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.
11:25 p.m.: The federal government says it does not believe COVID-19 vaccine shipments to Canada would be affected by export restrictions being considered by the European Union.
A report in the New York Times says the E.U. is finalizing emergency legislation that would give it broad powers to curb exports for the next six weeks of COVID-19 vaccines as part of its response to supply shortages at home.
The report says rules would make it harder for pharmaceutical companies producing COVID-19 vaccines in the European Union to export them.
Full story here.
10:25 p.m.: The European Union is finalizing emergency legislation that will give it broad powers to curb exports for the next six weeks of COVID-19 vaccines manufactured in the bloc, a sharp escalation in its response to supply shortages at home that have created a political maelstrom amid a rising third wave on the continent.
The draft legislation, which is set to be made public Wednesday, was reviewed by The New York Times and confirmed by two EU officials involved in the drafting process. The new rules will make it harder for pharmaceutical companies producing COVID-19 vaccines in the European Union to export them and is likely to disrupt supply to Britain.
The EU has been primarily at loggerheads with AstraZeneca since it drastically cut its supply to the bloc, citing production problems in January, and the company is the main target of the new rules. But the legislation, which could block the export of millions of doses from EU ports, could also affect the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
Britain is by far the biggest benefactor of EU exports and will stand to lose the most by these rules, but they could also be applied to curb exports to other countries like Canada, for example, the second-largest recipient of EU-made vaccines, as well as Israel, which gets doses from the bloc but is very advanced in its vaccination campaign and therefore seen as less needy.
The European Union allowed pharmaceutical companies to fulfill their contracts by authorizing them to export more than 40 million vaccine doses to 33 countries between February and mid-March, with 10 million going to Britain and 4.3 million to Canada.
Read the full story here.
9:15 p.m.: Ontario is adding restaurant staff to the list of essential workers who can’t work from home for priority COVID-19 vaccinations, but they’ll be in line after teachers, child care, food plant and agricultural workers.
Premier Doug Ford confirmed the change Tuesday, hours before his government put out an updated list and timeline for vaccinations that should see adults 60 and up offered first shots by the first week of June, depending on the supply of vaccines.
“The restaurant workers are going to be in phase two,” Ford told a news conference, referring to the stage of the vaccination rollout that will precede Ontarians age 59 and under in the general population and without underlying health conditions becoming eligible for jabs.
He also said his cabinet will consider proposals Wednesday to allow outdoor haircuts in lockdown zones like Toronto and Peel, where barber shops and salons have been closed since late November, as well as outdoor fitness classes with gyms still closed.
Read the full story here.
9 p.m.: In what is thought to be the first study of its kind, Northwestern doctors found high levels of neurological symptoms among patients who developed long-term COVID-19 symptoms after a relatively mild initial illness that did not require hospitalization.
Eight-five percent of patients reported four or more neurological symptoms, problems such as “brain fog” (or attention and memory problems), loss of taste or smell, headache and blurred vision. In addition, patients experienced non-neurologic symptoms, such as fatigue (85%) and depression or anxiety (47%).
About half of patients in the study missed more than 10 days of work, due to what doctors call long COVID syndrome, or symptoms lasting more than six weeks.
“Long COVID syndrome affects probably millions of people in the world, and people have persistent (neurological) symptoms, and some have cognitive dysfunction that significantly impairs their quality of life,” said study co-author Igor Koralnik, chief of neuro-infectious diseases at Northwestern Medicine.
COVID-19 will probably have a “serious impact” on the U.S. workforce, Koralnik said.
The study, published Tuesday in the Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology, focused on 100 patients who sought care at Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s neuro-COVID-19 clinic between May and November 2020.
The authors found brain fog in 81% of the patients, headache in 68%, numbness or tingling in 60%, loss of taste in 59%, problems with smell in 55%, muscle pain in 55%, dizziness in 47%, blurred vision in 30% and ringing in the ears in 29%.
8:15 p.m.: Thousands of staff members at Ontario’s largest hospital network are going to work unvaccinated, even though they’ve been offered the COVID-19 shot, the Star has learned.
