive care, a decline of 10.

Quebec is reporting 2,423 new COVID-19 cases, but authorities have warned that number is not reflective of the actual situation because PCR testing has been limited to certain higher-risk groups.

12:12 p.m. (updated) In a Monday presser, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who tested postive for COVID-19, thanks the truckers who are doing hard jobs and are on the road right now. He says they have continued to step up to put food on the shelves and support Canadians with necessary medication.

He says almost 90 per cent are doing the right thing. “We thank you deeply.”

Trudeau says the behaviour in Ottawa this weekend does not represent hard-working truckers.

“This is not the story of our pandemic, of our people,” Trudeau says. “…there is no place in our country to threats and hatred.”

Trudeau says this has to stop.

12:10 p.m. Premier Doug Ford on truckers’ protest: “I was extremely disturbed …to see some individuals desecrate our most sacred monuments and wave swastikas and other symbols of hate and intolerance this weekend. That has no place in Ontario or Canada. Not now. Not ever.”

Ford also said: “Today, Ontario is beginning to ease some public health measures, the first step in returning to normal. All Ontarians are united in their desire to put this pandemic behind us and return to the life we knew before COVID-19.”

11:35 a.m. Moderna announced Monday that U.S. health regulators granted full approval to its COVID-19 vaccine, a shot that’s been given to tens of millions of Americans since its emergency authorization over a year ago.

The action by the Food and Drug Administration means the agency has completed the same rigorous, time-consuming review of Moderna’s shot as dozens of other long-established vaccines.

The decision was bolstered by real-world evidence from the more than 200 million doses administered in the U.S. since the FDA cleared the shot in December 2020. The FDA granted full approval of Pfizer’s vaccine last August.

11:17 a.m. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologized Monday for lockdown-flouting parties in Downing Street — but insisted that he and his government can be trusted.

Johnson told lawmakers in the House of Commons that he would make changes to the way the government is run in the wake of the “partygate” scandal.

“I get it and I will fix it,” he said.

He spoke after senior civil servant Sue Gray found that gatherings by the prime minister and his staff when Britain was under coronavirus restrictions represent a “serious failure” to observe the standards expected of government.

10:16 a.m. Ontario is reporting 2,983 people hospitalized with COVID-19 and 583 in the ICU. The province is reporting at least 3,043 new cases.

Note that not all hospitals report on weekends. In Ontario, 30,649,731 vaccine doses have been administered; 91.9 per cent of Ontarians 12+ have one dose and 89.2 per cent have two doses, according to tweets from Health Minister Christine Elliott.

10:12 a.m. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he has tested positive for COVID-19.

Trudeau posted on Twitter that he got the positive test result Monday morning. He has been in isolation since last Wednesday when he said that he’d had a positive contact.

CP reported that the contact was one of his children, but the PMO had not identified which of his children had contracted the virus.

“I’m feeling fine — and I’ll continue to work remotely this week while following public health guidelines. Everyone, please get vaccinated and get boosted,” Trudeau tweeted.

Read the full story from the Star’s Tonda MacCharles

9:51 a.m. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he’s tested positive for COVID-19.

In a statement on Twitter, Trudeau says: “I’m feeling fine – and I’ll continue to work remotely this week while following public health guidelines. Everyone, please get vaccinated and get boosted.”

9:47 a.m. An investigation says lockdown-breaching parties by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his staff represent a “serious failure” to observe the standards expected of government.

Senior civil servant Sue Gray concluded that “there were failures of leadership and judgment” in the government and “some of the events should not have been allowed to take place.

The findings are part of what Gray’s office calls an “update” on her investigation, rather than a full report. Major parts of her findings have been withheld at the request of the police, who have launched a criminal investigation into the most serious alleged breaches of coronavirus rules.

The cuts have led opponents to accuse Johnson of a whitewash.

Johnson is due to make a statement on the findings in the House of Commons later Monday.

9:15 a.m. Los Angeles County’s nursing homes have observed an extraordinary increase in coronavirus case rates during the Omicron surge — reaching levels exceeding even last winter’s wave — but that unprecedented torrent of infections hasn’t been matched by a record-high number of daily COVID-19 deaths, county health data show.

The county has instead observed a relatively small increase in daily COVID-19 deaths at nursing homes during the omicron surge, officials said. And new daily coronavirus cases have already started to drop.

As of mid-January, L.A. County was tallying a daily COVID-19 death rate of 20 fatalities for every 100,000 nursing home residents. That’s about one-fifth of the peak of last winter’s surge, and roughly one-fourth the rate of the pandemic‘s early days in spring 2020, according to figures presented by L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.

8:55 a.m. Hamilton school boards say they are struggling to put teachers in classrooms as systems report average staff absences of more than 1,000 a day.

Schools reopened to in-person learning Jan. 19 for the first time since before the winter break amid a rapidly spreading Omicron wave of COVID.

“It has been challenging,” said Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board chair Pat Daly. “The absenteeism rates have been higher than pre-pandemic. It was a challenge before the pandemic, so it’s been exacerbated now.”

The Catholic board reported average daily vacancy rates of about 504 — or 12 per cent — among staff, which includes educators, as well as administrative and custodial staff, and 212 among teachers in the first three days back to school.

8:30 a.m. Grocery prices are skyrocketing. Inflation is at a 30-year high. Interest rate hikes are on the horizon. And the housing market shows no signs of cooling.

And yet your salary hasn’t changed — maybe even in years.

Canadians are noticing their dollar isn’t stretching as far these days, and wondering when their pay will catch up.

At the same time, a tight labour market means companies are doing more, such as raising wages on new job postings, to try to attract and retain talent.

Read the full story from the Star’s Rosa Saba

8:12 a.m. One of Peel’s highly visited COVID-19 vaccination clinics is back to allow those with busy daytime schedules to receive the first, second or booster dose.

