Alberta’s premier is urging people to avoid large private gatherings as the number of novel coronavirus cases in the province climbs, saying “COVID-19 loves parties.”
Jason Kenney, who said Monday that health officials could be forced to cancel elective surgeries if case numbers keep rising, called on people to follow public health guidance and respect restrictions.
“We’re all fed up with this, but now more than ever we need to take this seriously — and the single biggest thing people could do is just stop with the private parties and the social gatherings.”
The issue of large gatherings was also flagged by the premier in Manitoba, who said Monday the province is seriously considering a temporary curfew as part of its plan to try to tackle growing case numbers.
The province reported 103 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday along with five more deaths. While the new case count is lower than figures seen Monday and compared to a high of 480 on Friday, the number of hospitalizations have continued to climb.
There are 130 people in hospital — six more than on Monday, and a record high — and 20 in intensive care, up from 18.
Brian Pallister said Monday there have been reports of large parties being promoted online in Winnipeg, which is now considered a red zone on the province’s pandemic response scale.
WATCH | Manitoba considers curfew as new restrictions begin:
Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister is considering implementing a curfew to reverse the trend of increased COVID-19 cases in the province as harsh new restrictions came into effect in Winnipeg. 1:46
“These late-night situations in Winnipeg have expanded our number of COVID cases significantly,” Pallister said at his briefing Monday.
In British Columbia, which is also seeing rising COVID-19 case numbers, Health Minister Adrian Dix spoke out after social media postings showed a large number of Halloween partiers gather in a Vancouver neighbourhood.
“It’s a very irritating event because I think it was a visible symbol of people not following the rules of gathering, which are limited to 50 people,” Dix said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday again urged people to limit their contacts, follow public health guidelines and download the COVID Alert app. He pointed to increasing case numbers in several European countries, saying surges there show how quickly things can escalate.
Trudeau said he knows the situation is tough now, but cautioned that it’s “going to be even tougher if we give up now.”
Canadians flattened the curve this spring, he said, adding it’s time to do it again this fall.
On Tuesday, new recommendations from the federal government on masks were outlined by Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam.
The Public Health Agency of Canada is now recommending that Canadians wear three-layer non-medical masks with a filter layer to prevent the transmission of COVID-19, Tam said at a news conference.
WATCH | Canada’s top doctor gives new guidance on the type of mask to wear:
Canada’s chief public health officer spoke to reporters during the bi-weekly pandemic briefing on Tuesday. 2:05
The recently updated guidelines recommend that two layers of the mask should be made of tightly woven fabric like cotton or linen and the middle layer should be a filter-type fabric, like non-woven polypropylene fabric.
Tam says she’s not suggesting that Canadians throw out masks they currently own, stating that adding a filter could help.
The World Health Organization has recommended three layers for non-medical masks since June.
What’s happening in Canada
As of 12:15 p.m ET on Tuesday, provinces and territories in Canada had reported a cumulative total of 242,185 confirmed or presumptive coronavirus cases. Provinces and territories listed 201,813 as recovered or resolved. A CBC News tally of deaths based on provincial reports, regional health information and CBC’s reporting stood at 10,256.
Ontario announced Tuesday that it is launching a new system of criteria for imposing health restrictions on different areas in the province, as a record 1,050 new cases of COVID-19 were reported. Most of those infections are in Toronto and the surrounding regions. Another 14 deaths were also announced.
The seven-day average of new cases of COVID-19 increased to 950.
Ontario is reporting 1,050 cases of <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#COVID19</a>. Locally, there are 408 new cases in Toronto, 212 in Peel, 86 in Halton, 76 in York Region and 57 in Durham. There are 837 more resolved cases and nearly 25,300 tests completed.
The new colour-coded model provides clarity on how decisions about restrictions for different industries and businesses are being made at the provincial level, said Premier Doug Ford.
The announcement also means that changes are being made to the modified Stage 2 restrictions for Ottawa, Peel and York regions.
As a result, Ford said that at 12:01 a.m. on Nov. 7, those regions will be moved out of the Stage 2 designation and gyms and indoor dining will be allowed again. Those businesses will also reopen in Toronto but a week later, on Nov. 14.