It’s a situation that is “all the more worrisome as we see a third wave beginning and the rapid rise of variants,” said University Health Network (UHN) president and CEO Kevin Smith in a leaked email, adding these are factors “which make COVID-19 much more infectious and possibly more severe and deadly.”
His “special and heartfelt request for us all to be vaccinated” was sent to employees on Monday.
UHN spokesperson Gillian Howard added in an email to the Star that 85 per cent of staff that go into the hospital, have received at least one shot. That’s about 17,063 members of “team UHN” Smith said in his message, but there are about 4,000 people “who regularly work on-site — who are coming in to the hospital and have not protected themselves, their families, colleagues and patients — against this deadly disease.”
“While our overall rate of uptake is very good, there are areas and programs where vaccination remains below 50 per cent of people,” he wrote. “We must change this immediately.”
Read the full story here: Thousands of staff at University Health Network still haven’t received their COVID vaccines, says CEO in leaked email
8:10 p.m.: Health Canada says the AstraZeneca vaccine has gotten bad press but remains safe for all Canadians over 18 to take.
Federal regulators are weighing whether to add an asterisk to Health Canada’s approval of the AstraZeneca vaccine for a very small minority of people who have a certain kind of rare blood clotting disorder involving low platelet counts.
But Health Canada believes there’s no reason to change its advice that overall the vaccine is safe and effective in preventing infection, severe COVID-19 disease and death.
Dr. Supriya Sharma, chief medical adviser for the federal regulatory agency, said Tuesday that public confidence might be shaken by ongoing press reports about AstraZeneca shots, but said there hasn’t been any data that causes Health Canada any real worry.
And she downplayed a question that arose in the U.S. Monday when the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said the company had cited “outdated” data for reporting its vaccine’s efficacy rate.
Read the full story here: Despite controversies abroad, Health Canada says AstraZeneca vaccine is safe for use here
8:00 p.m.: Family doctors are pressing the Ontario government to help them plan to vaccinate their patients against COVID-19, with more doses expected to arrive in the coming weeks and new infections rising dramatically.
The fear is that physicians will be asked to adjust at the last minute, as happened a couple of weeks ago when about 40 clinics in six areas — including Toronto, Hamilton and Peterborough — got 24 hours’ notice that they would be receiving shipments of AstraZeneca vaccine that was set to expire on April 2.
“We need some time before the vaccinations drop to make sure we are 100 per cent ready,” Dr. Liz Muggah, president of the College of Family Physicians of Ontario, said Tuesday from her office in Ottawa, as the seven-day average of new cases across the province marked a 25 per cent increase from just a week ago.
“No one size fits all, so we have to sort out in our clinics what’s going to work given the kinds of patients we have and our staffing.”
Read the full story here: Help us plan for COVID-19 vaccinations, family doctors tell Queen’s Park
7:40 p.m.: B.C. is reporting 682 new cases of COVID-19 and 144 of those involve variants of concern.
A joint statement from Health Minister Adrian Dix and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says almost 560,000 doses of the vaccines have been administered and bookings are now open for people 77 years and older.
There’s been one more death for a total of 1,438 fatalities since the pandemic began.
The province says letters are going out now to about 200,000 clinically vulnerable people with cancers and other illnesses telling them they can start booking a vaccine appointment on Monday.
7:30 p.m.: Regina returned to some of Saskatchewan’s strictest public-health measures in a year over concerns about a rising spread of more infectious COVID-19 variants.
Premier Scott Moe announced Tuesday, following demands from the Opposition, that a ban on household guests is immediately back in place in Regina and surrounding communities.
Starting Sunday, restaurants and bars in the city will will have to switch to takeout or delivery. Event venues like community halls, movie theatres, museums, libraries and “any non-essential indoor locations” also won’t be able to operate as of Sunday.
“The challenge we have is the concentration of variants in Regina is much, much higher,” Moe said at a news conference.
In and around Regina is where 763 of Saskatchewan’s 891 identified variant cases have been located. The area also had 91 of the 150 new COVID-19 infections reported Tuesday.
7 p.m.: An Edmonton man was arrested at Toronto’s Pearson airport after presenting a fraudulent document that said he had tested negative for COVID-19, Peel police said Tuesday.
