Ontario and Quebec, the two provinces hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, both reported daily case counts of the respiratory illness beyond 2,000 on Sunday — with the latter setting a new single-day record — while Nunavut reported its first two COVID-19-related deaths.
Ontario —which registered 2,316 more confirmed cases on Sunday, topping 2,000 cases for the sixth consecutive day — is poised to impose a province-wide lockdown starting Christmas Eve, sources tell CBC News.
In Quebec, health officials reported a record 2,146 new cases on Sunday and 21 more deaths.
Nunavut‘s health authorities on Sunday confirmed the territory’s first-ever deaths from COVID-19. They said a resident of Arviat and another from Rankin Inlet died of complications related to COVID-19 on Saturday.
A very, very sad day for Nunavut. Sending my thoughts and strength to their families and friends in Arviat and Rankin Inlet. <br><br>*translations will be posted on the Government of Nunavut website as soon as possible <a href=”https://t.co/PmZpqZhBuF”>pic.twitter.com/PmZpqZhBuF</a>
The new figures come a day after Canada surpassed the half-million mark in reported cases of COVID-19, and New Brunswick became the last province to launch its inoculation program.
The latest 100,000 cases were recorded across the country over just 15 days — the shortest growth period since the pandemic was declared in March.
It took six months for Canada to register its first 100,000 cases of the virus, another four to reach 200,000, less than a month to hit 300,000 and 18 days to hit 400,000.
What’s happening across Canada
As of 5:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, Canada’s COVID-19 case count stood at 507,795, with 76,859 of those cases considered active. A CBC News tally of deaths based on provincial reports, regional health information and CBC’s reporting stood at 14,228.
In British Columbia, the RCMP say they have served tickets totalling $18,400 to representatives from three places of worship in Fraser Valley for violating public health orders.
New Brunswick‘s active caseload fell by four after the province reported no new infections and removed four previous cases from its tally — two due to false positives and the other two attributed to out-of-province cases.
Newfoundland and Labrador recorded two new cases on Sunday, but the province’s active caseload remains at 31 as two recoveries were also announced.
The Northwest Territories says the government will foot the cost of self-isolation for residents returning from education or training programs outside the territory.
What’s happening around the world
As of Sunday, more than 76.5 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, with more than 43.1 million of those cases considered recovered or resolved, according to a COVID-19 tracking tool maintained by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The global death toll stood at more than 1.6 million.
In Europe, a number of countries have suspended travel to the U.K. after a new strain of the virus was discovered.
Countries including the Netherlands, Israel, Belgium, Austria, France and Italy said Sunday they would halt flights to the U.K. after the government imposed tough new coronavirus restrictions on large areas of southern England to curb what officials described as a fast-moving new strain of the virus.
WATCH | Multiple countries halt travel to and from the U.K.:
With a new strain of coronavirus sweeping across southern England, several EU countries have stopped travel to and from the U.K. 3:27
In Asia, South Korea has recorded more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases for the fifth consecutive day, with about 70 per cent of the new infections coming from the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area.
The pace of the spread has already met government conditions for raising physical-distancing rules to their highest level, but officials have been reluctant to move forward with the measure out of worries for the economy.
A worker sprays disinfectant at a COVID-19 testing site in Seoul on Sunday. (Lee Jin-man/The Associated Press)
In the Americas, shipments of Moderna Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine began leaving U.S. warehouses early on Sunday, heading for health-care facilities around the country in a push to distribute the nation’s second approved coronavirus vaccine.
Employees at distribution centres in the Memphis area of Tennessee and in Olive Branch, Miss., could be seen boxing up the vaccine. The first shots were expected to be administered starting as early as Monday, just three days after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized their rollout.
Boxes containing the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine are prepared to be shipped at a distribution center in Olive Branch, Miss., on Sunday. (Paul Sancya/Reuters)
In Africa,the South African government has said it identified a new variant of the coronavirus that is driving a second wave of infections. The World Health Organization said it is working with researchers in the country to see if the variant is more transmissible and how it will affect future diagnosis, treatment and vaccine development.
Meanwhile, Israel and Germany have said they are restricting travel to and from the country over concerns about the new strain.
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.
