Stricter public health measures come into force in two Ontario regions today as the province continues ramping up its vaccine drive.
Hamilton is going into the strictest grey-lockdown phase of Ontario’s pandemic response plan today, while the Eastern Ontario Health Unit enters the second-strictest red zone.
But as of today, those who live in grey zones will be able to attend fitness classes outdoors.
Premier Doug Ford made that announcement Friday, when he also revealed that hair salons and other personal care services will be able to reopen in grey zones on April 12.
Ontario reported 2,448 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday and 19 additional deaths. Data released by the province put the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations at 917, with 366 people listed as being in Ontario’s intensive care units.
Nurse Tahani McDonald from Humber River Hospital administers the Moderna coronavirus vaccine at a Toronto Community Housing seniors building in the northwest end of Toronto on March 25. (Carlos Osorio/Reuters)
Meanwhile, the government lowered the minimum age for vaccine eligibility in several public health units. In a news release issued Sunday night, the province said as of 8 a.m. ET on Monday, all people aged 70 and up in several public health units “will be eligible to book a COVID-19 vaccination appointment at a mass immunization clinic through the provincial online booking system and call centre.” The listed regions include:
City of Hamilton Public Health Services
Grey Bruce Health Unit
Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Public Health
Lambton Public Health
Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit
Niagara Region Public Health
Ottawa Public Health
Peel Public Health
Simcoe-Muskoka District Health Unit
Timiskaming Health Unit
York Region Public Health
Two more mass vaccination sites will also open in Toronto, where people as young as 70 started getting vaccinated on Saturday. But the city is also grappling with COVID-19 outbreaks that have forced Toronto Public Health to shutter three schools.
Vaccination efforts have been ramping up across the country, and as of Sunday evening more than 5.1 million doses had been administered, according to a CBC News vaccine-tracking tool, including more than 1.9 million doses in Ontario.
-From The Canadian Press and CBC News, last updated at 7 a.m. ET
What’s happening across Canada
WATCH | How can people reduce COVID-19 risks outdoors?
With new concerns about coronavirus variants, an infectious disease specialist answers questions about how safe it is outdoors and how to mitigate the risks. 2:17
As of early Monday morning, Canada had reported 965,409 cases of COVID-19, with 43,590 cases considered active. A CBC News tally of deaths stood at 22,880.
In Atlantic Canada, health officials in New Brunswick reported six new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday — with five in the Edmundston region. Health officials placed the health zone in the province’s northwest under temporary “circuit-breaker” restrictions last week as health officials tried to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus in the region.
Nova Scotia reported two new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, while Newfoundland and Labrador reported one new case. There were no new cases reported on Prince Edward Island.
In Quebec, health officials reported 917 new cases of COVID-19 and two additional deaths. COVID-19 hospitalizations in the province stood at 480, with 114 in intensive care, according to a provincial dashboard. On Saturday, the province reported more than 1,000 cases for the first time since mid-February.
Premier François Legault has said he doesn’t have immediate plans to step up restrictions, but he cautioned that a third wave of COVID-19 is at the province’s doorstep as he urged people to follow existing guidelines.
In neighbouring Saskatchewan, health officials reported 248 new cases on Sunday and three additional deaths. In Regina, meanwhile, more students are moving to online learning as the city tries to slow the spread of COVID-19.
In Alberta, health officials reported 644 new cases of COVID-19 and three additional deaths on Sunday. Alberta’s Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw said in a tweet that there were 277 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 63 in ICU.
In British Columbia, health officials will provide updated figures to cover the weekend later Monday.
Across the North, there were no new cases of COVID-19 reported in Yukon, the Northwest Territories or Nunavut.
-From CBC News and The Canadian Press, last updated at 7:05 a.m. ET
What’s happening around the world
France’s national cycling team trains as people get a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at the indoor Velodrome National of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines in Montigny-le-Bretonneux, southwest of Paris, last week. (Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters)
As of early Monday morning, more than 127.2 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 tracking tool. The global death toll stood at more than 2.7 million.
In Africa, Johnson & Johnson will supply up to 220 million doses of its single-shot COVID-19 vaccine to the African Union’s 55 member states from the third quarter of 2021, the drugmaker said on Monday.
South Africa plans to administer coronavirus vaccines to up to 200,000 people a day beginning around May.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong will ease some coronavirus restrictions, the government said on Monday, allowing swimming pools and beaches to open and shortening the quarantine period for some international arrivals to 14 days from 21.
Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan told a press briefing that local infections had come down considerably, giving the administration room to relax some measures. Beaches and swimming pools would reopen from April 1, while religious gatherings could resume with maximum capacity of 30 per cent. Cinemas and theme parks would be able to increase capacity to 75 per cent from 50 per cent. Bars, karaoke parlours and bathhouses would stay closed.
“We want to keep containing the epidemic and not undo the efforts we have made. We must continue to enforce stringent measures,” she said.