The 45-year-old arrived Sunday at Toronto Pearson International Airport after an international flight, police said in a release.
“The (Canada Border Services Agency) officer was conducting an inspection check of various entry documents, including a negative COVID-19 document,” the release reads. “It appeared to be fraudulent, and Public Health reviewed it.”
Investigators from the Airport Division Criminal Investigations Bureau charged the man for unlawfully and knowingly using a forged document.
He was held for a bail hearing held at the Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton on Monday, then released with conditions.
Since Feb. 22, travellers flying into Canada have been required to take a COVID-19 test at the airport and to quarantine in a government-approved hotel at their own expense while they wait for the test result.
6:30: The U.S. Senate confirmed a soft-spoken physician as President Joe Biden’s surgeon general Tuesday. Dr. Vivek Murthy says ending the coronavirus pandemic is his top priority while he’s also raised concerns over a relapsing opioid overdose crisis.
The vote on Murthy was 57-43, giving him bipartisan support. Biden’s coronavirus response can already count on plenty of star players, but Murthy has a particular niche. As a successful author he’s addressed issues of loneliness and isolation that have been exacerbated by the pandemic.
COVID-19 has taken the lives of several members of Murthy’s extended family. He told senators during his confirmation hearing that he wants to help individuals and families protect themselves by conveying “clear, science-based guidance” to the general public. Persuading Americans to keep up such protective measures as wearing masks could well be his toughest challenge.
Murthy served as co-chair of the Biden transition team’s coronavirus advisory board. It is his second tour as America’s doctor, having previously served under former President Barack Obama.
4:04: p.m.: The White House says 27 million doses of coronavirus vaccines will be distributed next week, more than three times the number when President Joe Biden took office just over two months ago.
Coronavirus co-ordinator Jeff Zients informed governors in the U.S. on their weekly conference call that 23 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna and about 4 million of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine will be shipped next week.
About 18 million of those shots will be given directly to states and jurisdictions to administer, White House press secretary Jen Psaki says. Most of the remainder will go to the federal retail pharmacy program, with a smaller share to federally qualified community health centres.
The administration expects supplies to continue to increase in the coming weeks, which comes as more states are relaxing eligibility criteria for shots. Biden is directing all adults be eligible for vaccines nationwide by May 1, and the U.S. remains on track to have enough supply to cover all adults by the end of May.
4:00 p.m.: Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy announces a transportation program to help people get to their COVID-19 vaccine appointment, saying at a press conference on Tuesday: “We’ll quite literally drive you.”
3:51 p.m.: Newfoundland and Labrador’s elections authority says it will have results of the chaotic and delayed provincial vote on Saturday.
Spokeswoman Adrienne Luther said today her office will publicly release the results at noon on Saturday — more than two months since the election was first called.
The election has been mired in chaos since a COVID-19 outbreak swept through the St. John’s region last month, prompting officials to call off in-person voting set for Feb. 13.
The night before the vote, chief electoral officer Bruce Chaulk declared all remaining votes would instead be cast by mail.
Ballots must be returned to Elections NL by Thursday, following multiple deadline extensions.
With a 70-day campaign, the election is one of the longest in modern Canadian history, just shy of the 78-day federal election in 2015.
3:43 p.m.: Public health officials in Middlesex-London say their COVID-19 vaccination booking website was hit by a bot that tried to block other users from making appointments.
The region’s top doctor says Verto Health, the company that owns the booking system, informed the health unit of irregular activities on the website on Monday.
Dr. Chris Mackie says the company described it as similar to what scalpers use to book concert tickets on sites like Ticketmaster.
Mackie says the bot allowed some people to bypass certain steps in the booking process and blocked out others trying to schedule appointments.
He says, however, that no one was able to book multiple appointments because Ontario health card numbers are needed to schedule shots.
Mackie adds that Verto was able to adjust the system to guard against such incidents in the future.
3:00 p.m.: Caretaker Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Tuesday that coronavirus infections are rising too fast to allow a relaxation of the country’s tough lockdown and instead extended it for a further three weeks.
In one small change ahead of summer time starting at the weekend, the government pushed back the start time of its curfew by an hour to 10 p.m. starting March 31.
