Provinces across the country saw COVID-19 case counts fly to new highs Thursday, with highest-ever tallies recorded in British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.
Quebec recorded a whopping 9,397 new cases Thursday, while Ontario recorded 5,790 new cases.
Ontario’s case count eclipsed the previous high of 4,812, set back in mid-April, while Quebec’s previous high of 6,361 was yesterday.
Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, said this week that record-high daily case counts were expected and will likely continue for several weeks.
This chart shows the latest rise in COVID-19 cases in Canada, as well as hospitalizations, which may not spike until weeks after cases do. (Adam Ciolfi and Wendy Martinez/CBC News)
In Montreal, officials confirmed that one of every five Montrealers getting tested for COVID-19 is positive — and the latest data confirms that 90 per cent of infections in the city involve the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus.
Dr. Mylène Drouin of Montreal public health says 60 per cent of the positive cases in the city are among people between the ages of 18 and 44, noting that contact tracers cannot keep up with the crush of new infections.
People wait in line to receive a COVID-19 test in Montreal on Tuesday. Quebec is in the midst of an explosive rise in cases. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)
Several studies (see the “latest science” section below) suggest the Omicron variant is milder than Delta. But researchers say that good news may be overshadowed by the fact that Omicron spreads much faster than Delta and is better at evading vaccines.
As a result, the sheer number of infections linked to Omicron could still overwhelm hospitals.
-From CBC News and The Canadian Press, last updated at 7:16 p.m. ET
What’s happening elsewhere in Canada
For more details on how COVID-19 is impacting your community — including hospital data and the latest on restrictions — check out the coverage from CBC newsrooms around the country.
WATCH | Omicron predominant in several areas across Canada:
Omicron ‘now predominating’ in several areas across Canada, Tam says
1 day ago
Duration 3:41
Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, says modelling shows the country could have a very high number of cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus by the beginning of January. 3:41
In the Western provinces, B.C. reported 2,046 new cases Thursday, a new high, after the province shut down bars, nightclubs and gyms Wednesday and banned gatherings such as weddings. It’s the third day in a row that the province’s COVID-19 case numbers have hit new highs. On Wednesday, a report from an independent COVID-19 modelling group said hospitalizations due to B.C.’s Omicron-fuelled fifth wave will reach unprecedented heights by around mid-January.
Alberta reported 1,625 new cases Thursday. The province’s chief medical officer of health said Albertans should use rapid tests to confirm whether they have COVID-19 if they show symptoms, rather than booking PCR tests. She noted that lab capacity has been strained in Quebec and Ontario, where Omicron is causing case counts to spike.
Saskatchewan reported 194 new cases and one additional death Thursday. The province’s Opposition and a health analyst are both questioning the government’s lack of response to a potential Omicron surge. Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab released new modelling Tuesday predicting that without additional health measures the province’s daily case count will surpass 300 in one month. Opposition NDP Leader Ryan Meili said “there is a shocking disconnect” between what the modelling is showing and the government not implementing additional measures. “It makes zero sense.”
In New Brunswick, officials announced 257 new cases Thursday and another two deaths. The province’s chief medical officer of health is urging people to keep their gatherings small.
Nova Scotia also reported a new high Thursday, with 689 new cases.
One new death and 556 new cases were reported Thursday in Manitoba. The province warned that it has hit its capacity for processing tests and there is now a four-day wait for results. Current case counts are an undercount because of the delay, the government said.
Prince Edward Island on Thursday announced new restrictions and a record 35 new cases. Starting Friday at 8 a.m., wedding and funeral receptions as well as wakes and visitations will no longer be permitted. Organized gatherings such as worship services, wedding and funeral ceremonies, concerts and shows will be capped at 50 people, and schools won’t return to in-person learning until at least Jan. 10. The province has 165 active cases, more than the total number of cases it had during the entire first year of the pandemic.
Newfoundland and Labrador is back in COVID-19 Alert Level 3 as of Thursday morning, the change brought on by a rapid increase in cases, the emergence of the Omicron variant and outbreaks found across three of the province’s regional health authorities. At Level 3, people are asked to stay home as much as possible and to maintain a household bubble of up to 20 people. The province reported 100 new cases Thursday, the highest count since February.