A police officer checks the identity document of a motorist at a quarantine checkpoint along a highway in Cainta town, on the boundary between Rizal province and suburban Manila, on Monday. (Jam Sta Rosa/AFP/Getty Images)
Philippine officials placed Metropolitan Manila and four outlying provinces, a region of more than 25 million people, back into lockdown Monday at the height of the Lenten and Easter holiday travel season as they scrambled to control an alarming surge in coronavirus infections.
Only workers, government security, health personnel and residents on urgent errands would be allowed out of homes during the weeklong restrictions, which prohibit leisure trips and religious gatherings that forced the dominant Roman Catholic church to shift all its Holy Week and Easter activities online. The renewed lockdown brought President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration under fire for what critics say was its failed handling of the pandemic.
Pakistani authorities, meanwhile, imposed a partial lockdown in several more high-risk areas in the capital, Islamabad, and elsewhere in the country after the positivity rate from coronavirus infections jumped to over 11 per cent.
Pakistan is facing another surge in coronavirus infections which officials say is worse than last year’s outbreak when Pakistan had to impose a nationwide lockdown. On Monday, authorities in the eastern Punjab province also announced a two-week long partial lockdown in high-risk cities from April 1 in an effort aimed at containing the spread of the virus.
So far, Pakistan’s government has avoided a countrywide lockdown to spare the country’s ailing economy from more damage.
In the Americas, a delivery of 1.5 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine from the United States landed in Mexico City, Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said, following an accord U.S. President Joe Biden made with Mexico this month.
The Biden administration is extending a federal moratorium on evictions of tenants in the U.S. who have fallen behind on rent during the coronavirus pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention moved to continue the pandemic-related protection, which had been scheduled to expire on Wednesday. The moratorium is now extended through the end of June.
“Keeping people in their homes and out of crowded or congregate settings — like homeless shelters — by preventing evictions is a key step in helping to stop the spread of COVID-19,” a statement from the CDC said.
The moratorium, initially put in place last year, provides protection for renters out of concern that having families lose their homes and move into shelters, or share crowded conditions with relatives or friends during a pandemic would further spread the highly contagious coronavirus.
To be eligible for protection, renters must earn $198,000 US or less for couples filing jointly, or $99,000 for single filers; demonstrate that they’ve sought government help to pay the rent; declare that they can’t pay because of COVID-19 hardships; and affirm they are likely to become homeless if evicted.
Brazil announced its first two domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine candidates for human trials, which although months away from use, should eventually help tame the pandemic.
A gravedigger wearing a protective suit looks at the first coffin, not pictured, arriving for the first night burial as spotlights illuminate the graves at Vila Formosa cemetery in Sao Paulo, Brazil last week. (Amanda Perobelli/Reuters)
In the Middle East, a new factory in Abu Dhabi will start manufacturing a COVID-19 vaccine from Chinese pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm later this year under a joint venture between Sinopharm and Abu Dhabi-based technology company Group 42 (G42).
In Europe, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Monday that health conditions were worsening during a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic in France and “all options are on the table” to protect the public. Le Maire also told France Info radio that France should avoid adopting stricter COVID-19 restriction measures for as long as it could, and ruled out changing the list of shops and businesses that have been allowed to stay open.
“This list will not change,” Le Maire said. “Today sending the signal that we would reopen some businesses while the situation deteriorates, it’s not in the country’s interest.”
Under COVID-19 restrictions in place in 19 high-risk zones, including Paris, stores allowed to stay open include those selling food, books, flowers and chocolate, and hairdressers.
Clothes, furniture and beauty shops are not allowed to open. This has led to frustration among the so-called non-essential shop owners forced to stay closed.
President Emmanuel Macron last week defended his decision not to impose a third full lockdown and to keep schools open, but said further restrictions would probably be needed.
-From The Associated Press and Reuters, last updated at 9:55 a.m. ET
Have a question or something to say? CBC News is live in the comments now.
TORONTO – Will Taylor Swift bring chaos or do we all need to calm down?
It’s a question many Torontonians are asking this week as the city braces for the arrival of Swifties, the massive fan base of one of the world’s biggest pop stars.
Hundreds of thousands are expected to descend on the downtown core for the singer’s six concerts which kick off Thursday at the Rogers Centre and run until Nov. 23.
And while their arrival will be a boon to tourism dollars — the city estimates more than $282 million in economic impact — some worry it could worsen Toronto’s gridlock by clogging streets that already come to a standstill during rush hour.
Swift’s shows are set to collide with sports events at the nearby Scotiabank Arena, including a Raptors game on Friday and a Leafs game on Saturday.
Some residents and local businesses have already adjusted their plans to avoid the area and its planned road closures.
Aahil Dayani says he and some friends intended to throw a birthday bash for one of their pals until they realized it would overlap with the concerts.
“Something as simple as getting together and having dinner is now thrown out the window,” he said.
Dayani says the group rescheduled the gathering for after Swift leaves town. In the meantime, he plans to hunker down at his Toronto residence.
“Her coming into town has kind of changed up my social life,” he added.
“We’re pretty much just not doing anything.”
Max Sinclair, chief executive and founder of A.I. technology firm Ecomtent, suggested his employees avoid the company’s downtown offices on concert days, saying he doesn’t see the point in forcing people to endure potential traffic jams.