Two weeks ago, ahead of a general election that his party won, Rutte offered hope that a “tipping point” was approaching when vaccinations would gain the upper hand over the virus.
However, since then infection rates and hospital admissions have risen in the Netherlands and around Europe.
2:55 p.m.: After a prolonged outbreak in one community, there are now no active cases of COVID-19 in Nunavut.
Premier Joe Savikataaq says Nunavut’s case count dropped to zero on Saturday, March 20.
There have been 383 cases in the territory since the start of the pandemic.
Four Nunavut residents have also died from COVID-19, three of them outside the territory.
To date, 12,142 Nunavut residents have received one dose of the Moderna vaccine, while 6,577 have had two jabs.
2:45 p.m.: New Brunswick is reporting seven new cases of COVID-19 today.
Health officials say three cases are in the Moncton region and four cases are in the Edmundston area.
Officials say the case that was identified at Moncton High School on Sunday is presumed to involve the B.1.1.7 variant first identified in the United Kingdom.
There are 56 active reported cases in the province and one patient is hospitalized with the disease.
New Brunswick has reported a total of 1,505 cases of COVID-19 and 30 deaths linked to the virus.
Vaccination clinics are underway this week for 4,500 high school staff provincewide.
2:45 p.m.: Quebec is not immune from a third wave of COVID-19, Premier Francois Legault said Tuesday as he put two regions on notice over rising cases.
Legault said the province is currently “resisting” a third wave, but the rise in cases linked to mutations more contagious than the dominant strain of the novel coronavirus is threatening to send cases spiking, he added.
“We’re resisting against the variants and the third wave, but the battle is not over,” Legault told a new conference in Quebec City.
Legault had a special warning for the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean and Outaouais regions, where infections have risen in recent days. Residents in those regions need to reduce their contacts if they want to avoid a return from the “orange” to the more restrictive “red” pandemic-alert level, he said.
2:40 p.m.: At least five more schools have closed this week in Peel Region because of COVID-19.
W.G. Davis Sr. Public School has been shut down to in-class learning after five confirmed cases. It’s the third school in the Peel District School Board to close along with Britannia (two confirmed cases) and Lorenville (10).
Among Catholic schools, St. Daniel Comboni (two student cases) was closed Tuesday and St. Marcellinus (three staff cases) was shut down Monday. They are part of 12 schools currently closed in the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board.
Two French language schools are also closed — Rene-Lamoureux Catholic Elementary School and Sainte-Famille Catholic Secondary School in Mississauga. Both are set to reopen on April 6.
2:40 p.m.: Saskatchewan’s Opposition is calling on Premier Scott Moe to send civil servants home and close Regina restaurants to customers to combat a worsening spread of COVID-19.
The provincial capital is home to most of the confirmed and probable cases from more infectious virus strains.
The Ministry of Health has reported 640 presumed variant cases in the Regina area, and 149 known cases of the B.1.1.7 strain, first identified in the United Kingdom.
Health officials believe this more transmissible mutation to have become the dominant strain in the area, which has increased Saskatchewan’s overall average of new daily cases to 159, up from 138 last Tuesday.
2 p.m.: Health Canada is in the process of adding a warning about a rare possible side-effect of blood clots from the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine but is still certain the vaccine is safe and effective against COVID-19.
The department’s chief medical adviser Dr. Supriya Sharma says the warning comes on the heels of a similar warning in Europe last week but doesn’t change Health Canada’s analysis that the vaccine’s benefits outweigh its risks.
The European Medicines Agency last week amended its authorization of the vaccine to say there is not an overall increase in the risk of blood clots after getting the vaccine.
However the EMA and Health Canada are still analyzing data to see if there is a reason the vaccine may have caused a very small number of blood clots in the vein that drains blood from the brain.
Sharma says the warning in Canada would centre on what to look for, including intense or persistent headaches, shortness of breath and pain in the legs.
Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says Canada’s vaccination program is moving much faster than before but warns there has been a 15 per cent rise in the number of new cases of COVID-19 in the last week.
1:30 p.m.: The Manitoba government is increasing the number of people allowed to gather outdoors to 25 from 10.