Yukon reported nine new cases Thursday.
WATCH | Doctors, public officials receiving more threats as pandemic frustrations mount:
Ottawa, provinces promise businesses more financial pandemic support
23 hours ago
Duration 2:02
Canada’s federal and provincial governments are promising more financial support is on the way as renewed COVID-19 restrictions threaten businesses and employees. 2:02
Nunavut is tightening COVID-19 public health restrictions in Iqaluit, including restricting travel in and out of the capital city to essential purposes only.
The territory says starting at noon today the city’s swimming pool, theatre and hair and nail salons must close. Restaurants are limited to takeout food only. Indoor gatherings in homes are limited to five people plus household members.
In the Northwest Territories, people identified as a contact of someone who has COVID-19 by a public health official in the N.W.T. must isolate for 10 days regardless of their vaccination status. The new public health order came into effect Wednesday at 5 p.m.
-From The Canadian Press and CBC News, last updated at 6:26 p.m. ET
The latest science
Two new British studies provide some early hints that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus may be milder than the Delta version.
Scientists stress that even if the findings of these early studies hold up, any reductions in severity need to be weighed against the fact that Omicron spreads quickly is more able to evade vaccines, so infections could still overwhelm hospitals. Some experts also say more people are likely to have some level of immunity at this stage of the pandemic, either through vaccination or a previous infection.
Still, the studies seem to bolster earlier research that suggests Omicron may not be as harmful as Delta, said Manuel Ascano Jr., a Vanderbilt University biochemist who studies viruses.
“Cautious optimism is perhaps the best way to look at this,” he said.
A woman wears a mask as she sits at St. Paul’s Underground station in London on Dec. 16, 2021. The U.K. recorded the highest number of confirmed new COVID-19 infections Wednesday since the pandemic began, and England’s chief medical officer warned the situation is likely to get worse as the Omicron variant drives a new wave of illness during the Christmas holidays. (Alberto Pezzali/The Associated Press)
An analysis from the Imperial College London COVID-19 response team estimated hospitalization risks for Omicron cases in England, finding people infected with the variant are around 20 per cent less likely to go to the hospital than those with Delta, and 40 per cent less likely to be hospitalized for a night or more.
A separate study out of Scotland, by scientists at the University of Edinburgh and other experts, suggested the risk of hospitalization was two-thirds less with Omicron than Delta. But that study pointed out that the nearly 24,000 Omicron cases in Scotland were predominantly among younger adults, who are much less likely to develop severe cases.
Data out of South Africa, where the variant was first detected, have also suggested Omicron might be milder there.
In other science news, a third dose of the AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines significantly increased the immune response to the Omicron variant, according to a new study by University of Oxford researchers.
The laboratory study, which hasn’t been peer reviewed yet, compared antibody levels in blood samples from people who received two doses of vaccine with samples from those who received a third dose.
While two doses provided much less protection against Omicron than earlier variants, levels of neutralizing antibodies rose sharply after a third dose, the study found.
U.S. health regulators on Thursday authorized the second pill against COVID-19, providing another easy-to-use medication to battle the rising tide of omicron infections.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorization of Merck’s molnupiravir comes one day after the agency cleared a competing drug from Pfizer. That pill, Paxlovid, is likely to become the first-choice treatment against the virus, thanks to its superior benefits and milder side effects.
The COVID-19 treatment pill molnupiravir, developed by Merck & Co Inc. and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP, is pictured in a photo obtained by Reuters in May. (Merck & Co. Inc./Reuters)
As a result, Merck’s pill is expected to have a smaller role against the pandemic than predicted just a few weeks ago. Its ability to head off severe COVID-19 is much smaller (30 per cent) than initially announced and the drug label will warn of serious safety issues, including the potential for birth defects.
