The latest:
Thousands of elementary school students headed back to in-person classes in Quebec on Monday, amid debate over how to best reduce COVID-19 transmission in schools and whether classrooms should even be reopening at all.
The province, which has struggled to bring down case counts and hospitalizations, is implementing new infection control measures following the holiday break. Students in elementary school are now required to wear masks in hallways, common spaces and buses, and those in Grades 5 and 6 will also have to wear a mask inside their classrooms.
But some experts, parents and unions say the government needs to do more to keep classrooms safe from COVID-19.
In particular, Education Minister Jean-François Roberge’s decision to forgo installing air purifiers in classrooms is being criticized by advocates who believe it is essential to combating aerosol transmission of COVID-19.
One of Quebec’s largest teachers’ unions is also proposing cutting class sizes in half by alternating the days students attend school in-person, which was already being done in some high schools.
While Quebec, Alberta and other provinces are sending many students back to classrooms this week after an extended break, Ontario has reversed course on part of its back-to-school plan.
Ontario was set to reopen elementary schools in the southern half of the province on Monday, but delayed that move by two weeks in the face of surging case counts and a spike in positivity rates among children.
The province’s chief medical officer of health said last week the positivity rate for kids aged 12 to 13 years old increased from 5.44 per cent in late November and early December to nearly 20 per cent in early January.
WATCH | Similar COVID-19 numbers but Alberta and Ontario diverge on schools:
Two provinces with similar COVID-19 infection numbers have made opposite decisions on school going forward. Alberta is sending kids back to the classroom next week, while Ontario is keeping most students at home. 2:00
Elementary students and secondary students in the seven northern Ontario public health unit regions, where COVID-19 case numbers have been much lower, are returning to in-person learning on Monday as planned.
What’s happening across Canada
As of 7:30 a.m. ET on Monday, Canada had reported 660,289 cases of COVID-19, with 84,567 cases considered active. A CBC News tally of deaths stood at 16,950.
The federal government is introducing legislation to close a loophole that allows Canadians who travelled abroad to claim up to $1,000 in sick pay while quarantining back home.
The Canada recovery sickness benefit has been available to those who are unable to work for at least half of their scheduled work week because they tested positive for COVID-19 or are isolating due to the virus. But critics have warned it could be going to Canadians completing their mandatory 14-day quarantine after returning from personal vacations abroad.
WATCH | These longtime Ontario snowbirds stayed north this winter:
Bob Slack and his wife Lois are living in their winterized cottage near Brockville, Ont., enjoying watching nature out their windows and going for walks. 1:17
In Atlantic Canada, New Brunswick continues to see a spike in cases, announcing 14 more on Sunday.
The surge there prompted Nova Scotia’s premier to announce last week that anyone coming into the province from New Brunswick must now self-isolate. Nova Scotia on Sunday saw no new cases in the province for the first time since November.
Meanwhile, Newfoundland and Labrador recorded its first new case in five days. According to the Department of Health, the case is related to international travel.
Quebec reported 2,588 new cases and 39 new deaths on Sunday, a day after it topped 3,000 new cases for the first time. Recent projections suggest Montreal’s hospitals could soon exceed capacity.
WATCH | Doctors share experience of getting COVID-19 vaccine:
Two doctors share their experiences getting the COVID-19 vaccine, what it means to them and why they want others to see them getting the shot. 2:33
Meanwhile, the province’s first night of a curfew to curb the spread of COVID-19 resulted in dozens of tickets being given out, including to people who were protesting public health measures.
Ontario registered 3,945 new cases and 61 additional deaths on Sunday, with the new cases marking a single-day record for the province.
Sources have told CBC News that Ontario’s latest COVID-19 modelling, due to be released publicly on Tuesday, will project the province’s intensive care units to be filled beyond capacity by early February.
In the Prairies, Manitoba added 151 COVID-19 cases and five more deaths on Sunday, while Saskatchewan announced 307 new cases and Alberta reported 811 new cases of COVID-19 and 12 new deaths.
In British Columbia, the Vancouver Canucks are returning to practice Monday morning after cancelling practice and workouts Sunday due to potential COVID-19 exposure.
WATCH | Creating safer workplaces crucial to curbing COVID-19, specialist says:
Lockdowns alone won’t be effective enough at curbing the coronavirus unless the government takes steps to address a key driver of infections – workplaces – by helping to make them safer, says Dr. Isaac Bogoch, a member of Ontario’s COVID-19 task force. 6:55
What’s happening around the world
As of early Monday morning, more than 90.3 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, with more than 50 million of those considered recovered or resolved, according to Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 case tracking tool. The global death toll stood at more than 1.9 million.
In Europe, authorities in northern France launched a weeklong mass testing program on Monday to assess the rate of coronavirus infections and the spread of a more contagious variant that first appeared in southern England in November.
France has been criticized for its slow vaccination program, with only 80,000 French citizens having been vaccinated against the coronavirus as of Friday. Neighbouring Germany has conducted hundreds of thousands of inoculations.
In Asia, Indonesia gave Sinovac Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine its first emergency use approval outside China on Monday as the world’s fourth-most populous country launches nationwide inoculations to stem surging infections and deaths.
But a lack of data and varying efficacy rates reported for the vaccine from different countries could undermine public trust in the rollout, according to public health experts. Interim data from a late-stage human test of CoronaVac showed it is 65.3 per cent effective, Indonesia’s food and drugs authority BPOM said — lower than figures in Brazil and Turkey, which have yet to launch mass vaccinations.
Chinese health authorities say scores more people have tested positive for the coronavirus in Hebei province bordering on the capital Beijing.
The outbreak focused on the Hebei cities of Shijiazhuang and Xingtai is one of China’s most serious in recent months and comes amid measures to curb the further spread during next month’s Lunar New Year holiday. Authorities have called on citizens not to travel, ordered schools closed a week early and conducted testing on a massive scale.
Schools have reopened partially in Sri Lanka after being closed for nearly three months. The government decided not to reopen schools in the capital Colombo and its suburbs as the majority of recent COVID-19 cases are reported from those areas.
In the Americas, U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee said Sunday he has tested positive for the coronavirus after coming into contact with another member of Congress with whom he shares a residence in Washington. Fleischmann said he is “feeling okay” and is consulting with the Capitol’s attending physician.
The spokesperson for Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Sunday he has tested positive for coronavirus, but there was no word on whether the president had been tested.
In Africa, South Africa is struggling to cope with a spike in COVID-19 cases that has already overwhelmed some hospitals, as people returning from widespread holiday travel along the coast spread the country’s more infectious coronavirus variant.
Of particular concern is Gauteng province, the country’s most populous, which includes the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria. Authorities say it is already seeing a spike in new infections after people travelled to coastal areas, where the variant is dominant.