The Doses After Dark clinic is set to run at Brampton’s Save Max Sports Centre on Feb. 5 and at Mississauga’s Rockwood Mall on Feb. 12, both from 1 p.m. till midnight.

Appointments are now live and can be booked online through the provincial website or on Peel Region’s COVID-19 website.

“Our previous Doses after Dark events were very well received so, please book as this special event and these late evening appointments will go quickly,” said the region’s medical officer of health, Dr. Lawrence Loh.

7:10 a.m. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has received a long-awaited report from an investigation into lockdown-breaching government parties, the government said Monday.

The Cabinet Office said senior civil servant Sue Gray “has provided an update on her investigations to the Prime Minister.”

Johnson’s office has promised the report will be published “swiftly,” and that the prime minister will address Parliament about its findings.

But Monday’s “update” is unlikely to tell the full story. Some of Gray’s findings are being withheld because of a separate police investigation into whether some of the gatherings broke COVID-19 laws.

Allegations that the prime minister and his staff flouted restrictions imposed on the country to curb the spread of the coronavirus have caused public anger and led some Conservative lawmakers to call for Johnson’s resignation.

6:20 a.m.: Gyms, movie theatres and museums in Ontario will also be able to reopen Monday, after having been shut down for the last several weeks.

Perhaps more than anything, business owners are hoping this is the last time they’re forced to close, after having gone through waves of lockdowns and reopenings, then back into lockdown, since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020.

They’re also left to wonder: Will the customers come back?

Read the full story from the Star’s Josh Rubin.

6:20 a.m.: A senior Hong Kong government official has resigned after attending a large birthday party that fueled complaints of double standards by authorities enforcing strict Covid-control measures.

Home Affairs Secretary Caspar Tsui handed his resignation to Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Monday and will leave the post immediately, he said in a statement. Lam is set to hold a briefing at 3 p.m., at which more details are expected.

“As one of the principal officials taking the lead in the anti-epidemic fight, I have not set the best example during the recent outbreak,” he said in the statement. Tsui added that he had “behaved in an inappropriate manner when all efforts should have been devoted to controlling the spread of the virus.”

His resignation marks the first time a government official has left a post after flouting pandemic guidance, and comes as the city’s strict zero-tolerance approach to Covid is strained by an omicron variant-fueled surge.

Lam launched a disciplinary probe after Tsui and some 30 officials were found to be among about 250 attendees at a party for the local representative of a mainland Chinese economic development agency on Jan. 3. Days earlier, the government had urged the public to avoid large gatherings due to the global spread of omicron.

6:20 a.m.: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday she has tested negative for the coronavirus after coming into close contact with an infected person on a commercial flight.

Ardern had been isolating since late Saturday after the Jan. 22 exposure first came to light. She intends to continuing isolating through Tuesday to complete a 10-day health requirement. She has had no symptoms.

The exposure occurred on a flight from the town of Kerikeri to New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland. Health officials listed a dozen flights as exposure events late Saturday, possibly indicating infections among flight crews.

Ardern and Gov.-General Cindy Kiro, who is also isolating while awaiting a second test, were in the Northland region to do some filming ahead of New Zealand’s national day, Waitangi Day, on Feb. 6.

New Zealand has managed to stamp out or contain the virus for much of the pandemic, and has reported just 52 virus deaths among its population of 5 million. But an outbreak of the omicron variant is starting to take hold and is expected to rapidly grow over the coming weeks.

About 77{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of New Zealanders are fully vaccinated, according to Our World in Data. That figure rises to 93{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of those aged 12 and over, according to New Zealand officials.

6:19 a.m.: Tokyo has launched a mass inoculation drive for COVID-19 booster shots at a temporary center operated by the military as Japan tries to speed up delayed third jabs to counter surging infections.

Japan began administering booster shots to medical workers in December, but has only provided such inoculations to 2.7 per cent of the population after delaying a decision to cut the interval between the first two coronavirus shots and a booster to six months from the initial eight.

Demand for the shots is intense: Online reservations that started on Friday resulted in all slots for about 4,300 doses to be given at the center this week being filled within 9 minutes. The center is providing the vaccine made by Moderna, Inc.

On a smaller scale, people 65 and older can get booster shots elsewhere.

The center run by the Self-Defense Force in downtown Tokyo reopened Monday after closing down in late November. It will be vaccinating about 720 people aged 18 or older per day this week, ramping up to more than 2,000 a day next month. Another military-run center will begin booster shots next week in Osaka.

6:18 a.m.: People across Asia prepared Monday for muted Lunar New Year celebrations amid concerns over the coronavirus and virulent Omicron variant, even as increasing vaccination rates raised hopes that the Year of the Tiger might bring life back closer to normal.

The Lunar New Year is the most important annual holiday in China and falls on Tuesday, Feb. 1. Each year is named after one of twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac in a repeating cycle. The Year of the Tiger follows the Year of the Ox.

This will be the third new year in a row celebrated in the shadow of the pandemic. It was two days before the holiday in 2020 that China locked down Wuhan — a city of 11 million people — following the detection of the coronavirus there.

Some 85{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of Chinese are now fully vaccinated, according to Our World in Data, and more Chinese have been travelling domestically this year, despite government warnings. Many people prepare to celebrate by buying red lanterns and other decorations for their homes, and food to mark the beginning of a new year.

6:18 a.m.: Legislators plan to return to the House of Commons on Monday morning as a Parliament Hill protest against government-imposed COVID-19 measures enters its third full day.

Many of the horn-honking demonstrators who brought Ottawa to a near standstill on the weekend showed no signs of budging as parliamentarians, businesses and school administrators were left wondering when the usual rhythm of the frazzled national capital would resume.