What’s happening around the world
As of early Thursday, more than 277.9 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 the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates has recorded its highest daily number of coronavirus cases since August. The tourism hub on Thursday reported 1,000 new infections — a drastic surge from record lows just weeks ago, before the spread of Omicron.
In the Americas, Ecuador is making vaccination mandatory. The government said Thursday that only Ecuadorians with a medical condition that could be complicated by vaccination will be exempt. About 33,600 people in Ecuador have died from COVID-19.
The U.S. Supreme Court says it will hold a special session to weigh challenges to two Biden administration policies covering vaccine requirements for millions of workers and affecting large employers and health-care workers. The high court said it will hear arguments in the cases on Jan. 7, an extraordinarily fast timeline.
In South Carolina, where COVID-19 cases are rising and only about half of eligible residents are fully vaccinated, hospitals are concerned an Omicron surge would worsen a staffing crunch among doctors, nurses and other frontline workers. Hospitals in some regions are already contending with high vacancy rates, especially among specialty nurses and lower-wage jobs like emergency room registration clerks, according to hospital officials.
Amelie and Ludo Khayat hold each other during a visit at the COVID-19 intensive care unit of the la Timone hospital in Marseille, France on Thursday. (Daniel Cole/The Associated Press)
In the Asia-Pacific region, officials in Thailand say an Israeli tourist who was the subject of a nationwide police manhunt after breaking out of quarantine while apparently infected with the Omicron variant has been detained. The 29-year-old man will be charged with breaking quarantine regulations, deported and banned from Thailand for life following his release from hospital detention, authorities said.
South Korea has set a new record for daily COVID-19 deaths as it struggles to resolve a shortage of hospital beds amid weeks of surging cases. Officials said Thursday that 109 people died in the last 24-hour period.
In Europe, two countries in the Balkan region, Albania and Serbia, where less than half of people are fully vaccinated, have reported their first two cases of the Omicron variant.
Around 1.2 million people in England were likely infected with COVID-19 last week, representing 1 in 45 of the population and a new pandemic record as the Omicron variant spreads rapidly, official estimates showed on Thursday.
WATCH | U.K. breaks daily record with 100,000 new cases:
Doctors, public officials receiving more threats as pandemic frustrations mount
23 hours ago
Duration 1:56
Doctors, public officials and politicians across Canada are increasingly becoming the victims of personal attack and scorn as frustrations grow over the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. And it’s not just groups upset by restrictions that are engaging in abusive behaviour, as those frustrated with slow booster rollouts take part also. 1:56
Italy is planning to tighten restrictions to try to curb a sharp rise in COVID-19 infections, including making mask wearing mandatory outdoors again, the prime minister’s office said on Thursday.
Australia has reintroduced curbs such as indoor mask-wearing, capacity limits and QR code check-ins to cover most of the population as daily infections hit a record.
-From The Associated Press, Reuters and CBC News, last updated at 6:22 p.m. ET
VANCOUVER – A disciplinary investigation has found a former Vancouver police sergeant shared “disrespectful” commentary on a fellow officer’s court testimony about being sexually assaulted by a colleague.
The decision against Narinder Dosanjh, obtained by The Canadian Press, includes the running commentary on the woman’s testimony — apparently written by someone inside the courtroom — that calls her a “bad drunk” and says there was “no way” her case would be proved.
Former New Westminster police chief Dave Jansen, the external officer who rendered the decision against Dosanjh, says his assessment accounts for a culture of treating officers who testify against each other as “rats.”
Former Vancouver constable Jagraj Roger Berar was convicted in 2021 and sentenced to a year in jail for assaulting the woman, who can’t be identified because of a publication ban on her name.
Jansen says in his ruling, dated Oct. 11, that the comments in a Vancouver police group chat appear “supportive” of Berar and reflect “all-too-common myths” about women who make sexual assault allegations.
While Jansen found Dosanjh committed discreditable conduct by sharing the chats, a complaint against a more-senior Vancouver officer who was inside the courtroom, and who the victim and other officers believed wrote the commentary, were not substantiated.
The ruling says Jansen, who retired as New Westminster’s chief constable, would accept submissions before deciding how Dosanjh should be punished.
