Hospitalizations for COVID-19 hit record highs in the Prairie provinces over the weekend as Alberta on Sunday reported more new daily cases than hard-hit Ontario or Quebec.
The surge in the west came ahead of a decision by Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island to withdraw from the so-called Atlantic bubble for a period of two weeks.
Newfoundland and Labrador‘s premier said Monday that the decision to pull out of the Atlantic bubble is meant to stave off a second wave of COVID-19 and try to protect the upcoming holiday season.
“The Atlantic Bubble has been a source of pride … but the situation has changed.”<br><br>Furey says only essential travel to and from N.L. <br><br>He says this move is being done to help keep cases low, and to keep businesses and schools open. <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbcnl?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#cbcnl</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/covid19nfld?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#covid19nfld</a>
Prince Edward Island also moved on Monday to suspend non-essential travel to and from the island for a two-week period.
The change comes after upticks in cases over the weekend. Nova Scotia reported 11 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, it’s highest single day case number since May. New Brunswick reported six new cases on Sunday, after hitting a single-day record of 23 cases a day earlier.
In Alberta — which reported 1,584 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday — health officials also reported 319 hospitalizations, with 60 in intensive care.
Premier Scott Moe, who has been facing pressure from some to step up restrictions, said Saturday that public health officials will “have more to say early next week.”
Today’s case numbers are very concerning. Our 7-day average for new cases is now 203 – the highest it’s ever been.<br><br>While it’s too soon for the new measures implemented last week to have made an impact, we’re continuing to evaluate the situation & will consider further measures.
Health officials in that province on Sunday listed 99 people as hospitalized, with 19 in intensive care.
Tracy Zambory, president of the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses, said her organization has been calling for tighter measures.
“We cannot wait until we get to a higher number.”
In Manitoba, where health officials recently imposed strict restrictions to try and get a handle on rising case numbers, hospitalizations hit 288 on Sunday, with 52 in intensive care.
In an interview with CBC’s Rosemary Barton, Premier Brian Pallister defended his government’s response to COVID-19, which has been surging in Manitoba.
Pallister said the province has been focused on getting people to reduce their contacts, saying “that’s the key to getting in front of COVID and turning the curve.”
WATCH | Manitoba’s premier takes questions over his government’s handling of COVID-19:
Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister insists his province’s restrictions are the most stringent in the country. 8:00
What’s happening across Canada
As of 7:30 a.m. ET on Monday, Canada’s COVID-19 case count stood at 330,503, with 54,999 of those considered active cases. A CBC News tally of deaths based on provincial reports, regional health information and CBC’s reporting stood at 11,455.
Nunavut remained an area of concern as health officials in the territory reported 21 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the total number of cases reported to 130.
“Health teams are working around the clock in Arviat, Whale Cove and Rankin Inlet to trace, test, isolate and contain the spread of the virus,” Nunavut’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Michael Patterson said in a statement on Sunday.
The Northwest Territories, meanwhile, had no new cases over the weekend.
In Yukon, health officials reported three more cases of COVID-19 over the weekend, saying two of the cases were linked to previously identified cases and one was linked to out-of-province travel.
Health officials in British Columbia don’t release updated COVID-19 figures over the weekend. The province reported 516 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the number of active cases to 7,122.
Lockdown begins in Toronto, Peel Region
In Central Canada, millions of residents in the Greater Toronto Area are now living under tight new restrictions as Toronto and Peel Region move into a lockdown period set to last at least 28 days. Non-essential stores in those regions will be closed to shoppers, and restaurants can only offer takeout and delivery.
Ontario reported 1,534 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, along with 14 new deaths associated with the virus. The province also said 484 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, with 147 in intensive care.
In Quebec, health officials reported 1,154 new cases of COVID-19 and 23 additional deaths. Data from the province put the number of hospitalizations at 642, with 103 in intensive care.
The province, which has seen the most cases of any jurisdiction in Canada, has reported more than 132,000 cases and 6,829 deaths.
What’s happening around the world
From The Associated Press and Reuters, last updated at 10 a.m. ET
As of early Monday morning, there were more than 58.7 million COVID-19 cases worldwide, with more than 37.5 million of those cases considered recovered or resolved, according to a case tracking tool maintained by Johns Hopkins University.
AstraZeneca says that late-stage trials showed its COVID-19 vaccine was up to 90 per cent effective, giving public health officials hope they may soon have access to a vaccine that is easier to distribute than some of its rivals.