Alexandra Maheux, a spokeswoman for government House leader Mark Holland, said the ongoing protest is not interfering with parliamentary business.

“We have important work to accomplish for Canadians in Parliament, and we’re looking forward to getting this done and delivering results,” Maheux said late Sunday.

She noted that MPs have the flexibility to work in a hybrid House in this sitting, which remains in effect until June, to help curb the spread of COVID-19.

“Some MPs will be in the chamber on Monday and beyond, and others will participate virtually,” Maheux said.

A memo circulated Sunday by Patrick McDonell, the House sergeant-at-arms, said security plans were being developed to ensure personal safety.

Holland has scheduled a morning news conference in Parliament’s West Block to discuss the sitting.

He is likely to face questions about the roaming crowds and ear-splitting truck horns outside on Wellington Street, and just how long the protest will be allowed to continue.

6:17 a.m.: A study published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that adult COVID-19 patients with disabilities had 36 per cent longer hospital stays and a 77 per cent increased risk of readmission within 30 days.

Advocate Sandi Bell, who has a mobility disability and vision impairment, said it’s important to see studies highlighting the challenges that COVID-19 has caused for many people with disabilities.

“There is a definite demand for data, because a lot of people just don’t know about the daily barriers,” said Bell, a member of the Board of Directors of ARCH Disability Law Centre.

“COVID has been the most isolating situation that one could imagine for people with disabilities.”

Researchers at the University of Toronto and Unity Health Toronto looked at 1,279 patients — 22.3 per cent of whom had a recorded disability — who were hospitalized for COVID-19 at seven nearby hospitals from January through November 2020.

They found that patients with traumatic brain injury, intellectual or developmental disabilities, and multiple disabilities had the highest risks for poor COVID-19 outcomes.

The longer hospital stays and increased rates of readmission for people with disabilities persisted even after accounting for age and other factors that might explain differences.

6:16 a.m.: On the East Coast, schools were set to reopen to in-person learning in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island Monday, with added safety measures in place.

6:16 a.m.: Quebec is taking its first steps today to reopen the province after partially shutting down over the holidays due to record-high hospitalizations.

Premier François Legault announced plans last week to gradually loosen public health restrictions as the COVID-19 situation has improved somewhat.

Restaurant dining rooms can open at half capacity today, with no more than four people or two different households at a table. Closing time is set for midnight, with last call at 11 p.m.

Private indoor gatherings of up to four people, or two family bubbles, are also permitted.

Extracurricular sports can resume in elementary and high schools, CEGEPs and universities, with the mandatory vaccine passport for students 13 and over.

The second phase of Quebec’s plan to ease restrictions is set for a week from now, with places of worship, entertainment and sports venues allowed to reopen at limited capacity on Feb. 7.

6:15 a.m.: Ontario’s restaurants, gyms and theatres will welcome patrons back today for the first time in nearly a month.

It’s the first step in the province’s plan to gradually ease public health restrictions meant to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Restaurant dining rooms, gyms and cinemas will reopen at half capacity today after being shuttered on Jan. 5 due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Larger venues will also reopen with capacity limited to 50 per cent or 500 people — whichever is fewer.

Limits on indoor gatherings will increase from five people to 10, while the cap on outdoor gatherings will go from 10 to 25.

The province plans to ease COVID-19 measures further on Feb. 21.

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January 6, 2022

COVID-19 news for Toronto, Ontario on Jan. 6

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.

5:47 p.m. The pressure on Quebec hospitals is reaching a point where some heart and cancer-related surgeries risk being postponed to make room for COVID-19 patients, the head of the province’s hospital network said Thursday.

“We’re in a really critical phase,” assistant deputy health minister Dr. Lucie Opatrny told reporters in Montreal. Should hospitals be forced to delay serious procedures for an extended period of time, there will be “side-effects” for patients, she said.

Meanwhile, the number of health-care workers who are off the job due to COVID-19 has reached 20,000, Health Minister Christian Dubé told the news conference, adding that another 30,000 workers are absent for other reasons, including burnout. The rising number of COVID-19 patients and the rate of absenteeism among health staff is “the worst combination” for the province, Dubé said.

5:26 p.m. Public sectors across the country are facing staff shortages as Canada continues to face record-breaking COVID-19 case numbers and hospitalizations related to the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé said Thursday that about 20,000 health-care workers were off because they had tested positive or been exposed to the virus. The government was working with unions to find more staff to care for roughly 2,500 COVID-19 patients, he added.

Health officials reported another 1,953 COVID-19 hospitalizations Thursday, a rise of almost 12 per cent compared with a day earlier. Officials said there were 207 patients in intensive care, an increase of 16.

5:24 p.m. Amid growing calls from teachers, child-care workers, parents and opposition politicians, the Ontario government announced Thursday that it would be accelerating booster shots for school and child-care staff to help protect them and the children they work with from COVID-19.

In a news release, Education Minister Stephen Lecce said starting Friday, child-care and school staff in the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area will have “planned access to vaccines” at the International Centre in Mississauga, Ont.

He noted the clinic will support priority booking for education staff, including educators, custodial staff, administrative staff, school bus drivers and child-care staff.

5:18 p.m. With COVID-19 galloping through Toronto homeless shelters, staff will be directed to keep infected residents on-site during most outbreaks, with beds at an isolation facility prioritized for the most complex cases.

The shift, outlined in a city memo to service providers on Thursday, comes as more than two dozen shelters across the city have reported outbreaks.

The isolation facility has been under strain, with 65 beds in operation on Thursday and between 60 and 65 patients on-site depending on the hour, said Andrew Bond, medical director of Inner City Health Associates.

Read the full story from the Star’s Victoria Gibson.