The woman who was assaulted was the complainant in the disciplinary investigation, and said in an interview she felt “vindicated” by Jansen’s decision because it “truly paints what I’ve been through,” after reporting a fellow officer for sexual assault.
She said many other women in municipal policing fear speaking out about ill-treatment at work, and some have told her about being assaulted and harassed but feared ruining their careers if they complained.
“This decision is important for those women to see,” she said. “It shows the tides are changing. Like, this is the first win I’ve had.”
A spokesman for the Surrey Police Service, where Dosanjh now works, did not immediately answer a question about how he was penalized, and said Dosanjh declined an interview request with The Canadian Press.
In his decision, Jansen said there was an “unfortunate but often pervasive” culture of treating officers who complain as “‘rats’, who betrayed their colleagues.”
“In terms of the messages themselves, Sergeant Dosanjh alleges that they are not degrading, humiliating or derogatory and do not attack the personal character of the complainant. I disagree,” Jansen wrote.
The decision includes a screenshot of the commentary about the complainant, who said the order of the messages appeared to refer to her evidence while she was being cross-examined and suggested the comments were written by someone listening to her testimony.
The commentary on a Vancouver police chat group on the Signal messaging app said the victim “wore a wire twice,” and “admitted in cross to possibly drinking way more alcohol than she originally claimed.”
“Her memory is super hazy and there’s no way you can prove beyond reasonable doubt,” the person wrote.
“And she admitted that she is really bad drunk,” they added.
Another message said it was a “nail in the coffin” of the case that video showed the complainant “cuddling, holding hands” with Berar.
The victim, who became aware of the commentary when a friend in the department showed them to her, was distressed by the messages and disputed their accuracy, said Jansen.
“The comments also appear to reflect some of the all-too-common myths around women making allegations of sexual assault. Some of these myths include the belief that because a victim socialized with the perpetrator, or engaged in some consensual activity with him, therefore she must have consented to the assault,” he wrote.
Jansen’s decision said Dosanjh shared the messages with a fellow officer after getting them from a “VPD chat group that he claims he knew little about, from a co-worker he claims not to be able to identify.”
The decision said other officers believed the commentary was written bya more-senior officer in the department who had been present at the trial, but Jansen said the discreditable conduct complaint against that person was unsubstantiated.
The decision said Dosanjh claimed he was the “fall guy” and “a pawn in a broader game.”
Jansen’s decision said Dosanjh was a senior officer and supervisor who was aware of the “vulnerability of victims of sexual crimes and of the myths that surround sexual assault victims.”
It said Dosanjh’s “distribution of these messages that were disrespectful of an alleged victim of sexual violence who was also a co-worker, should they become public, would likely discredit the reputation of the police force.”
The Vancouver Police Department did not immediately provide comment on Jansen’s decision.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.
FREDERICTON – The offspring of beetles imported from British Columbia are ready to take up the fight against an invasive insect that is killing hemlock trees in Nova Scotia.
Last fall and spring, about 5,000 Laricobius nigrinus beetles — affectionately called Lari by scientists — made an overnight journey from the West Coast.
Lucas Roscoe, research scientist with the Canadian Forest Service, says in the fight against the woolly adelgid that is destroying swaths of hemlock trees in Nova Scotia, the first step was to make sure the Lari beetle can survive a Nova Scotia winter.
The one-to-two-millimetre black flying beetles were released across six sites in Nova Scotia that had the woolly adelgids.
In one of the sites, scientists placed cages of imported beetles and about 60 per cent of them were able to survive the winter in Nova Scotia, which Roscoe says is an encouraging rate.
He says the woolly adelgid was first seen in southwestern Nova Scotia in 2017 and the peppercorn-sized insect, aided by climate change, has since spread north.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.
Dozens of researchers across Canada, including renowned environmentalist David Suzuki, have joined a growing chorus of voices urging the federal government to halt the importation of an endangered monkey species for medical research in Quebec.
A letter signed by 80 scientists, academics, doctors and students says testing on long-tailed macaques from Cambodia should be banned due to ethical concerns and potential public-health risks.
