Manitoba, Ontario, B.C., P.E.I. and Newfoundland and Labrador announced new restrictions on Friday as the Omicron variant continued to spread around the country.
The updates from health officials come amid a push for Canadians to get their vaccine booster shots to protect against the highly infectious variant.
In Manitoba, the province’s chief public health officer said it is the first time since widespread vaccination has been available that Manitoba has been forced to introduce a large set of pandemic measures that apply even to immunized people.
“It’s absolutely frustrating to be here again for all Manitobans,” Dr. Brent Roussin said as he announced the province is putting a smaller cap on the number of people allowed to gather in public and private settings.
Under the new measures, gyms, theatres, licensed venues and museums will also have their capacity cut down to 50 per cent, and indoor and outdoor sports tournaments are not allowed.
The province reported 239 new cases on Friday, continuing a trend of rising cases, and one additional death.
In Ontario, Premier Doug Ford unveiled new restrictions for businesses and social gatherings — including limiting indoor social gatherings to 10 people — as the province reported 3,124 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday.
“We need to meet this variant head on. We need to do everything we can to push it back,” said Ford.
Amid warnings from the province’s COVID-19 science table that the omicron variant could overwhelm hospitals in the coming weeks, the province has moved up its timeline for booster shots. Every Ontarian aged 18 and older who got their second dose at least three months ago is eligible to sign up on Monday.
Ford has also said the province is making millions of free rapid tests available at pop-up sites across the province, including at liquor stores.
People stand in a long line in the parking lot of an LCBO in Ottawa on Friday morning in hopes of snagging a COVID-19 rapid test kit. (Brian Morris/CBC)
In B.C., health officials announced new public health restrictions including limits on indoor gatherings, capacity limits in large venues, suspension of sports tournaments and across-the-board cancellations of organized New Year’s Eve events.
At an news conference Friday, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said health officials are seeing a major spike in cases driven largely by younger people who are becoming infected at informal parties.
The province reported 789 new cases and three new deaths on Friday.
In P.E.I., the province’s top doctor said the “exponential spread” of COVID-19 means new cases are coming in almost faster than public health officials can notify them.
“Every day matters,” Dr. Heather Morrison said as she announced new restrictions on personal gatherings, long-term care homes and public spaces such as retailers.
The new measures come as P.E.I.reported 31 new cases, a record high for the province, and its second case of the Omicron variant.
3rd dose of mRNA vaccine seemingly quite protective against Omicron, expert says
Getting a third dose of any mRNA COVID-19 vaccine is an effective way to protect yourself against the Omicron variant, says pediatric infectious diseases specialist Dr. Cora Constantinescu. 8:36
In Newfoundland and Labrador,anyone who is fully vaccinated and deemed a close contact of a positive case now needs to isolate for seven days, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald said at an afternoon news conference.
Weddings, funerals, burials and religious events will be under new capacity limits, and travel around the province for sporting events, arts events and recreation is banned.
The province, which reported 46 new cases on Friday, is also shortening its vaccine-booster timeline by about four weeks. People over 18 are now eligible for a booster 22 weeks after their second dose.
— From CBC News and The Canadian Press, last updated at 6:30 p.m. ET
What’s happening across Canada
Omicron ‘pushing us to our limits’: top N.S. health official
Saying many people will need to ‘self-manage’ their cases of COVID-19, Nova Scotia Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Strang says the province needs to focus its resources on those who are most at risk and who have the most severe illnesses. 1:55
Nova Scotia announced 394 new cases, a record high, as Premier Tim Houston warned that the “sheer volume” of new cases is putting pressure on public health as it tries to keep up with tests. Tightened restrictions around masking, distancing and gathering limits took effect in the province on Friday.
In Quebec, health officials on Friday reported 3,768 new cases of COVID-19 — a new single-day high in the province — and seven additional deaths. The update came after Premier François Legault ramped up COVID-19 restrictions on Thursday as his province faced an uptick in cases.
Would-be Canadian travellers are again anxious after the federal government renewed warnings against non-essential international travel to try and reduce the spread of the Omicron variant. 2:02
As of Friday evening, more than 273.5 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University’s case-tracking tool. The reported global death toll stood at more than 5.3 million.
In Africa, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is making good progress with his recovery from COVID-19 while continuing to receive treatment for mild symptoms, the presidency said on Friday. Ramaphosa, who was given Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine in February, tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday.
