OTTAWA — The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada (all times eastern):
7:05 p.m.
Alberta is reporting 931 new daily cases of COVID-19.
The province says 676 variant cases have been identified.
It says nearly 43 per cent of the 10,809 active infections are variants.
There are 328 people in hospital with the illness and 76 of them are in intensive care.
—
7 p.m.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is reinstituting some public-health restrictions, saying that variant cases of COVID-19 continue to soar and are on track to swamp the health system by mid-May.
Kenney says that as of Friday, restaurants must close to in-person dining.
Retail stores will be allowed 15 per cent customer capacity rather than the current 25 per cent, and low-intensity group fitness activities are once again banned.
Kenney says Alberta is now seeing a third wave of COVID-19, driven mainly by the more contagious and dangerous variants.
The province averaged about 1,000 new COVID-19 cases a day during the Easter long weekend, and the death total has now surpassed 2,000 in the province.
—
6:20 p.m.
British Columbia is reporting 1,068 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the province’s total to 105,988.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says three more people have died.
Officials have administered 912,056 COVID-19 shots, 87,474 of which were second doses.
Testing has confirmed 207 cases involving variants of concern and all but one are in the Vancouver Coastal Health region.
—
5:25 p.m.
Less than two weeks after easing restrictions, Quebec is reversing its decision to reopen gyms and to bring back all high school students to in-person classes.
Premier Francois Legault says students in grades 9, 10 and 11 in red zones, including Montreal, will return to alternative schedules of in-person learning one day out of every two, starting next Monday.
Legault says gyms in red zones will be forced to close on Thursday.
Health Minister Christian Dube says vaccination appointments will be open to all Quebecers 60 and over by the end of the week.
He says anyone as young as 55 can book an appointment for an Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine by this Thursday.
—
4:55 p.m.
Starting tomorrow, Nunavut will ease restrictions in its central Kivalliq region.
Masks remain mandatory in Arviat, the last Nunavut community to have an outbreak of COVID-19, while gatherings in homes will be limited to five people.
Outdoor gatherings in Arviat will be limited to 50 people, while indoor gatherings in community spaces will also be limited to 50 people.
Schools in Arviat will operate using a blend of in-person and remote learning.
In the rest of the Kivalliq, up to 15 people can gather in homes and up to 100 people can gather in community spaces indoors.
The last case of COVID-19 in Nunavut was declared in Arviat on March 20 and there are currently no active cases in the territory.
—
3:40 p.m.
Saskatchewan is reporting 217 new cases of COVID-19 and three additional deaths.
The province says nearly half of the new infections are in the Regina zone.
There are 202 people in hospital with COVID-19 and 44 of them are in intensive care.
—
1:50 p.m.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says his government will be implementing further public health restrictions as COVID-19 cases continue to rise.
Ford says the situation with variants of concern of the virus is changing day to day and people are not following a request to stay at home.
He did not provide any specific details about the additional measures or when they might be imposed.
His comments come a day after top doctors of three COVID-19 hot spots in Ontario urged the province to impose tougher restrictions, including a stay-at-home order.
—
1:40 p.m.
Manitoba health officials are announcing 62 new cases of COVID-19 and two more deaths from the virus.
Screening has also found five additional cases that are variants of concern.
Dr. Brent Roussin, the chief provincial public health officer, says people need to avoid non-essential travel as the number of variants has significantly risen in neighbouring provinces.
Public health orders require anyone returning to the province to isolate for two weeks.
The age eligibility for vaccines remains at 64 and older and 44 and older for First Nations people.
—
1:25 p.m.
New Brunswick is reporting three new cases of COVID-19 today.
Health officials say the Saint John, Fredericton and Edmundston regions each have one case.
Officials are also confirming that the seven cases reported Monday in the Moncton region are connected and are travel-related.
The Vitalite Health Network says the intensive care unit at the Edmundston Regional Hospital is at capacity and new patients will be diverted to other hospitals.