It’s one of a small number of COVID-19 restrictions being eased starting Friday.
The limit on people allowed to attend weddings and funerals will also rise to 25 people from 10.
The 50 per cent capacity rule for retail outlets will change to a maximum of 500 people from 250.
Manitoba is reporting one COVID-19 death and 98 new cases.
However, five cases have been removed due to data correction, for a net increase of 93.
1:30 p.m.: Quebec Premier Francois Legault is asking residents in two regions to reduce their contacts after a recent rise in cases.
Legault says residents of Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean and Outaouais need to be careful if they want their regions to remain orange zones.
The premier says the province is stable but the next few weeks will be crucial in the fight against a third wave of COVID-19 driven by a rise in variants.
He’s urging everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated, adding that he will be getting his own shot Friday in Montreal.
1 p.m.: Canada’s top doctor says a rise in new strains of COVID-19 in Canada, including the B.1.1.7 variant, is leading to higher average hospitalization rates and more severe outcome trends among younger people across the country.
Dr. Theresa Tam says stronger evidence coming from the United Kingdom, where the B.1.1.7 variant originated, shows this new strain can cause more severe illness in the elderly and in younger age groups.
She says if these numbers increase in the younger population, hospitalizations and visits to intensive care units are likely to increase.
Over the past week, there has been a further 15 per cent increase in COVID-19 daily cases, with an average of over 3,600 new cases daily.
Tam continues to urge Canadians to follow public health guidelines, as the countrywide vaccination program continues to roll out.
Canada has seen a total of 938,000 cases to date, including more than 22,700 deaths.
12:30 p.m.: The Manitoba government is increasing the number of people allowed to gather outdoors to 25 from 10.
It’s one of a small number of COVID-19 restrictions being eased starting Friday.
The limit on people allowed to attend weddings and funerals will also rise to 25 people from 10.
The 50 per cent capacity rule for retail outlets will change to a maximum of 500 people from 250.
People attending drive-in events will be allowed to leave their vehicles, as long as they continue to follow other rules such as physical distancing.
The government had floated a much broader reopening last week, but says caution is still needed in the coming weeks.
12:25 p.m.: Prince Edward Island is reporting two new cases of COVID-19 today.
Chief medical officer of health Dr. Heather Morrison says one case involves a female under the age of 19 who is a close contact of a previously reported infection.
She says another case involves a male under the age of 19 and might be related to regional travel. There are eight active reported cases on the Island.
Morrison says 18,632 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the province, including 5,622 booster shots.
Vaccination appointments opened this week for residents 70 years old and older.
12:20 p.m.: The federal government is rolling out extra funding in key regions of Ontario to add more options for residents to protect against the spread of COVID-19.
Ottawa will spend $23.7 million to operate self-isolation sites in Toronto, and the regions of Peel, York and Durham.
More sites are in the works for Thunder Bay, Windsor and other regions.
Health Minister Patty Hajdu says the federal government recognizes many barriers exist in places of overcrowded housing and in areas where housing costs are unaffordable.
That’s why the government will fund an added 1,600 COVID-19 isolation rooms, bringing the total of rooms being paid for by Ottawa to 2,000.
12 p.m.: Ontario family doctors say they want to be more involved in the province’s COVID-19 vaccination effort.
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The Ontario College of Family Physicians says a survey found 60 per cent of vaccine-hesitant respondents were more likely to get immunized if a family doctor endorsed and administered their shot.
Dr. Liz Muggah, president of the group, says it’s in the public interest to have family doctors more involved in giving out the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccines.
Some family physicians in six regions are offering Oxford-AstraZeneca shots to patients aged 60 and older as part of a pilot project.
Health Minister Christine Elliott says more vaccine supply will be sent to primary care physicians in the future, though she did not provide specifics.
11:55 a.m.: The first of two expected shipments of Moderna vaccines this week is being delayed by 24 hours.
Canada is receiving 846,000 doses of the vaccine from Moderna this week, split between two shipments.
The first shipment was to arrive this morning in Canada, but is now set to arrive Wednesday, according to federal officials.
11:40 a.m.: Quebec is reporting 656 new cases of COVID-19 today and four more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus, including one that occurred in the past 24 hours.