In the Americas, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a new strategy called “test-to-stay” that allows unvaccinated children to stay in school even if they have been exposed to COVID-19, the institute’s director Rochelle Walensky said on Friday.
“If exposed children meet a certain criteria and continue to test negative, they can stay at school instead of quarantining at home,” she said.
Meanwhile, the NFL moved three games because of COVID-19 outbreaks: Las Vegas at Cleveland has been moved from Saturday to Monday; and Seattle at Los Angeles and Washington at Philadelphia have been moved from Sunday to Tuesday.
Over in the NHL, three teams — Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers — have been shut down until after the holiday break amid rising COVID-19 cases.
Nurse Sheena Davis administers a dose of a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine during a vaccination clinic at the Keystone First Wellness Center in Chester, Pa., on Wednesday. (Matt Rourke/The Associated Press)
In Europe, Denmark’s prime minister announced Friday that theaters, cinemas, concert halls, amusement parks, museums and art galleries across the country must close down under new restrictions to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the measures also would require stores smaller than 2,000 square metres and restaurants to limit the number of customers. Restaurants must serve their last meals and alcoholic beverages at 10 p.m. and close at 11 p.m. local time.
The partial shutdown order was approved later Friday by Parliament’s 21-member Epidemic Committee. Most restrictions apply as of Sunday at 8 a.m.
The Danish government is advising residents to limit social contacts over the holidays, and urged public and private companies to have employees work from home where possible.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday his government is accelerating COVID-19 booster shots and securing oral medicines after speaking with Pfizer’s CEO. Japan has confirmed a handful of Omicron variant cases, while revealing a cluster of infections of about 100 U.S. troops on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa since earlier this month. Japan, which lacks home-developed vaccines, has so far approved booster shots from Pfizer and Moderna. Japan is also moving to shorten the interval between the second jab and boosters.
In the Middle East, the Palestinian health ministry reported its first cases of the Omicron variant in the territory.
— From Reuters, The Associated Press and CBC News, last updated at 6 p.m. ET
Demands for government intervention in Air Canada labour talks could negatively affect airline competition in Canada, the CEO of travel company Transat AT Inc. said.
“The extension of such an extraordinary intervention to Air Canada would be an undeniable competitive advantage to the detriment of other Canadian airlines,” Annick Guérard told analysts on an earnings conference call on Thursday.
“The time and urgency is now. It is time to restore healthy competition in Canada,” she added.
Air Canada has asked the federal government to be ready to intervene and request arbitration as early as this weekend to avoid disruptions.
Comments on the potential Air Canada pilot strike or lock out came as Transat reported third-quarter financial results.
Guérard recalled Transat’s labour negotiations with its flight attendants earlier this year, which the company said it handled without asking for government intervention.
The airline’s 2,100 flight attendants voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike mandate and twice rejected tentative deals before approving a new collective agreement in late February.
As the collective agreement for Air Transat pilots ends in June next year, Guérard anticipates similar pressure to increase overall wages as seen in Air Canada’s negotiations, but reckons it will come out “as a win, win, win deal.”
“The pilots are preparing on their side, we are preparing on our side and we’re confident that we’re going to come up with a reasonable deal,” she told analysts when asked about the upcoming negotiations.
The parent company of Air Transat reported it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31. The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
It attributed reduced revenues to lower airline unit revenues, competition, industry-wide overcapacity and economic uncertainty.
Air Transat is also among the airlines facing challenges related to the recall of Pratt & Whitney turbofan jet engines for inspection and repair.
The recall has so far grounded six aircraft, Guérard said on the call.
“We have agreed to financial compensation for grounded aircraft during the 2023-2024 period,” she said. “Alongside this financial compensation, Pratt & Whitney will provide us with two additional spare engines, which we intend to monetize through a sell and lease back transaction.”
Looking ahead, the CEO said she expects consumer demand to remain somewhat uncertain amid high interest rates.
“We are currently seeing ongoing pricing pressure extending into the winter season,” she added. Air Transat is not planning on adding additional aircraft next year but anticipates stability.
“(2025) for us will be much more stable than 2024 in terms of fleet movements and operation, and this will definitely have a positive effect on cost and customer satisfaction as well,” the CEO told analysts.
“We are more and more moving away from all the disruption that we had to go through early in 2024,” she added.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