5:11 p.m. Outbreaks of COVID-19 in Ontario jails have spiked in the past three weeks, prompting renewed calls for authorities to reduce the prolonged lockdowns confining prisoners to their cells and the number of people imprisoned.

The Star recently spoke to two inmates at the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre, one of 16 jails, prisons and youth detention facilities currently in outbreak, who said the jail is so crowded that some two-person cells are holding three men.

“Imagine being locked in your bathroom for 23 hours like we are animals!” said one man, who requested anonymity to due to fear of repercussions for speaking publicly. “You are sweating in a small space with three men with a toilet that can only flush twice an hour … with your food served to you through a hatch in the door.”

Read the full story from the Star’s Alyshah Hasham.

4:41 p.m. Rapid antigen COVID-19 tests won’t be available to the general Ontario population for the next little while amid a supply crunch and an ongoing virus surge — but people with the means to access them can get out of virus-related isolation sooner.

Officials said Thursday that people who develop symptoms can resume their regular activities sooner than the required five days — the new isolation period for fully vaccinated people and kids under 12 — if two rapid tests taken at least 24 hours apart come back negative, and if their symptoms improve for 24 hours.

It’s still recommended that people who are sick stay home until symptoms improve.

4:33 p.m. Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer is asking the public to stop gatherings except for work and school.

The province is reporting 913 new cases of COVID-19 — an all-time high — with a test positivity rate of 28 per cent.

Dr. Saqib Shahab cautions that number will go up in the next two to four weeks and now is the time to stop unnecessary indoor gatherings.

4:23 p.m. New Brunswick’s hospitals are struggling to provide appropriate and timely care amid rising COVID-19 infections and the high number of health staff who can’t work because they have tested positive or have been exposed to the disease.

“Hundreds” of health-care workers are isolating at home, according to a statement Thursday from the Health Department. The government issued an official number on Tuesday — 571 isolating workers — up by 41 from the day prior.

Dr. Mark MacMillan, president of the New Brunswick Medical Society, says the province’s hospitals were already facing staffing shortages before the pandemic. In an interview Wednesday, the doctor said COVID-19 is challenging the ability of workers to provide “appropriate and timely care.”

3:53 p.m. Through most of the COVID-19 pandemic, Atlantic Canada won international praise for the region’s largely successful efforts to keep infection rates low — but the arrival of Omicron has upended its vaunted COVID-Zero strategy, The Canadian Press reports.

The highly contagious variant, now described as the fastest-spreading virus in human history, has overwhelmed the four provinces’ get-tough-quick approach, which involved rapidly imposing the country’s strictest lockdown measures at the first sign of an outbreak, according to CP.

It may seem laughable now, but in April of last year, Nova Scotia called in the army and declared a two-week lockdown when the province recorded only 96 new infections, at the time, a one-day record high.

Last Sunday, with Omicron on the move, Nova Scotia reported another record: 1,184 cases in one day.

“In the early stages of the pandemic, the transmissibility (of COVID-19) was a lot less,” said Susan Kirkland, head of the department of community health and epidemiology at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

“It was possible to maintain this strategy of COVID-Zero. We did our best to identify every single case with thorough contact tracing … But we’re at a completely different phase of the pandemic now.”

On Wednesday, health officials in New Brunswick confirmed the province would stop including in its news releases the number of daily cases confirmed by PCR testing, because the latest figures no longer reflect the severity of the situation in the province.

Earlier in the day, Prince Edward Island had reported 222 new cases, a record daily high. Before Omicron arrived in Canada in late November, the Island had recorded a total of just 373 positive cases since the beginning of the pandemic.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, where case counts have also spiked, the healthcare system is under considerable strain, because about 1,000 healthcare workers are in isolation or infected with COVID-19. The province’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, conceded Monday that “most people” will contract the virus and the latest measures are aimed at slowing the spread.

“The transmissibility of Omicron is so great that a COVID-Zero strategy is simply not feasible,” said Kirkland, who is also a member of the federal government’s COVID-19 immunity task force. “It’s not helpful at this point. It’s not the right strategy.”

Tight lockdowns, which strained the Atlantic economy, simply don’t make sense at a time when virus-related hospitalizations in the region remain low, thanks to high vaccination rates that may have lessened Omicron’s impact on public health, she said.

But it would be a mistake to assume the COVID-Zero approach was undermined solely by Omicron’s lightning-fast spread, says Colin Furness, an infection control epidemiologist at the University of Toronto.

It’s important to remember that one of the key pillars of the strategy, the Atlantic Bubble, was largely abandoned across the region in November 2020, Furness said in an interview. The novel policy allowed the region’s residents to travel between the four provinces, but it imposed a mandatory 14-day quarantine for visitors from outside the region, a move that kept travel-related infections in check.

Each of the Atlantic provinces maintained their own travel restrictions after the bubble burst, but most of those measures have been changed as the pandemic evolved and vaccination rates rose.

Furness said travel restrictions remain an effective means of controlling the spread of contagious viruses.

But Kirkland said the Atlantic Bubble was not sustainable.

“We had the Atlantic Bubble, and it was very effective in the first wave of the pandemic, but this is part of learning to live with the pandemic,” she said. “We can’t isolate ourselves from the world forever …. For us in the Atlantic region, it’s been hard for us to adapt because we’ve been so vigilant.”

That sense of vigilance, however, slipped in July 2021 when the region’s consistent public messaging on COVID-19 was essentially scuttled by New Brunswick. Premier Blaine Higgs decided his province would be the first in the region to lift all health-protection orders, including mask-wearing requirements.

“New Brunswick broke from the pack,” Furness said, adding that vaccination rates in the province also slowed to a crawl. “That really fractured the region.”

