The latest:
Quebecers in the Montreal area should be able to book vaccine appointments at local pharmacies starting Monday as the province continues to expand its COVID-19 immunization campaign, while Ontario launched its vaccination booking website.
Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé announced earlier this month that some 350 pharmacies in the Montreal area will start taking appointments through the province’s vaccine booking portal Monday, with shots to begin March 22. He said the program will eventually expand to more than 1,400 pharmacies across the province that will administer about two million doses.
The Montreal region is being prioritized in part because of the presence of more contagious COVID-19 variants, such as the B117 variant first identified in the United Kingdom.
As of Sunday evening, people age 70 and up were able to register for shots across the province, while in Montreal the target age drops to 65.
The province announced in January it would delay the second of two doses of COVID-19 vaccines for up to 90 days, going against manufacturer recommendations and the early advice of Canada’s expert panel on the subject.
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization has since revised its recommendation to suggest provinces maximize the number of people getting a first dose by extending the interval for the follow-up shot for up to four months.
As of Sunday evening, more than three million COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered across Canada, with Ontario leading the way at over 1.1 million doses, followed by Quebec at over 715,000 million doses.
In Ontario, meanwhile, people over 80 are now able to book appointments for vaccines given at the province’s mass immunization clinics. Qualifying residents can visit the online portal or call a hotline to book their appointment.
Health Minister Christine Elliott noted on Twitter that not all health units are using the provincial portal, and urged people to check how to book in their area.
Details of the provincial portal came as Ontario reported 1,747 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday and 15 virus-related deaths, though officials say the numbers are likely inflated by data catch-up efforts.
-From The Canadian Press and CBC News, last updated at 9:30 a.m. ET
What’s happening in Canada
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British Columbia’s Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry talks to Ian Hanomansing about what the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic were like, which she has chronicled in a new book written with her sister, and what the next few months could bring. 8:13
As of early Monday morning, Canada had reported 909,162 cases of COVID-19, with 31,672 cases considered active. A CBC News tally of deaths stood at 22,463.
In Atlantic Canada, there were a total of six cases of COVID-19 reported on Sunday — five in New Brunswick and one case in Nova Scotia.
Health officials in Newfoundland and Labrador reported no new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, the province’s second day in a row without a new case. There were no new cases reported in Prince Edward Island, which has not recorded a single death attributed to COVID-19.
In the Prairie provinces, Manitoba reported 44 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday and one additional death. According to the province, more than half of the new cases were in the Winnipeg area. In Saskatchewan, meanwhile, health officials reported 98 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday and two additional deaths.
Alberta health officials reported 388 new cases and six additional deaths on Monday. The province also reported its first cases of the P1 variant, which was originally linked to Brazil. Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province’s chief medical officer of health, said on Twitter that there were two travel-related cases.
“Our labs are screening every positive case for variants of concern to help identify them as quickly as possible. In addition, we also do full genetic sequencing on about 400 cases a week,” she said in a Twitter thread about the variant cases.
British Columbia, which will provide figures covering the weekend later, is moving ahead with vaccination bookings for people aged 84 and up as of noon local time on Monday.
Across the North, there were no new cases reported in Yukon, the Northwest Territories or Nunavut on Sunday.
-From CBC News and The Canadian Press, last updated at 7:15 a.m. ET
What’s happening around the world
As of early Monday morning, more than 119.9 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, with more than 67.9 million of those cases listed as recovered on the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 tracking tool. The global death toll stood at more than 2.6 million.
In Europe, half of Italy’s regions have gone into the strictest form of lockdown in a bid to curb the latest spike in coronavirus infections that have brought COVID-19 hospital admissions beyond manageable thresholds.
Schools, from daycare centres through university level, and retail shops were shuttered Monday in nine regions and the autonomous province of Trento, with restaurants open only for takeout. The “red zones” were imposed up and down the peninsula, from Lombardy in the north to Puglia in the south, with the Lazio region around the capital Rome in between.
The rest of the country was placed under a lesser “orange” level lockdown, while Sardinia remained “white” thanks to its ability to control new clusters of the virus traced to the variant first identified in Britain.
The Health Ministry last fall developed a tiered status of restrictions classifying individual regions on a weekly basis based on their infection rates, hospital capacity and other criteria. Until recently only a few hard-hit regions were under full lockdown, but new clusters of highly contagious virus variants have meant more and more regions have passed into the tightest “red zone” restrictions, even as vaccinations ramp up.
Portugal, meanwhile, is emerging from a two-month pandemic lockdown, with the country gradually reopening over the next seven weeks if all goes to plan.
Germany is continuing to use AstraZeneca’s vaccine according to the European Medicines Agency’s guidelines despite reports about possible serious side-effects.
France must do everything to avoid a new lockdown as pressure on hospitals grows, the prime minister said on Sunday as the country reported more than 26,000 new cases.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Thailand will start using the AstraZeneca vaccine on Tuesday after a brief delay due to safety concerns.
Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical said on Monday it has signed an agreement with contract manufacturer IDT Biologika to manufacture Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine. Under the contract, the capacity previously reserved to make Takeda’s dengue vaccine candidate will be used to make J&J COVID-19 vaccines instead, Takeda said.
After three months, the capacity will be returned to Takeda to resume manufacturing for the planned launch of its dengue vaccine, the Japan-based drugmaker added.
J&J had previously tapped contract manufacturers such as Catalent and Emergent to scale up production and meet global supply goals. Rival drugmaker Merck also agreed to make J&J’s vaccine earlier this month.
South Korea’s most populous province ordered all of its foreign workers to be tested by March 22, sparking complaints of long lines and logistical problems, as well as of implicit xenophobia in government messaging.
Singapore and Australia are discussing an air travel bubble with each other to eliminate the need for quarantine as they look to reopen borders.
In the Middle East, protests erupted across many of Jordan’s cities and provincial towns against the government’s restrictions, a day after oxygen ran out at a state hospital leading to the deaths of at least six COVID-19 patients.
In the Americas, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took a dig at the U.S. government Sunday, saying the United States has not helped Mexico with coronavirus vaccines.
Lopez Obrador thanked India and Russia, which have sent small amounts, and China, whose firms have promised millions of doses. He said: “I hope that soon I will be able to say thanks to the U.S. government, because I am sure they are going to help too, it is just that that haven’t done so so far.”
Mexico has seen almost 195,000 deaths, and almost 2.2 million cases. The country has approved six vaccines and has administered about 4.34 million shots.
The White House has rebuffed requests from U.S. allies, including Mexico, Canada and the European Union, for vaccine doses produced in the United States, where months of production runs have produced vaccine solely for use in the country.
The U.S. is scheduled to have enough approved vaccine delivered by mid-May to cover every American adult.
In Africa, South Africa’s reported total of COVID-19 cases stood at more than 1.5 million on Monday, with more than 51,300 deaths. The country, the hardest-hit on the continent, received additional doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine over the weekend, with more slated to arrive in the weeks ahead, a local press outlet reported.
–From The Associated Press, Reuters and CBC News, last updated at 8 a.m. ET
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