Health officials said hospitalizations rose by six, to 519, and 113 people were in intensive care, a drop of one.
COVID-19-related hospitalizations have risen by 18 over the past two reporting periods.
The province vaccinated 26,040 people Monday and is nearing the million mark, with a total of 993,102 doses administered.
Premier Francois Legault has said COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are no longer declining as they were earlier in the year, and he has expressed concern over the rise in the number of cases involving more transmissible variants.
The premier will provide an update on the COVID-19 situation in the province later today.
11:30 a.m.: Nova Scotia says pharmacies and doctors’ offices will be leading the next phases of its COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
Health officials say pharmacies and primary care clinics will compose 70 per cent of vaccine delivery locations once the province’s plan ramps up later this spring.
The remaining 30 per cent of locations will be made up primarily of community clinics; one per cent will involve clinics in mobile vans.
Officials say the first phase of the province’s vaccine rollout will be completed by the end of April and includes front-line workers, residents 80 years old and older and members of First Nations communities.
The province says it will be able to administer 86,000 doses every week by mid-May when vaccine clinics are running at capacity.
Officials say more than 66,000 vaccine doses had been administered as of Monday; they say more than 36,000 will be administered this week.
10:50 a.m.: Prince Edward Island is reporting two new cases of COVID-19 today.
Chief medical officer of health Dr. Heather Morrison says one case involves a female under the age of 19 who is a close contact of a previously reported infection.
She says the other case involves a male under 19 and may be related to regional travel.
There are now eight active reported cases on the Island.
10:40 a.m.: Ontario is reporting no new deaths in long-term care for the fourth straight day so the number of resident deaths remains at 3,753 since the pandemic began.
The province says four less long-term-care homes are in outbreak for a total of 52 or 8.3 per cent of all LTC homes.
10:25 a.m.: Ontario administered an additional 50,659 vaccine doses since its last daily update for a total of 1,603,699 as of 8 p.m. Monday.
The province says 301,043 people are fully vaccinated, which means they’ve had both shots.
10:15 a.m. (updated): Ontario is reporting 1,546 more COVID-19 cases and nine more deaths.
The seven-day average is up to 1,667 cases daily or 80 weekly per 100,000, and down to 11.4 deaths per day.
Locally, there are 465 new cases in Toronto, 329 in Peel and 161 in York Region.
Nearly 32,600 tests were completed the previous day.
The Star’s Zena Salem has more details.
9:10 a.m. Beginning Tuesday morning, York Region residents aged 70 and older can now be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Meanwhile, a drive-thru site at Canada’s Wonderland will open March 29 by appointment only. The region is expanding vaccines from the previous threshold of 75-years-old as of March 23 at 8:30 a.m.
Residents born in 1951 or earlier can book an appointment at york.ca/COVID19Vaccine
Vaccines are available at the following locations:
• Aaniin Community Centre in Markham
• Cornell Community Centre in Markham
• Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital in Vaughan
• Georgina Ice Palace in Georgina
• Maple Community Centre in Vaughan
• Ray Twinney Recreation Complex in Newmarket
• Richmond Green Sports Centre in Richmond Hill
Clinic dates and times vary for each location. Visit york.ca/Covid19Vaccine for specific clinic details.
Eligible residents can book their first COVID-19 vaccination appointment online; telephone support is available and is listed under the applicable clinic.
7:35 a.m. Another two staff members at popular Oakville restaurant Oliver’s Steakhouse tested positive for a COVID-19 variant of concern.
In an update Monday, Halton Region Public Health said a total of seven staff have now tested positive for the virus.
As well, the health unit extended to 10 days — from March 8 to 18 — the timeframe in which anyone who visited the restaurant at 141 Lakeshore Rd E. is now asked to self-isolate.
“While Halton Region Public Health’s investigation and case and contact management is ongoing, it is estimated that the total number of people exposed during this time is more than 200,” said public health in a statement.
Read the full story from the Star’s Kevin Jiang
7:25 a.m. Real estate agent Treat Hull compares purchasing a property in Prince Edward County this spring to buying toilet paper last March — they are pandemic purchases that take commitment and patience.