By late September, the resulting surge in Delta variant infections and hospitalizations prompted Higgs to impose so-called circuit-breaker lockdowns that were extended in October. A senior provincial health official later admitted that the decision to lift all restrictions was a mistake.

“Now, (the Atlantic region) has a real uphill battle,” Furness said. “You’ve squandered all the social capital you have.”

During the past 14 days, Atlantic Canada’s per capita infection rate has been below the national average, but it was higher than every other province and territory, except Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba, according to federal figures.

3:15 p.m. As Saskatchewan welcomed students back to in-person learning this week, Dr. Ayisha Kurji sat her grade-schoolers down to discuss ways to keep them as safe as possible from COVID-19.

Some parents in Saskatchewan — the only province to not delay classes after the holiday break — chose to keep their kids home but Kurji sent hers back, feeling confident her family had done its best to shield against an Omicron-fuelled surge that has shuttered most schools across Canada.

“We need to recognize that kids have paid a huge price in the pandemic and we see the impact that’s had on them,” said the pediatrician and assistant professor at the University of Saskatchewan, who ensured each of her kids had received two COVID-19 vaccine shots before school resumed.

“Now that we have that information, we really do need to put our kids first. (But) we need to make sure it’s safe to go back to school.”

Debate persists over the role schools have played in COVID-19 transmission, and strategies vary coast-to-coast over whether to offer in-person learning or virtual classes, and for how long.

3:10 p.m. Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole says those unwilling to be vaccinated against COVID-19 should be accommodated through measures like rapid testing, as health experts warn the lightning-fast spread of the Omicron variant threatens to overwhelm hospitals.

O’Toole came out as opposed to vaccine mandates during last year’s election campaign and today accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of fuelling vaccine hesitancy by attacking those who haven’t received their shot.

Trudeau on Wednesday said Canadians are angry at those who refuse to be vaccinated because they are filling up hospital beds, causing cancer treatments and elective surgeries to be put off.

The Conservative leader says he refuses to criticize people who aren’t vaccinated and believes “reasonable accommodations” should be provided to those who work in the trucking industry in order to avoid service disruptions.

3 p.m. Nunavut will no longer offer lab-confirmed testing for communities with COVID-19 to free up health-care resources.

Chief public health officer Dr. Michael Patterson says that means Nunavut’s case counts will no longer reflect the total number of infections.

Laboratory PCR tests will only be used to confirm COVID-19 in communities without previous cases and for people and staff in high-risk settings, including long-term care and front-line health workers.

Patterson says rapid testing will be used in the territory and shipments of the kits are to arrive in Nunavut in the coming days.

There are 244 cases of COVID-19 in Nunavut spread over 12 communities, the territory’s largest outbreak to date.

Health minister John Main says he expects COVID-19 to be in all of Nunavut’s 25 communities by the end of the month.

2:45 p.m. Newfoundland and Labrador is extending online learning for schoolchildren until at least Jan. 14.

Officials said today they would update parents and children on the situation no later than next Thursday.

The Education Department says it is co-ordinating with school districts to deliver COVID-19 rapid tests to schools.

Health officials are reporting 503 new cases of COVID-19 today and say there are 4,059 active infections across the province.

Officials say all the newly reported infections are under investigation and contact tracing is underway.

There are four people in hospital with the disease.

2:30 p.m. Health officials in New Brunswick are today reporting an increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations and one more death related to the novel coronavirus.

A person in their 30s in the Fredericton region is the 169th in the province to die as a result of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

Officials say there are 63 people hospitalized — an increase of four from a day earlier — with 19 patients in intensive care, a rise of three.

Officials say of those in hospital, 46 are over the age of 60 and 11 people are on a ventilator.

The province reported 672 new cases of COVID-19, but chief medical officer of health Dr. Jennifer Russell has said the number of PCR-confirmed cases no longer reflects the severity of the situation in the province.

Today’s statement says “hundreds” of health-care workers continue to isolate at home due to the virus, but it doesn’t give a specific number. On Tuesday, officials said 571 health-care workers were isolating.

2:20 p.m. Transat A.T. is cancelling nearly 30 per cent of its winter flights as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc on air industry plans and profits.

The tour operator says the ongoing impact of the Omicron variant and the federal government’s Dec. 15 recommendation against non-essential travel abroad have triggered a wave of trip cancellations.

The slimmed-down flight schedule is in place from today through Feb. 25, though Transat says more changes may be necessary.

The Montreal-based company, which did not specify which routes were affected, says customers will be fully refunded and, where possible, offered rebooked reservations as an alternative.

The move comes a week after WestJet Airlines Ltd. cut 15 per cent of its scheduled flights through to the end of January, citing a high proportion of flight crews calling in sick due to Omicron.

The airline sector, which had begun to recover following a devastating first year of the pandemic, is struggling once again amid the COVID-19 surge, with Air Canada cancelling hundreds of flights so far this month and U.S. carriers scrapping thousands.

2:15 p.m. Cineplex Inc. says it has temporarily laid off nearly 5,000 part-time employees because of mandated closures of its Ontario movie theatres to tackle the surge of the Omicron variant.

Spokeswoman Sarah Van Lange says Canada’s largest movie chain will get its employees back to work “once and for all” as soon as the restrictions are lifted.

New COVID-19 public health measures announced by Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Monday resulted in the closure of 67 Cineplex theatres along with indoor concert venues, museums, galleries and other attractions.

The provincial restrictions also require restaurants and bars to halt indoor dining and cease selling alcohol after 10 p.m.

The policies meant to curtail the province’s soaring COVID-19 cases are expected to remain in place until at least Jan. 26.

The Toronto-based company said it would offer full refunds to customers who had booked tickets in advance.

2 p.m. The Ontario government says it’s accelerating booster shots for school and child-care staff to protect children, staff and families from COVID-19.