The results reported Monday are based on an interim analysis of trials in the U.K. and Brazil of a vaccine developed by Oxford University and manufactured by AstraZeneca.
AstraZeneca is the third major drug company to report late stage results for its potential COVID-19 vaccine as public health officials around the world anxiously wait for vaccines that will end the pandemic that has killed almost 1.4 million people.
Unlike the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the Oxford-AstraZeneca candidate doesn’t have to be stored at ultra-cold temperatures, making it easier to distribute, especially in developing countries. All three vaccines must be approved by regulators before they can be widely distributed.
Linda Flowers directs cars during a pre-Thanksgiving food handout sponsored by her for members of the community in Fort Washington, Md. Flowers, a survivor of COVID-19, holds a community food handout each Friday to honour her late father, Bishop James N. Flowers, who passed away from COVID-19 in April. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images)
In the Americas, Dr. Anthony Fauci said he’s worried that crowding at airports from Thanksgiving travel could lead to a perilous situation as COVID-19 cases surge.
The U.S. infectious disease expert told Face the Nation on Sunday that the “people at airports” despite federal guidance to avoid travel “are going to get us into even more trouble than we’re in right now.”
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration said it screened 1.047 million passengers on Sunday, the highest number since mid-March.
The number of U.S. air travellers is still about 60 per cent lower than the same date last year, but Sunday was the second time in three days that the number of passengers screened topped one million.
Health officials in Washington state said the number of people who were hospitalized to receive treatment for the coronavirus has reached a record high.
In Nevada, meanwhile, Gov. Steve Sisolak announced plans to tighten restrictions on casinos, restaurants and private gatherings such as Thanksgiving dinner in an effort to contain the spread of the virus.
In Europe, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says a national COVID-19 vaccination plan will be launched in January.
A waiter stands at the entrance of a bar in Barcelona on Monday after Spain’s Catalonia region allowed bars, restaurants, gyms and cinemas to reopen, gradually easing some of the restrictions put in place to tackle COVID-19. (Nacho Doce/Reuters)
Sanchez said the vaccine will be administered at 13,000 locations across Spain and “a very substantial part of the population” can be vaccinated in the first half of next year. Further details are expected on Tuesday.
Hungary’s foreign minister on Monday said the country is moving forward with testing on a Russian coronavirus vaccine after being the first in Europe to receive samples of the drug last week. Russia’s vaccine candidate, known as Sputnik V, has not completed advanced clinical trials and has not yet been assessed by the European Medicines Agency, the European Union’s medicines regulator. The vaccine has already been administered in Russia to healthcare workers and other high-risk groups.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Pakistan will again close all educational institutions as of Thursday because of a steady and increasingly drastic increase in coronavirus cases.
Schools were opened in September as Pakistan appeared to have achieved a sustained flattening of the curve.
Daily cases had dropped to less than 300 a day, but few people wear masks and social distancing is mostly non-existent in the country of 220 million.
Pakistan recorded 2,756 new cases in the last 24 hours, one of the sharpest spikes since the outbreak began in March. The country has 376,929 confirmed cases, and 7,696 people have died from the virus.
Indonesia’s confirmed coronavirus cases have surpassed half a million as the government of the world’s fourth most populous nation scrambles to procure vaccines to help it win the fight against the pandemic.
Gravediggers move a coffin during a funeral at a cemetery in Bogor, Indonesia, on Sunday. (Aditya Aji/AFP/Getty Images)
In the Middle East, the Palestinian Authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has announced a partial two-week lockdown to clamp down on the coronavirus’s spread as new cases have rapidly increased.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said Monday that the West Bank will be under a full lockdown over the weekends, and a curfew will be imposed from 7 p.m. until 6 a.m. on weekdays. All non-essential businesses will be closed during the periods of lockdown.
South Africa remained the hardest-hit country in Africa, with more than 767,000 cases of COVID-19 and nearly 21,000 deaths.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Rookie Wyatt Langford homered, doubled twice and became the first Texas player this season to reach base five times, struggling Jonah Heim delivered a two-run single to break a sixth-inning tie and the Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 13-8 on Tuesday night.
Leody Taveras also had a homer among his three hits for the Rangers.
Langford, who also walked twice, has 12 homers and 25 doubles this season. He is hitting .345 in September.
“I think it’s really important to finish on a strong note,” Langford said. “I’m just going to keep trying to do that.”