He’s not alone. Across Ontario, but especially within a couple of hours’ drive of Toronto, agents say multiple offers and over-asking prices have become the norm in rural towns and lakeside resorts.
The white-hot property market is the result of city dwellers being freed up to telecommute, historically low interest rates and the pandemic search for space in places where work-life balance seems eminently more possible. Add to that the fact that people who have maintained their employment through the public health crisis suddenly have more savings to spend on a second home.
“County real estate prices have become disconnected from reality,” said Hull. “A few years ago $600,000 or $700,000 was a lot of money here. That’s kind of mid-market now.”
Read the full story from the Star’s Tess Kalinowski
6:32 a.m.: Anti-Asian racism has been growing across the country, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Chinese Canadian National Council (CCNC) Toronto chapter, which for the first time details the nature of attacks that seem to have intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic.
From verbal insults to physical assaults, including being spat upon, 643 complaints were submitted to the council’s online platforms from March 10 to Dec. 31, 2020. Overwhelmingly, these incidents were fuelled by false and racist beliefs about the spread of COVID-19, according to the study’s authors.
Read the full story from the Star’s Olivia Bowden here.
6:29 a.m.: Emergency relief money to help fight the spread of COVID-19 in Ontario classrooms allowed each school in the province to hire an average of only 1.5 new staff members in 2020, a new analysis shows.
Hires ranged from custodians to administrative staff to teachers, and equate to what critics charge was barely enough to make an overall difference.
The analysis, by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), comes after repeated promises from the provincial government and Education Minister Stephen Lecce that the safety of Ontario’s students, teachers and staff was a “top priority.”
Read the full story from the Star’s Kenyon Wallace here.
6:27 a.m.: President Vladimir Putin said he will get a coronavirus vaccine shot on Tuesday, several months after widespread vaccination started in Russia.
Kremlin opponents have criticized Putin for not getting vaccinated amid a comparatively slow rollout of the shot in Russia, arguing that his reluctance is contributing to the already extensive hesitance about the vaccine. Russia, where only 4.3% of the 146-million population have received at least one dose, lags behind a number of countries in terms of the vaccination rate.
Surveys by Russia’s top independent pollster Levada Center have shown that a number of Russians reluctant to get vaccinated with Sputnik V has grown in recent months — to 62% in February from 58% in December. The Kremlin has said it doesn’t see a connection between Putin not getting vaccinated and public trust in the Russian COVID-19 vaccine.
Putin, 68, told a meeting with government officials and vaccine developers on Monday that he will get his shot “tomorrow,” without specifying which coronavirus vaccine out of the three authorized for use in Russia he will take.
6:24 a.m.: Pakistan’s foreign minister on Tuesday sought more Chinese vaccines to fight the pandemic as the nation reported 72 deaths from COVID-19 and 3,270 new cases in the past 24 hours.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi made the request during a telephone call to his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.
According to a foreign ministry statement, Qureshi thanked Chinese leadership for wishing Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan a speedy recovery from COVID-19. Khan tested positive over the weekend.
Qureshi also thanked Beijing for promising 1.5 million doses of Chinese vaccines for Pakistan, saying it had been pivotal to protecting lives. So far, Pakistan has received 1 million of those doses.
The statement quoted Yi as reassuring Pakistan that “China will continue to firmly support Pakistan in its fight against the pandemic.”
Pakistan has reported 633,741 cases among 13,935 deaths from coronavirus since last year.
6:19 a.m.: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman is warning that the government will forcibly close Roman Catholic churches in the capital if priests proceed with a plan to hold masses. That plan is in defiance of new restrictions against public meetings, including religious gatherings, to ease an alarming surge in coronavirus infections.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Tuesday that such exercise of the state’s police powers would not violate the constitutional principle on the separation of church and state and religious freedom, amid the pandemic in Asia’s largest Catholic nation.
“In the exercise of police powers, we can order the churches closed and I hope it will not come to that,” Roque said in response to a question during a televised news conference. “We won’t achieve anything … if you will defy and you will force the state to close the doors of the church.”