In a written statement, Education Minister Stephen Lecce says starting Friday, child-care and school staff in the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area will have “planned access to vaccines” at the International Centre in Mississauga, Ont.

He notes the clinic will support priority booking for education staff, including educators, custodial staff, administrative staff, school bus drivers and child-care staff.

Lecce says the government will work with all other public health units to set up more clinics across Ontario.

1:52 p.m. The union for federal correctional officers says four prisons in Quebec are “very close” to experiencing staff shortages, as more workers test positive for COVID-19.

“We’re very close to it but we’re not there yet. And I hope we won’t go there,” said Mario Guilmette, Quebec region vice-president of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers.

Guilmette has said Correctional Service Canada is working on a protocol to be used if the province’s federal prisons hit staffing shortages. The protocol would mean workers who are considered close contacts of someone who tested positive for COVID-19 may be asked to come back to work after isolating for eight days instead of 10.

The union said the four Quebec prisons at risk of staff shortages are La Macaza Institution, Donnacona Institution, Joliette Institution for Women and the Regional Reception Centre.

1:30 p.m. Nova Scotia health officials say the province is in talks with the federal government to secure help for the COVID-19 booster vaccine roll-out.

Health Department spokesperson Marla MacInnis confirmed Thursday in an email the province has sent a request to Ottawa for resources, but she didn’t specify.

MacInnis says details need to be finalized, but she says the province expects help from the Canadian Red Cross.

Officials said Wednesday new booster dose vaccine clinics across the province would begin scheduling appointments today.

Earlier this week, the province dropped the age of eligibility for booster shots to residents 30 years and older.

1:20 p.m. The city is stepping up efforts to get more education workers and students vaccinated over the coming days to help ensure that schools reopen for in-class learning as scheduled by the province on Jan. 17, said Toronto Mayor John Tory on Thursday.

Four vaccination clinics, with appointments specifically for education workers, will be held in two city-run immunization clinics this Sunday and on Jan. 16, said Tory, speaking at a press conference.

“This effort will help more than 3,500 education workers get vaccinated as soon as possible,” said Tory.

Read the full story from the Star’s Francine Kopun and Kristin Rushowy

1 p.m. Quebec will require people to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 to enter liquor and cannabis stores starting Jan. 18, as a way to coerce unvaccinated people to get their first doses, Health Minister Christian Dubé said Thursday.

Dubé said he only introduced new rules for liquor and pot stores because they are owned and operated by the provincial government, adding that he would soon announce more services and businesses for which the vaccine passport would apply, following consultations with various sectors. He hinted at limiting access to shopping malls and personal care salons.

“If they won’t protect themselves, we’ll protect them from themselves,” Dubé told reporters in Montreal, referring to people who haven’t had a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine. He said unvaccinated people represent about 10 per cent of Quebec adults but account for about 50 per cent of COVID-19 intensive care patients.

12:30 p.m. Toronto Public Health has released new COVID-19 screening guidelines for school and child care settings in line with recent policy changes announced by the province. The new screening questionnaire and isolation guidelines can be viewed here.

The key changes for parents to note are the following:

a runny nose is once again a symptom being screened for, but only if it exists in combination with at least one other secondary symptom, such as sore throat, headache, tiredness, muscle aches, and nausea, vomiting or diarrhea;

if a child is notified as a close contact of someone who has COVID-19, they no longer need to self-isolate if they are fully vaccinated or under 12 years old and do not have any symptoms themselves;

a child with COVID-19 symptoms does not require a negative test to return to school/daycare, but they do need to self-isolate for at least five days (longer if their symptoms persist) if they are fully vaccinated and at least 10 days if they are not fully vaccinated or immunocompromised.

11:30 a.m. Ontario’s long-term care minister says COVID-19 outbreaks are hitting homes in almost all public health units, with staff absences of between 20 and 30 per cent in some areas.

Rod Phillips says there are currently outbreaks reported in 186 homes in 30 of the province’s 34 public health units.

He says he expects the number will continue to rise with the highly contagious Omicron variant spreading in communities at record levels.

Phillips says staff absence rates range from 20 to 30 per cent in some of the hardest-hit areas and the ministry is in contact daily with homes that are struggling.

He says staffing is a concern, but the long-term-care sector is affected differently than hospitals, which deal with new admissions while short-staffed due to virus exposures and infections.

11:22 a.m. Toronto is focused on getting more education workers and students vaccinated over the coming days, in order to help ensure schools re-open Jan. 17 as planned, says Mayor John Tory in a Thursday presser.

Four vaccination clinics with appointments specifically for education workers will be held in two city-run immunization clinics, says Tory.

More than 27 clinics, including 22 TPH clinics are planned in schools over the next two weeks to help students, their families and education workers get vaccinated. TPH is also redeploying staff from other areas to work on additional school based clinics.

In order to cover the growing number of staff absences due to COVID-19, the city is redeploying staff from departments that have been closed or scaled down to essential services, including vaccination clinics, city shelters and LTC homes, Tory says.

Medical Officer of Health Dr. Eileen de Villa says research has shown that the new Omicron variant is 4.5 times more contagious than the Delta variant, which was more contagious than the original variant.

10:43 a.m. U.S. public health advisers said vaccinated teens should get a COVID-19 booster shot from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, an important step in efforts to expand immunizations and keep schools open.

The panel of outside experts convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted to 13 to 1 to recommend the booster shot for people ages 12 to 17 who received their second dose at least five months earlier. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky endorsed the recommendation, making it official.

The agency’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices met following Monday’s emergency clearance of the third shot by the Food and Drug Administration. Immunization and boosters are gaining importance as the highly transmissible omicron variant has quickly overtaken delta to become the dominant strain in the U.S. While Omicron appears to cause less serious disease, the sheer numbers of patients pose a burden to hospitals and health workers.