Heim was 1-for-34 in September before he lined a single to right field off Tommy Nance (0-2) to score Adolis García and Nathaniel Lowe, giving Texas a 9-7 lead. Heim went to the plate hitting .212 with 53 RBIs after being voted an All-Star starter last season with a career-best 95 RBIs. He added a double in the eighth ahead of Taveras’ homer during a three-run inning.
Texas had 13 hits and left 13 men on. It was the Rangers’ highest-scoring game since a 15-8 win at Oakland on May 7.
Matt Festa (5-1) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the win, giving him a 5-0 record in 13 appearances with the Rangers after being granted free agency by the New York Mets on July 7.
Nathan Eovaldi, a star of Texas’ 2023 run to the franchise’s first World Series championship, had his worst start of the year in what could have been his final home start with the Rangers. Eovaldi, who will be a free agent next season, allowed 11 hits (the most of his two seasons with Texas) and seven runs (tied for the most).
“I felt like early in the game they just had a few hits that found the holes, a few first-pitch base hits,” said Eovaldi, who is vested for a $20 million player option with Texas for 2025. “I think at the end of the day I just need to do a better job of executing my pitches.”
Eovaldi took a 7-3 lead into the fifth inning after the Rangers scored five unearned runs in the fourth. The Jays then scored four runs to knock out Eovaldi after 4 2/3 innings.
Six of the seven runs scored against Toronto starter Chris Bassitt in 3 2/3 innings were unearned. Bassitt had a throwing error during Texas’ two-run third inning.
“We didn’t help ourselves defensively, taking care of the ball to secure some outs,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said.
The Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had a double and two singles, his most hits in a game since having four on Sept. 3. Guerrero is hitting .384 since the All-Star break.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Blue Jays: SS Bo Bichette (calf) was activated and played for the first time since July 19, going 2 for 5 with an RBI. … OF Daulton Varsho (shoulder) was placed on the 10-day injured list and will have rotator cuff surgery … INF Will Wagner (knee inflammation) was placed on the 60-day list.
UP NEXT
Rangers: LHP Chad Bradford (5-3, 3.97 ERA) will pitch Wednesday night’s game on extended five days’ rest after allowing career highs in hits (nine), runs (eight) and home runs (three) in 3 2/3 innings losing at Arizona on Sept. 14.
Blue Jays: RHP Bowden Francis (8-4, 3.50) has had two no-hitters get away in the ninth inning this season, including in his previous start against the New York Mets on Sept. 11. Francis is the first major-leaguer to have that happen since Rangers Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan in 1989.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Billie Jean King will become the first individual female athlete to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.
Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey announced Tuesday that their bipartisan legislation had passed the House of Representatives and would be sent to President Joe Biden for his signature.
The bill to honor King, the tennis Hall of Famer and activist, had already passed unanimously in the Senate.
Sherrill, a Democrat, said in a statement that King’s “lifetime of advocacy and hard work changed the landscape for women and girls on the court, in the classroom, and the workplace.”
The bill was introduced last September on the 50th anniversary of King’s victory over Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes,” still the most-watched tennis match of all-time. The medal, awarded by Congress for distinguished achievements and contributions to society, has previously been given to athletes including baseball players Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente, and golfers Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson and Arnold Palmer.
King had already been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. Fitzpatrick, a Republican, says she has “broken barriers, led uncharted paths, and inspired countless people to stand proudly with courage and conviction in the fight for what is right.”
SURREY, B.C. – Premier David Eby says new account control measures for young Instagram users introduced Tuesday by social media giant Meta are the “minimum” expected of tech companies to keep kids safe online.
The parent company of Instagram says users in Canada and elsewhere under 18 will have their accounts set to private by default starting Tuesday, restricting who can send messages, among other parental controls and settings.
Speaking at an unrelated event Tuesday, Eby says the province began talks with social media companies after threatening legislation that would put big tech companies on the hook for “significant potential damages” if they were found negligent in failing to keep kids safe from online predators.
Eby says the case of Carson Cleland, a 12-year-old from Prince George, B.C., who took his own life last year after being targeted by a predator on Snapchat, was “horrific and totally preventable.”
He says social media apps are “nothing special,” and should be held to the same child safety standards as anyone who operates a place that invites young people, whether it’s an amusement park, a playground or an online platform.
In a progress report released Tuesday about the province’s engagement with big tech companies including Google, Meta, TikTok, Spapchat and X, formerly known as Twitter, the provincial government says the companies are implementing changes, including a “trusted flagger” option to quickly remove intimate images.
— With files from The Associated Press
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024