There are 162 active reported cases of COVID-19 in New Brunswick and 18 patients are hospitalized with the disease, including 12 in intensive care.
—
12:45 p.m.
Canada’s chief public health officer is advising Canadians to avoid interprovincial travel amid concerns COVID-19 vaccines might not be fully effective against new variants of the disease.
Dr. Theresa Tam says she is concerned about people travelling as tourists and gathering for leisure activities.
With new variants of concern now being identified in provinces such as British Columbia, Ontario and Alberta, there is concern Canadians could further spread these strains of the virus across the country.
Tam says some laboratory tests show the P1 variant, in particular, might elude a person’s immunity response.
This means people who have been vaccinated or who have contracted COVID-19 could still get sick or reinfected by the virus.
—
12:15 p.m.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says most provinces have made it clear they don’t need Ottawa’s help when it comes to getting COVID-19 vaccines into the arms of Canadians, but he adds the federal government will be there if needed.
He says political leaders are just as exhausted as Canadian families, business owners and frontline workers, which he believes is why some premiers, including Ontario’s Doug Ford, have been critical of the vaccine rollout in Canada.
Trudeau says that when he speaks with Ford later today, he hopes to determine how the federal government can assist Ontario with the third wave of COVID-19 now sweeping the province.
—
11:45 a.m.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government is delivering the final instalment from billions of dollars announced last summer to help provinces and territories through the COVID-19 pandemic.
He says the federal funding has been used to bolster the capacity of Canada’s health-care systems, secure personal protective equipment for essential workers and protect the most vulnerable.
It has also helped support child-care needs during the pandemic and keep municipalities and public transit operating.
Trudeau now says $700 million, the final instalment from the Safe Restart Agreement, will help provinces and territories with efforts including testing and contact tracing.
—
11:40 a.m.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he will speak today with Ontario Premier Doug Ford about the COVID-19 situation in Ontario.
He says he expects to discuss what the spike in cases in Ontario means for hospitals and the importance of vaccinating as many people as possible, as quickly as possible.
Trudeau says he will also speaks to all provincial and territorial premiers Wednesday about their efforts to protect and support Canadians from the new variants and rising cases in areas across the country.
—
11:30 a.m.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is calling on the federal government to do more to help provinces get vaccinations into the arms of essential workers.
Singh says a priority should be workers who cannot stay home and toil in industries where the virus is known to be spreading.
He says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau can help by offering assistance from the military and pushing for paid sick leave.
Singh says he won’t accept the excuse that administering vaccinations is a provincial responsibility.
—
11:20 a.m.
Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole is pressing the government to ask the auditor general to appoint a “special monitor” to track the federal pandemic response as it happens to glean lessons promptly.
O’Toole also says a Conservative government would call a public inquiry to study the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He says the federal Liberals “dropped the ball” on vaccines and Canadians need to know what worked and what didn’t.
—11:15 a.m.
Quebec is reporting 1,168 new cases of COVID-19 today and four additional deaths, including one within the previous 24 hours.
The provincial Health Department says hospitalizations rose by 11 to reach 514, with 121 patients in intensive care, a drop of two.
Public health authorities say 39,816 doses of vaccine were administered in the province yesterday, bringing the total to 1,592,197.
Quebec has reported 318,532 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 10,701 deaths since the pandemic began.
—
11:05 a.m.
Nova Scotia is reporting six new cases of COVID-19 today and a total of 36 active cases.
Five cases have been identified in the Halifax area with one related to travel outside of Atlantic Canada, three close contacts of a previously reported case, and one case under investigation.
There is also one case in the province’s eastern health zone identified as a close contact of a previously reported case.
Health officials say that unrelated to the new cases are four new cases of the variant that first emerged in the United Kingdom that have been identified in the Halifax area and have since been resolved.
—
11 a.m.
Prince Edward Island is reporting no new cases of COVID-19 today.
Chief medical officer of health Dr. Heather Morrison says there are eight active reported cases on the Island.