10:20 a.m. Ontario reporting 2,279 people hospitalized with COVID-19 and 319 people in the ICU; at least 13,339 new cases and 20 deaths.

In Ontario, over 195,000 doses were administered yesterday. In Ontario, over 195,000 doses were administered yesterday. The seven-day rolling average of COVID-19 related patients in ICU is 252; 91.0 per cent of Ontarians 12+ have one dose and 88.3 per cent have two doses, according to Health Minister Christine Elliott.

The seven-day rolling average of COVID-19 related patients in ICU is 252.

10 a.m. Austria’s government announced new measures Thursday to slow down the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant in the Alpine country.

“We have to adjust to a new situation with omicron, we have to adjust to the fact that the infection numbers will increase quickly,” Chancellor Karl Nehammer told reporters in Vienna.

Existing measures such as banning the unvaccinated from many stores and cultural venues will be more strictly implemented as of next week, and the use of masks — FFP2 or K95 types — outdoors will be made mandatory if a distance from other people of at least two meters cannot be met. The government also called on Austrians to keep working from home if possible. At the same time it will reduce the quarantine period to five days if a negative test result can be presented.

9:30 a.m. MiWay is temporarily suspending some service in response to an increasing number of staff that are currently absent due to COVID-19.

Starting Friday, MiWay will be suspending service on Routes 101/101A Dundas Express and 107 Malton Express, as well as reducing service frequency on Route 103 Hurontario Express in response to Transit Operator staff shortages due to COVID-19 and self-isolation requirements. These reductions will be in effect until further notice.

8:50 a.m. The Ontario government is expected to provide an update Thursday on the deployment of rapid antigen COVID-19 tests in the province.

The update comes a day after the federal government said it will distribute 140 million rapid tests across the country this month, four times the amount handed out in December.

On Wednesday, a number of stricter health measures — including widespread business closures and a temporary return to online schooling — took effect in Ontario.

The province has also directed hospitals to pause non-urgent surgeries due to skyrocketing COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations.

As well, a group of hospitals in the province urged pregnant people to get vaccinated against the virus, pointing to the recent hospitalization of several infants infected with COVID-19.

Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, McMaster Children’s Hospital, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and Kingston Health Sciences Centre issued a joint statement Wednesday, saying six babies under the age of one had been admitted since mid-December.

8:40 a.m. On Thursday, the city, in partnership with Michael Garron Hospital, will begin administering a fourth COVID-19 vaccination dose to 131 eligible residents at True Davidson Acres, a long-term-care home.

This week, clinics have been scheduled for residents in five other city-operated LTC homes (Castleview Wychwood Towers, Fudger House, Kipling Acres, Wesburn Manor and Seven Oaks). Clinics at the remaining four LTC homes (Bendale Acres, Carefree Lodge, Cummer Lodge and Lakeshore Lodge) will be scheduled over the coming days.

8 a.m. Germany’s biggest governing party said Thursday that it aims for a final decision by the end of March on the introduction of a universal vaccine mandate against COVID-19.

Parliament last month approved legislation that will require staff at hospitals and nursing homes to show that they are fully vaccinated or have recovered from the coronavirus by mid-March. Progress toward a more contentious universal vaccine mandate is proving slower.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has backed such a mandate, but wants to have lawmakers vote according to their personal conscience rather than on party lines. The idea is for parliament to vote on proposals drawn up by groups of lawmakers rather than by the government.

There are divisions on whether a universal mandate is desirable within Scholz’s three-party government, notably in the ranks of the Free Democrats, the smallest coalition partner. And it isn’t yet clear how the mandate would be designed.

7:45 a.m. France is allowing vaccinated travelers from South Africa to enter its territory without having to observe a coronavirus quarantine.

The French government published a decree Thursday that removed South Africa from the list of places subject to highly restricted travel rules.

Unvaccinated people coming from South Africa still must quarantine in France for 10 days under supervision from local authorities.

France almost completely banned travel to and from South Africa after the first COVID-19 cases involving the Omicron variant were detected in South Africa in November.

The highly contagious variant has since spread around the world, causing record daily cases in the United States and parts of Europe.

7:20 a.m. The Bahamas’ government is scrapping plans to enforce more stringent pre-arrival testing requirements among vaccinated travelers this week.

While Prime Minister Philip Davis said in late December the Bahamas would no longer accept rapid antigen pre-departure tests from vaccinated travelers starting Jan. 7, officials said Tuesday it would be suspending that requirement. Fully vaccinated travelers and those under 12 may continue to show either a negative PCR test or rapid antigen test to enter, according to a statement from the country’s Ministry of Tourism and Aviation.

Unvaccinated travelers ages 12 and older must still present a negative PCR test and cannot use rapid tests. Travelers under the age of two continue to be exempt from testing requirements.

7:07 a.m. England will soon be scrapping its pre-departure coronavirus testing mandate for fully vaccinated travelers, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced. The measure has been in place for roughly one month.

The new entry rules will go into effect 4 a.m. Friday and apply to travelers who are fully vaccinated and under 18 years old.

Those travelers will also no longer need to self-isolate upon arrival until they receive a negative PCR test on day two of their trip. Instead, England will require a lateral flow test no later than the end of day two of their visit without an isolation period. Another PCR test is mandatory only if the initial test is positive.

Johnson said pre-departure testing was meant to help slow the arrival of the new Omicron variant of COVID-19 within the U.K., but the strain is now “so prevalent, these measures are having limited impact … while continuing to pose significant loses to our travel industry.”

Read the full story from the Star’s Josh Rubin.

6:12 a.m.: Experts say employers need to be more flexible than ever to accommodate the latest wave of remote learning, as parents are finding themselves pushed to the limit.

