OTTAWA — The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada (all times eastern):
1:45 p.m.
Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines will be distributed in some Ontario pharmacies starting next week.
Health Minister Christine Elliott says most doses of that vaccine will go to pharmacies in a pilot project.
The Ontario Pharmacists Association’s CEO says the pilot will begin at 380 sites in Toronto, Kingston and Windsor-Essex.
Ontario has said it will prioritize people between the ages of 60 and 64 for the AstraZeneca doses.
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1:35 p.m.
Manitoba is reporting 51 news COVID-19 cases and two deaths.
Northern regions continue to be hardest hit.
High case numbers in Mathias Colomb Cree Nation have prompted the chief and council to ban public gatherings and require people to stay home except for shopping, medical care and work in essential services.
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1:30 p.m.
Alberta’s Opposition NDP is calling for an immediate public inquiry into the COVID-19 outbreak at the Olymel pork processing plant in Red Deer.
It also wants today’s planned reopening of the plant put on hold.
The plant was shut down in mid-February, after an outbreak that has caused three deaths and infected more than 500 employees.
The company says Alberta Health has given it a green light to start a gradual reopening with slaughter operations today.
Cutting room operations can resume tomorrow.
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1 p.m.
Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting five new COVID-19 cases today.
Health officials say four new cases are in the eastern health region, which includes St. John’s, involving people between the ages of 40 and 69. Three involve close contacts of prior cases while the fourth is related to domestic travel.
The fifth case is located in the western health region, involves a person between the ages of 20 and 39 and is related to international travel.
Eight people are in hospital with the disease, including two in intensive care.
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12:45 p.m.
Nunavut is reporting 10 new cases of COVID-19 today.
All the new cases are in Arviat, a community of about 2,800 and the only place in Nunavut with active cases.
Arviat has been under a strict lockdown since November, with all schools and non-essential businesses closed.
The community’s hamlet council also ordered a nightly curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. to curb the spread.
Chief public health officer Dr. Michael Patterson says contact tracing is ongoing in the community.
There are 14 active cases of COVID-19 in Nunavut, all in Arviat.
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12:30 p.m.
Health Canada says a decision on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be announced in the “next few days.”
The word came today from Dr. Marc Berthiaume, director of the regulator’s bureau of medical sciences.
Once approved, the J&J product would become the fourth vaccine available for use in Canada. It was approved last weekend in the United States.
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12:15 p.m.
Canada’s deputy chief public health officer Dr. Howard Njoo says nearly 400,000 people were vaccinated in Canada in the last seven days.
He says that’s the most in a single week since immunizations began on Dec. 14.
Njoo says more than two million doses have been administered now, with about four per cent of Canadians getting one dose and almost 1.5 per cent now vaccinated with two doses.
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12:05 p.m.
Nova Scotia is lifting some of the restrictions in place in Halifax and surrounding communities as COVID-19 cases decline in the region.
Officials say rules that came into effect on Feb. 27 limiting restaurant hours, prohibiting sports events and discouraging non-essential travel in and out of the area will end on Friday at 8 a.m.
Rules for residents of long-term care homes remain unchanged, but those living in care facilities may only have visits from their two designated caregivers.
Officials say the restrictions for long-term care residents will remain in place in the Halifax Regional Municipality and neighbouring areas until March 27.
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11:15 a.m.
Quebec is reporting 707 new cases of COVID-19 and 20 more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus, including four in the past 24 hours.
Health officials say hospitalizations rose by eight, to 626, and 115 people were in intensive care, a drop of five.
The province says it administered 16,619 doses of vaccine yesterday, for a total of 490,504.
Quebec has reported a total of 290,377 COVID-19 infections and 10,445 deaths linked to the virus.
It has 7,379 active reported cases.
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10:50 a.m.
Nova Scotia is reporting three new cases of COVID-19.
Health officials say all three cases were identified in the health region that includes Halifax.
Two cases involve contacts of previously reported infections while the third is under investigation.
Nova Scotia has 29 active reported cases of COVID-19.
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10:40 a.m.
Ontario is reporting 994 new cases of COVID-19.
Health Minister Christine Elliott says that 298 of those new cases are in Toronto, 171 are in Peel and 64 are in York Region.
There were 10 more deaths in Ontario since the last daily update and more than 30,000 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine administered.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 4, 2021.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.
The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.
Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.
West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.
Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.
“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”
Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.
West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.
“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.
The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.
One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.
“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”
Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.
“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”
Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.
Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.
In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.
“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”
Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.
Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.
Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.
“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”
VICTORIA – British Columbia’s Environment Assessment Office has fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. $590,000 for “deficiencies” in the construction of its pipeline crossing the province.
The office says in a statement that 10 administrative penalties have been levied against the company for non-compliance with requirements of its environmental assessment certificate.
It says the fines come after problems with erosion and sediment control measures were identified by enforcement officers along the pipeline route across northern B.C. in April and May 2023.
The office says that the latest financial penalties reflect its escalation of enforcement due to repeated non-compliance of its requirements.
Four previous penalties have been issued for failing to control erosion and sediment valued at almost $800,000, while a fifth fine of $6,000 was handed out for providing false or misleading information.
The office says it prioritized its inspections along the 670-kilometre route by air and ground as a result of the continued concerns, leading to 59 warnings and 13 stop-work orders along the pipeline that has now been completed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