“It’s going to be less productive for us, and it’s going to be just a pain for everyone, so it’s easier to avoid it,” Sinclair said.
“We’re a hybrid company, so we can be flexible. It just makes sense.”
Swift’s concerts are the latest pop culture moment to draw attention to Toronto’s notoriously disastrous daily commute.
In June, One Direction singer Niall Horan uploaded a social media video of himself walking through traffic to reach the venue for his concert.
“Traffic’s too bad in Toronto, so we’re walking to the venue,” he wrote in the post.
Toronto Transit Commission spokesperson Stuart Green says the public agency has been working for more than a year on plans to ease the pressure of so many Swifties in one confined area.
“We are preparing for something that would be akin to maybe the Beatles coming in the ‘60s,” he said.
Dozens of buses and streetcars have been added to transit routes around the stadium, and the TTC has consulted the city on potential emergency scenarios.
Green will be part of a command centre operated by the City of Toronto and staffed by Toronto police leaders, emergency services and others who have handled massive gatherings including the Raptors’ NBA championship parade in 2019.
“There may be some who will say we’re over-preparing, and that’s fair,” Green said.
“But we know based on what’s happened in other places, better to be over-prepared than under-prepared.”
Metrolinx, the agency for Ontario’s GO Transit system, has also added extra trips and extended hours in some regions to accommodate fans looking to travel home.
A day before Swift’s first performance, the city began clearing out tents belonging to homeless people near the venue. The city said two people were offered space in a shelter.
“As the area around Rogers Centre is expected to receive a high volume of foot traffic in the coming days, this area has been prioritized for outreach work to ensure the safety of individuals in encampments, other residents, businesses and visitors — as is standard for large-scale events,” city spokesperson Russell Baker said in a statement.
Homeless advocate Diana Chan McNally questioned whether money and optics were behind the measure.
“People (in the area) are already in close proximity to concerts, sports games, and other events that generate massive amounts of traffic — that’s nothing new,” she said in a statement.
“If people were offered and willingly accepted a shelter space, free of coercion, I support that fully — that’s how it should happen.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Hundreds of Taylor Swift fans lined up outside the gates of Toronto’s Rogers Centre Wednesday, with hopes of snagging some of the pop star’s merchandise on the eve of the first of her six sold-out shows in the city.
Swift is slated to perform at the venue from Thursday to Saturday, and the following week from Nov. 21 to Nov. 23, with concert merchandise available for sale on some non-show days.
Swifties were all smiles as they left the merch shop, their arms full of sweaters and posters bearing pictures of the star and her Eras Tour logo.
Among them was Zoe Haronitis, 22, who said she waited in line for about two hours to get $300 worth of merchandise, including some apparel for her friends.
Haronitis endured the autumn cold and the hefty price tag even though she hasn’t secured a concert ticket. She said she’s hunting down a resale ticket and plans to spend up to $600.
“I haven’t really budgeted anything,” Haronitis said. “I don’t care how much money I spent. That was kind of my mindset.”
The megastar’s merchandise costs up to $115 for a sweater, and $30 for tote bags and other accessories.
Rachel Renwick, 28, also waited a couple of hours in line for merchandise, but only spent about $70 after learning that a coveted blue sweater and a crewneck had been snatched up by other eager fans before she got to the shop. She had been prepared to spend much more, she said.
“The two prized items sold out. I think a lot more damage would have been done,” Renwick said, adding she’s still determined to buy a sweater at a later date.
Renwick estimated she’s spent about $500 in total on “all-things Eras Tour,” including her concert outfit and merchandise.
The long queue for Swift merch is just a snapshot of what the city will see in the coming days. It’s estimated that up to 500,000 visitors from outside Toronto will be in town during the concert period.
Tens of thousands more are also expected to attend Taylgate’24, an unofficial Swiftie fan event scheduled to be held at the nearby Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
Meanwhile, Destination Toronto has said it anticipates the economic impact of the Eras Tour could grow to $282 million as the money continues to circulate.
But for fans like Haronitis, the experience in Toronto comes down to the Swiftie community. Knowing that Swift is going to be in the city for six shows and seeing hundreds gather just for merchandise is “awesome,” she said.
Even though Haronitis hasn’t officially bought her ticket yet, she said she’s excited to see the megastar.
“It’s literally incredible.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.
OTTAWA – Via Rail is asking for a judicial review on the reasons why Canadian National Railway Co. has imposed speed restrictions on its new passenger trains.
The Crown corporation says it is seeking the review from the Federal Court after many attempts at dialogue with the company did not yield valid reasoning for the change.
It says the restrictions imposed last month are causing daily delays on Via Rail’s Québec City-Windsor corridor, affecting thousands of passengers and damaging Via Rail’s reputation with travellers.
CN says in a statement that it imposed the restrictions at rail crossings given the industry’s experience and known risks associated with similar trains.
The company says Via has asked the courts to weigh in even though Via has agreed to buy the equipment needed to permanently fix the issues.
Via said in October that no incidents at level crossings have been reported in the two years since it put 16 Siemens Venture trains into operation.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.