“A decade ago, chimpanzees, our closest primate relatives, ceased to be used for experimentation because using such animal ‘models’ could no longer be justified from scientific, ethical, and/or financial perspectives,” says the letter addressed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his environment minister and the premier of Quebec.
The researchers say they are also concerned about “the serious risks of transmission of zoonotic pathogens” that could be associated with transporting macaques.
Their letter urges the federal government to end charter flights that have been bringing the macaques into Canada, and to adopt regulations banning the importation of all primates for biomedical testing.
It’s the latest group to add more pressure on Ottawa to suspend the monkey imports by Charles River Laboratories, a U.S.-based pharmaceutical giant that has a sprawling facility in Montreal.
The company announced in 2023 that it was halting macaque imports into the U.S., after it was subpoenaed in a case that involved the indictment of two senior Cambodian officials over what authorities described as “multiple felonies for their role in bringing wild long-tailed macaques into the United States.”
No charges have been brought against Charles River Laboratories, or any of its officials, and the company has said it will fully co-operate with the U.S. investigation.
At around the same time, imports of monkeys from Cambodia into Canada dramatically surged, with Statistics Canada data showing a 500 per cent increase in 2023 from the year before.
Environment and Climate Change Canada, the federal department responsible for monitoring commercial trade in wildlife, confirmed to the Canadian Press that Charles River Laboratories has imported 6,769 long-tailed macaques into the country between January 2023 and August of this year. The monetary value of these imported macaques is around $120 million dollars, according to Statistics Canada.
The department previously said that officials rigorously and closely inspect imports of foreign animals, including those brought in by Charles River Laboratories, and that all macaque imports so far this year have complied with federal and international wildlife regulations.
The government and the company have both said that no Canadian laws have been broken.
Last month, the Canadian Transportation Authority issued a permit for another shipment on a cargo plane chartered by Charles River Laboratories. A flight tracker shows that a plane with the same flight number as what is shown on the permit departed Phnom Penh, Cambodia last Thursday, and arrived in Montreal on Friday.
Jesse Greener, a professor of chemistry at Laval University who signed the researchers’ letter to the government, said medical technology has developed to a point that makes it unjustifiable for the pharmaceutical industry to continue using live primates for testing.
“The government should take a leadership role and help researchers and surely the private sector to pivot from using these unethical, and I would say old and outdated and unreliable animal models, and embrace these much more efficient and ethical approaches that are … exploding right now,” said Greener, who has done research on methods to replace animals in such experiments.
“It is grotesque,” he said of the animal use. “It is time that we change the page on this chapter of terrible research and commercial activities.”
Canada banned the use of animals for cosmetic testing last year, but it is still legal to use live primates for drug testing purposes.
The federal government said a draft strategy aimed at reducing and replacing the use of animals in drug testing was published in September and open to public consultations for 60 days.
The strategy, which will be revised based on input from researchers, experts and others, is expected to be published in June 2025, it said.
“The government of Canada is committed to advancing efforts to replace, reduce, or refine the use of vertebrate animals in toxicity testing where possible,” Environment and Climate Change Canada said in a statement Tuesday.
Charles River Laboratories previously told The Canadian Press that while it is also committed to reducing its use of live primates, global regulatory bodies require drugs to be tested on animals before they are evaluated in humans.
The company said the use of non-human primates has been vital in developing treatments for various diseases and that the standards it applies in its facilities are exceeding global norms.
Matthew Green, a New Democrat MP who had previously called on the federal government to halt the latest shipment of macaques, said he has “great concern” about importing this exotic animal.
“Generally in Canada, Canadians like to believe that our government has higher regulations and more stringent enforcement protocols when it comes to protecting endangered species, yet this is not the case in comparison to what the United States has done,” he said.
Green and two of his NDP colleagues wrote a letter to three federal ministers last month, demanding an “immediate attention” to the issue.
The Animal Alliance of Canada also sent a letter to the environment minister in August, urging the immediate suspension of monkey importation from Cambodia.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.