Morrison says two cases reported on March 26 have been confirmed as the B.1.1.7 variant first identified in the United Kingdom.
She says both variant cases are related to travel outside Atlantic Canada.
—
10:30 a.m.
Ontario reports 3,065 new cases of COVID-19 and eight more deaths linked to the virus.
Health Minister Christine Elliott says that 955 of those new cases are in Toronto, 561 are in Peel Region, and 320 are in York Region.
She also says there are 165 new cases in Ottawa and 132 in Niagara Region.
More than 76,000 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine were administered in Ontario since Monday’s report.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 6, 2021.
The Canadian Press
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said Quebec students in grades 3-5 in red zones will return to alternative schedules of in-person learning one day out of every two. In fact, it is students in grades 9-11.
NEW YORK (AP) — Teen smoking hit an all-time low in the U.S. this year, part of a big drop in the youth use of tobacco overall, the government reported Thursday.
There was a 20% drop in the estimated number of middle and high school students who recently used at least one tobacco product, including cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, nicotine pouches and hookahs. The number went from 2.8 million last year to 2.25 million this year — the lowest since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s key survey began in 1999.
“Reaching a 25-year low for youth tobacco product use is an extraordinary milestone for public health,” said Deirdre Lawrence Kittner, director of CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, in a statement. However, “our mission is far from complete.”
A previously reported drop in vaping largely explains the overall decline in tobacco use from 10% to about 8% of students, health officials said.
The youth e-cigarette rate fell to under 6% this year, down from 7.7% last year — the lowest at any point in the last decade. E-cigarettes are the most commonly used tobacco products among teens, followed by nicotine pouches.
Use of other products has been dropping, too.
Twenty-five years ago, nearly 30% of high school students smoked. This year, it was just 1.7%, down from the 1.9%. That one-year decline is so small it is not considered statistically significant, but marks the lowest since the survey began 25 years ago. The middle school rate also is at its lowest mark.
Recent use of hookahs also dropped, from 1.1% to 0.7%.
The results come from an annual CDC survey, which included nearly 30,000 middle and high school students at 283 schools. The response rate this year was about 33%.
Officials attribute the declines to a number of measures, ranging from price increases and public health education campaigns to age restrictions and more aggressive enforcement against retailers and manufacturers selling products to kids.
Among high school students, use of any tobacco product dropped to 10%, from nearly 13% and e-cigarette use dipped under 8%, from 10%. But there was no change reported for middle school students, who less commonly vape or smoke or use other products,
Current use of tobacco fell among girls and Hispanic students, but rose among American Indian or Alaska Native students. And current use of nicotine pouches increased among white kids.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
WASHINGTON (AP) — An Alabama man was arrested Thursday for his alleged role in the January hack of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission social media account that led the price of bitcoin to spike, the Justice Department said.
Eric Council Jr., 25, of Athens, is accused of helping to break into the SEC’s account on X, formerly known as Twitter, allowing the hackers to prematurely announce the approval of long-awaited bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
The price of bitcoin briefly spiked more than $1,000 after the post claimed “The SEC grants approval for #Bitcoin ETFs for listing on all registered national securities exchanges.”
But soon after the initial post appeared, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said on his personal account that the SEC’s account was compromised. “The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products,” Gensler wrote, calling the post unauthorized without providing further explanation.
Authorities say Council carried out what’s known as a “SIM swap,” using a fake ID to impersonate someone with access to the SEC’s X account and convince a cellphone store to give him a SIM card linked to the person’s phone. Council was able to take over the person’s cellphone number and get access codes to the SEC’s X account, which he shared with others who broke into the account and sent the post, the Justice Department says.
Prosecutors say after Council returned the iPhone he used for the SIM swap, his online searches included: “What are the signs that you are under investigation by law enforcement or the FBI even if you have not been contacted by them.”
An email seeking comment was sent Thursday to an attorney for Council, who is charged in Washington’s federal court with conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud.