The administrator of the dominant Roman Catholic church in Manila and nearby suburbs said in a pastoral instruction that no processions and motorcades and other street activities would be held during the Lenten period and Easter but added religious worship would be organized inside churches starting Wednesday for a limited number of churchgoers.
6:18 a.m.: A leading European Union official has lashed out at the AstraZeneca vaccine company for its massive shortfall in producing doses for the 27-nation bloc, and threatened that any shots produced by them in the EU could be forced to stay there.
Sandra Galina, the chief of the European Commission’s health division, told legislators on Tuesday that while vaccine producers like Pfizer and Moderna have largely met their commitments “the problem has been AstraZeneca. So it’s one contract which we have a serious problem.”
The European Union has been criticized at home and abroad for its slow rollout of its vaccine drive to the citizens, standing at about a third of jabs given to their citizens compared to nations like the United States and United Kingdom.
Galina says the overwhelming responsibility lies with the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was supposed to be the workforce of the drive, because it is cheaper and easier to transport and was supposed to delivered in huge amounts in the first half of the year.
“We are not even receiving a quarter of such deliveries as regards this issue,” Galina said, adding AstraZeneca could expect measures from the EU. “We intend, of course, to take action because, you know, this is the issue that cannot be left unattended.”
The EU already closed an advance purchasing agreement with the Anglo-Swedish company in August last year for up to 400 million doses.
6:17 a.m.: Results from a U.S. trial of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine may have used “outdated information,” U.S. federal health officials said early Tuesday.
The Data and Safety Monitoring Board said in a statement that it was concerned that AstraZeneca may have provided an incomplete view of the efficacy data.
AstraZeneca reported Monday that its COVID-19 vaccine provided strong protection among adults of all ages in a long-anticipated U.S. study, a finding that could help rebuild public confidence in the shot around the world and move it a step closer to clearance in the U.S.
In the study of 30,000 people, the vaccine was 79% effective at preventing symptomatic cases of COVID-19 — including in older adults. There were no severe illnesses or hospitalizations among vaccinated volunteers, compared with five such cases in participants who received dummy shots — a small number, but consistent with findings from Britain and other countries that the vaccine protects against the worst of the disease.
AstraZeneca also said the study’s independent safety monitors found no serious side effects, including no increased risk of rare blood clots like those identified in Europe, a scare that led numerous countries to briefly suspend vaccinations last week.
6:15 a.m.: A report by advocates for Canadian inmates is criticizing the rising rates of incarceration in at least two provincial jail systems amid the continuing pandemic.
About a year after the first COVID-19 cases emerged in Ontario jails, the update by the Prison Pandemic Partnership says the risk to inmates increases when there is less space.
The partnership — which includes the Centre for Access to Information and Justice, the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association — estimates that more than 7,000 cases of COVID-19 have been linked to Canadian jails and prisons, including over 5,000 infections among prisoners.
It says at the outset of the pandemic, from March through June last year, prison populations across the country fell in an effort to increase the space available and enable physical distancing.
However, the study used Statistics Canada data to show that most provincial and territorial jail systems started to put more people back in jail over the summer.
4 a.m.: The latest numbers on COVID-19 vaccinations in Canada as of 4 a.m. ET on Tuesday March 23, 2021.
In Canada, the provinces are reporting 143,559 new vaccinations administered for a total of 4,097,844 doses given. Nationwide, 633,459 people or 1.7 per cent of the population has been fully vaccinated. The provinces have administered doses at a rate of 10,812.46 per 100,000.
There were no new vaccines delivered to the provinces and territories for a total of 4,773,170 doses delivered so far. The provinces and territories have used 85.85 per cent of their available vaccine supply.
Please note that Newfoundland, P.E.I., Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the territories typically do not report on a daily basis.
4 a.m.: The latest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 4 a.m. ET on Tuesday March 23, 2021.
There are 938,719 confirmed cases in Canada (35,844 active, 880,159 resolved, 22,716 deaths). The total case count includes 13 confirmed cases among repatriated travellers.
There were 3,781 new cases Monday. The rate of active cases is 94.31 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 25,673 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 3,668.
There were 40 new reported deaths Monday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 221 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 32. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.08 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 59.77 per 100,000 people.
There have been 26,704,383 tests completed.