“The mental health of parents has been really very compromised throughout this whole pandemic,” said Paula Allen, global leader of research at human resources services and technology company LifeWorks (formerly Morneau Shepell).

For employees who have children at home, flexibility makes all the difference, said Allen.

Employers need to prioritize communicating to employees what relief options are available to them, she said, whether it’s compressed work weeks, mental health days or short-term leave — of which there’s been a massive increase.

Read the full story from the Star’s Rosa Saba.

6:10 a.m.: With gold-standard testing for COVID-19 becoming increasingly difficult to find, debate is swirling over whether a throat swab sample should be collected alongside a nose swab for at-home rapid tests — contrary to some package instructions.

For most tests, accuracy of a combined throat and nose swab has not yet been tested, and Canadian and U.S. official health guidance still advises people to follow the user instructions of the kit they have on hand.

However, debate has emerged on social media and among some experts after anecdotal evidence from people who said they only tested positive after swabbing both the back of their throat and their nasal cavity, despite test instructions to swab the nose only.

Read the full story from the Star’s Nadine Yousif here.

6:09 a.m.: U.S. health officials said Wednesday they are not changing the qualifications for being “fully vaccinated” against COVID-19, but they are urging Americans to stay “up to date” on their protection against the virus by getting booster shots when eligible.

The move to keep the existing definition of fully vaccinated — either two doses of the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna or a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine — comes as health officials warned of waning protections from the initial doses. They are encouraging Americans to get additional doses to stave off serious illness and death from the delta and omicron variants.

The decision to keep the initial definition, established more than a year ago when the vaccines first rolled out, means that federal vaccination mandates for travel or employment won’t require a booster dose.

Maintaining the existing definition of “fully vaccinated” could make it more difficult to encourage some Americans who only begrudgingly got their primary doses of the vaccine to get boosted, since they would not face onerous restrictions often imposed on the unvaccinated — including testing requirements or, in some jurisdictions, being barred from indoor dining and other facilities.

6:08 a.m.: California is struggling to staff hospitals and classrooms as an astonishing spike in coronavirus infections sweeps through the state.

The fast-spreading omicron variant of COVID-19 is sidelining exposed or infected health care workers even as hospital beds fill with patients and “some facilities are going to be strapped,” Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said Wednesday.

Some 40{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of hospitals are expecting to face critical staff shortages and some are reporting as much as one quarter of their staff out for virus-related reasons, said Kiyomi Burchill of the California Hospital Association.

In Fresno County, more than 300 workers at area hospitals were either isolating because of exposure or recovering, said Dan Lynch, the county’s emergency medical services director.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department is driving patients to hospitals in fire trucks rather than ambulances because 450 firefighters are absent after testing positive, acting Assistant Chief Brian Bennett told the Carson City Council on Tuesday, according the Los Angeles Daily News.

Going forward, the county Fire Department will only be sent on medical calls when absolutely necessary, officials said.

6:06 a.m.: Thailand reported its biggest spike in coronavirus cases in weeks on Thursday after a holiday season in which people travelled and gathered in large numbers amid the rapid spread of the omicron variant.

Officials recorded 5,775 new cases, prompting the Ministry of Public Health to raise the official warning level to 4 on a scale of 5, permanent secretary Kiatiphume Wongrajit said. The warning level had been at 3 since the end of December.

Under level 4, the ministry recommends closing high-risk venues, including those with poor ventilation, increasing restrictions on interprovincial travel, limiting group sizes in public places and lengthening quarantine requirements for travellers entering Thailand.

The ministry has submitted a proposal to the Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration, chaired by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, to ramp up virus restrictions due to the jump in cases. The CCSA is to meet on Friday and is expected to make a decision on the new measures.

6:06 a.m.: Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi on Thursday asked that the U.S. military in Japan stay inside its bases to prevent the further spread of COVID-19.

Hayashi said he spoke on the phone with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and was promised utmost efforts to ensure people’s health. It was not immediately clear if a base curfew would be issued.

Maj. Thomas R. Barger, a U.S. Forces in Japan spokesperson, said he could not comment on the request, but that a team was carefully monitoring cases and trends.

Hayashi’s request came as the U.S. military is promising more stringent measures to curb spreading cases. The new measures require all personnel, even when fully vaccinated, to wear masks on base until a third negative coronavirus test, and reiterate an order for all to wear masks when off base, Barger said.

American forces have come under fire after a spike in coronavirus cases in areas where they are based in large numbers, including Okinawa and Iwakuni, both in southern Japan.

6:05 a.m.: Immunity against COVID-19 among vaccinated adult Canadians and those who have already contracted the virus has been waning throughout the population, tests on donated blood have found.

Tests on around 9,000 donated blood samples from across Canada show that antibodies in the blood which fight the virus declined in October among all age groups, with experts saying the waning immunity is likely to have continued in November and December.

But the head of the government’s COVID-19 Immunity Task Force says that the highly contagious Omicron variant may offer an “immune dividend” offering fresh protection against future infection.

Scientists on the task force are now analyzing the extent of immunity offered by Omicron, as well as “memory of immune protection” in the cells which can kick in with future COVID-19 infections.

6 a.m.: Surging cases of COVID-19 driven by the rapidly transmissible Omicron variant are pushing the health-care system to the brink and putting pressure on some police and transit services.

With 170 personnel booked off on leave related to COVID-19, the Winnipeg Police Service declared a state of emergency Wednesday and the Edmonton and Calgary police services warned of staffing challenges after a growing number of members tested positive or were in isolation.

Ontario’s GO Transit says a temporary reduction in train and bus service in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton regions is set to begin within days due to staffing shortages caused by the Omicron variant.

Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos announced yesterday Ottawa will distribute 140 million rapid tests across the country this month, four times the number delivered in December.