On Sunday afternoon, Alberta Health reported 950 new COVID-19 cases over the previous 24-hour period.
The province also reported 600 additional variant cases, with 38 per cent of the active cases in Alberta now being variants of concern.
On Saturday, Alberta chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw tweeted Saturday there was a significant outbreak in the province relating to the P.1 variant, which was first discovered in Brazil. Hinshaw said the outbreak was linked to a traveller but did not provide further information.
The province said it would provide an update on the situation on Monday.
Mount Royal University political science professor Lori Williams called the vague tweet “unwise.”
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“We’re reliant on (the government) for information and also to answer questions. To simply put out a tweet that raises concerns and doesn’t answer any questions raises the level of anxiety quite unnecessarily,” Williams said.
According to infectious disease Dr. Lynora Saxinger, the vaccines available in Canada do protect against the P.1 variant.
“Based on the lab data, we think the vaccines will offer some protection against this variant. But we don’t have firm, observed numbers in a community setting,” she said.
Medical experts say variants, including P.1, are more transmissible, which means preventative measures have to be followed more strictly.
“The transmissibility of all of them ranges in the one-and-a-half to two times more transmissible for all the variants of concern. The only one I have seen good data suggesting the disease itself is worse in terms of severity or more likely to cause death is actually the U.K. variant,” Saxinger said.
1:53 Alberta government remains tight-lipped on P.1 COVID-19 variant outbreak
Alberta government remains tight-lipped on P.1 COVID-19 variant outbreak
The new cases reported Sunday came from 11,200 tests performed on Saturday, resulting in a provincial positivity rate of eight per cent.
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On April 3, 8,000 vaccine doses were administered and a total of 693,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered as of Sunday.
The province said hospitalizations remained stable over the previous 24 hours.
The usual update will resume on Monday. In the meantime, please continue to follow the health measures that are in place to slow the spread of COVID-19 and help protect those around you. (3/3)
The province said it will provide a daily death breakdown on Monday.
Sunday’s 600 additional variant cases were the highest in Alberta since the start of the pandemic, and daily cases were above 1,000 on Friday and Saturday for the first time since early January.
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4:10 Premier Kenney stays course on existing COVID-19 rules, pleads with Albertans to follow them heading into Easter
Premier Kenney stays course on existing COVID-19 rules, pleads with Albertans to follow them heading into Easter
On Thursday, Premier Jason Kenney said the province was in a new wave in its battle against the virus but stopped short of implementing new restrictions to battle the surge.
It has some experts questioning the strategy.
“I feel we’re in the same position, that once this long weekend is over, you’re going to see tighter restrictions coming in, just like we’re seeing in much of the rest of the country,” Mount Royal political science professor Duane Bratt said.
Last week, B.C., Ontario and Quebec all instituted additional measures, but Kenney put the onus on Albertans to follow current restrictions.
“I think, in various respects, the premier is fumbling this,” University of Calgary health law policy expert Lorain Hardcastle said. “In Alberta, there have been issues all along with a lack of consistency, and I think his personal responsibility mantra is not working. People know it’s not working.”
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“Hopefully, people are seeing the number of cases rising and that we’re not quite out of the woods yet,” infectious diseases physician Dr. Stephanie Smith said. “We’re going to see that exponential rise just as we did in our second wave, so we are prepared in the hospital setting for that surge.”
2:59 Will the vaccine rollout be able to outpace the new COVID-19 variants?
Will the vaccine rollout be able to outpace the new COVID-19 variants?
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