The price of bitcoin swung from about $46,730 to just below $48,000 after the unauthorized post hit on Jan. 9 and then dropped to around $45,200 after the SEC’s denial. The SEC officially approved the first exchange-traded funds that hold bitcoin the following day.
Google, Meta and TikTok have removed social media accounts belonging to an industrial plant in Russia’s Tatarstan region aimed at recruiting young foreign women to make drones for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Posts on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok were taken down following an investigation by The Associated Press published Oct. 10 that detailed working conditions in the drone factory in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone, which is under U.S. and British sanctions.
Videos and other posts on the social media platforms promised the young women, who are largely from Africa, a free plane ticket to Russia and a salary of more than $500 a month following their recruitment via the program called “Alabuga Start.”
But instead of a work-study program in areas like hospitality and catering, some of them said they learned only arriving in the Tatarstan region that they would be toiling in a factory to make weapons of war, assembling thousands of Iranian-designed attack drones to be launched into Ukraine.
In interviews with AP, some of the women who worked in the complex complained of long hours under constant surveillance, of broken promises about wages and areas of study, and of working with caustic chemicals that left their skin pockmarked and itching. AP did not identify them by name or nationality out of concern for their safety.
The tech companies also removed accounts for Alabuga Polytechnic, a vocational boarding school for Russians aged 16-18 and Central Asians aged 18-22 that bills its graduates as experts in drone production.
The accounts collectively had at least 158,344 followers while one page on TikTok had more than a million likes.
In a statement, YouTube said its parent company Google is committed to sanctions and trade compliance and “after review and consistent with our policies, we terminated channels associated with Alabuga Special Economic Zone.”
Meta said it removed accounts on Facebook and Instagram that “violate our policies.” The company said it was committed to complying with sanctions laws and said it recognized that human exploitation is a serious problem which required a multifaceted approach, including at Meta.
It said it had teams dedicated to anti-trafficking efforts and aimed to remove those seeking to abuse its platforms.
TikTok said it removed videos and accounts which violated its community guidelines, which state it does not allow content that is used for the recruitment of victims, coordination of their transport, and their exploitation using force, fraud, coercion, or deception.
The women aged 18-22 were recruited to fill an urgent labor shortage in wartime Russia. They are from places like Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, South Sudan, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, as well as the South Asian country of Sri Lanka. The drive also is expanding to elsewhere in Asia as well as Latin America.
Accounts affiliated to Alabuga with tens of thousands of followers are still accessible on Telegram, which did not reply to a request for comment. The plant’s management also did not respond to AP.
The Alabuga Start recruiting drive used a robust social media campaign of slickly edited videos with upbeat music that show African women smiling while cleaning floors, wearing hard hats while directing cranes, and donning protective equipment to apply paint or chemicals.
Videos also showed them enjoying Tatarstan’s cultural sites or playing sports. None of the videos made it clear the women would be working in a drone manufacturing complex.
Online, Alabuga promoted visits to the industrial area by foreign dignitaries, including some from Brazil, Sri Lanka and Burkina Faso.
In a since-deleted Instagram post, a Turkish diplomat who visited the plant had compared Alabuga Polytechnic to colleges in Turkey and pronounced it “much more developed and high-tech.”
According to Russian investigative outlets Protokol and Razvorot, some pupils at Alabuga Polytechnic are as young as 15 and have complained of poor working conditions.
Videos previously on the platforms showed the vocational school students in team-building exercises such as “military-patriotic” paintball matches and recreating historic Soviet battles while wearing camouflage.
Last month, Alabuga Start said on Telegram its “audience has grown significantly!”
That could be due to its hiring of influencers, who promoted the site on TikTok and Instagram as an easy way for young women to make money after leaving school.
TikTok removed two videos promoting Alabuga after publication of the AP investigation.
Experts told AP that about 90% of the women recruited via the Alabuga Start program work in drone manufacturing.
