Canada added 4,992 new cases of the novel coronavirus Saturday as four provinces reported new highs for daily infections.
Health authorities also reported another 72 deaths attributed to COVID-19, though only 45 of those fatalities occurred over the past 24 hours. To date, Canada’s total coronavirus infections stands at 325,409 and its death toll at 11,406. Over 258,000 patients have since recovered from the virus, while 13,650,000 tests have been administered.
Saturday’s data only paints a limited snapshot of the virus’ spread across Canada, however, as all territories except for Nunavut and both British Columbia and P.E.I. do not release new COVID-19 numbers on the weekend.
Health officials in New Brunswick, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta all reported new single-day peaks in diagnoses, recording 23, 1,588, 439 and 1,336 new cases respectively, as the nation’s top doctor sounded the alarm yet again.
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“More and larger outbreaks are occurring in long term care homes, congregate living settings and hospitals, and spreading in Indigenous communities,” Dr. Theresa Tam said in a written statement.
“These developments are deeply concerning as they put countless Canadians at risk of life-threatening illness, cause serious disruptions to health services and present significant challenges for areas not adequately equipped to manage complex medical emergencies.”
Among those areas is the fly-in community of Fond du Lac First Nation in northern Saskatchewan, which was reporting 63 COVID-19 cases as of Saturday — 55 of them active.
About 1,000 people call the remote community home, and more than 300 of them have been told to self-isolate.
2:24 Coronavirus: Lockdown restrictions in Toronto, Peel region could see travel spike to York region, experts say
Coronavirus: Lockdown restrictions in Toronto, Peel region could see travel spike to York region, experts say
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe called the record 439 new cases in his province on Saturday “very concerning,” adding the seven-day average for new daily cases is the highest it’s ever been at 203.
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Nunavut is also recording a surge in new COVID-19 cases, though it hasn’t beat its single-day high.
The territory saw 25 new cases on Saturday, including 22 in hard-hit Arviat and three in Whale Cove.
There are 107 active infections in the territory, which just confirmed its first case a little more than two weeks ago.
People arriving in the Northwest Territories and Yukon are once again required to self-isolate for 14 days, while a provincewide public health order in B.C. has barred social gatherings of any size in private homes except between members of the same “core bubble.”
Elsewhere, case counts rose in Atlantic Canada as Nova Scotia reported eight new cases on Saturday, pushing active infections to 33, while Newfoundland and Labrador reported five new cases for a total of 18 active infections there.
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There are now 8,012 active infections in Manitoba, including 385 new cases, and 10 more people have died. The province has for weeks recorded the highest per-capita rate of new infections in Canada.
Premier Brian Pallister was put on the defensive on Saturday as he addressed Progressive Conservative party members at a convention, saying “every province west of Nova Scotia has its highest numbers in the last few days, including Manitoba.”
“Trying to make the political argument that Manitoba’s government missed the boat when everybody in the western world is under attack right now is not a fruitful thing — even if it was right, and it isn’t,” he said.
Quebec has reported 1,189 new cases and 32 more deaths, five of which occurred within the last day, while 646 people are in hospital.
Alberta set a new single-day record for new infections for a third straight day with 1,336 cases detected on Saturday. Officials have said the high caseload has strained the health-care system and overwhelmed contact tracing efforts, as public health workers don’t know where most of the 11,274 active infections in the province were contracted.
Ontario added another 1,588 cases of the virus on Saturday, also setting a new single-day record for new infections. The new data comes amid sweeping restrictions across the parts of the province set to be implemented Monday.
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Another 21 deaths were also reported by health authorities, with the province’s case total standing at 102,378 and its death toll at 3,472.
2:04 Coronavirus: Shoppers flock to malls in Toronto, Peel Region ahead of lockdown
Coronavirus: Shoppers flock to malls in Toronto, Peel Region ahead of lockdown
The surging numbers come a day after new federal modeling showed daily COVID-19 tallies could reach 20,000 nationwide if Canadians don’t drastically limit their contacts in a bid to stop transmission.
Tam reported 52,739 active infections across the country, with an average of 71 deaths and 1,840 people treated in hospital every day between Nov.13 to 19.
The surge is “putting pressure on local healthcare resources and forcing hospitals to make the difficult decision to cancel elective surgeries and procedures in several areas,” she said in a statement.
1:06 Coronavirus: U.K. PM Boris Johnson urges G20 to do more to combat pandemic
Coronavirus: U.K. PM Boris Johnson urges G20 to do more to combat pandemic
Worldwide, cases of the virus have surpassed 57,365,000 according to tally kept by Johns Hopkins University. As of Saturday, 1,368,000 people have succumbed to the virus, with the U.S., Brazil and India leading in both cases and deaths.
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.