“Mayor Tory has asked us for a little more time in Toronto,” Ford said.
You can read more about the new framework and how businesses have reacted to increased shutdowns this month here.
The number of people in hospital stood at 357, with 73 in intensive care and 47 on a ventilator, the province reported.
Quebec reported 871 new cases on Tuesday and added 34 deaths to its count of COVID-19 fatalities, with five of those reported as occurring in the previous 24 hours.
The province, which has recorded more than 108,000 cases since the pandemic began, reported 526 COVID-19 hospitalizations with 85 in ICU.
The Quebec government said Tuesday that regions including Quebec City and Montreal are improving but others, such as Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Mauricie and Lanaudière, are seeing increased levels of COVID-19 transmission.
Dr. Horacio Arruda said at a news conference that Quebec is looking at its own recommendations for masks, as the federal Public Health Agency recommended Canadians choose three-layer non-medical masks on Tuesday.
In Atlantic Canada, there was one new COVID-19 case reported in Nova Scotia on Tuesday. There were no new cases in New Brunswick or Newfoundland and Labrador.
In Prince Edward Island, which has no active cases, a state of emergency was renewed on Tuesday for another 30 days.
Premier Dennis King urged people to maintain their efforts at keeping the province safe, saying the “simple things” Islanders are enjoying right now “could be very quickly and easily ripped from us if we aren’t vigilant.”
Saskatchewan reported 74 new COVID-19 cases on Monday. According to the province 34 people were in hospital, with seven in intensive care.
Across the North, there were no new cases reported in Yukon, the Northwest Territories or Nunavut on Monday.
What’s happening around the world
WATCH | U.S. COVID-19 management a ‘mess’ at several levels, infectious disease expert says:
There was poor cohesion between leaders at the state and federal levels in the U.S. over managing COVID-19, says infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch, who also hopes that voting on Tuesday won’t cause a major superspreading event. 1:32
As of Tuesday morning, more than 47 million cases of the novel coronavirus had been reported worldwide since the pandemic began, according to a tracking tool maintained by Johns Hopkins University. The tool maintained by the U.S.-based university listed more than 31 million of those as recovered and put the global death toll at more than 1.2 million.
In the Americas, huge voter turnout was expected in the U.S. despite mounting cases of the novel coronavirus and political rancour.
In and around polling places across the country, reminders of an election year shaped by a pandemic, civil unrest and bruising political partisanship greeted voters, although more than 90 million ballots already have been submitted in an unprecedented wave of early voting.
Many wore masks to the polls — either by choice or by official mandate — with the coronavirus outbreak raging in many parts of the country.
In Nebraska alone, the surge in COVID-19 cases has led to record-high hospitalizations that are straining the state’s health-care system, officials said Monday.
Dr. Cary Ward, chief medical officer for CHI Health’s network of 14 hospitals across eastern Nebraska and western Iowa, said during a video call with reporters that there had been a doubling of COVID-positive patients in the last several weeks in the network. He said if the trend continues “every hospital in the state could be at capacity in a very short period of time.”
Panama’s President Laurentino Cortizo has began self-isolating after a close coworker tested positive for the coronavirus.
In Europe, the French government will reimpose an evening curfew on Paris, and possibly the Ile-de-France region around the capital, to tackle worsening COVID-19 figures, government spokesperson Gabriel Attal said on Tuesday.
A sign with instructions for delivery and click-and-collect is stuck to the window of a shop in Paris on Tuesday as non-essential businesses are closed due to the new lockdown to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. (Eric Piermont/AFP/Getty Images)
Greece announced it will impose a two-week lockdown in northern regions and suspend flights, while Italy will tighten restrictions but is holding back from reintroducing a nationwide lockdown as infections, hospital admissions and deaths surge.
Russia’s coronavirus cases could peak in the middle of November, the country’s consumer health watchdog estimated on Tuesday, as authorities reported more than 18,000 new infections nationwide.
The peak would be roughly mid-November, Alexander Gorelov, deputy director of a research institute at Rospotrebnadzor, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
A municipal worker wearing protective equipment sprays disinfectant on a bus stop near the Novodevichy convent in Moscow on Tuesday. (Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP/Getty Images)
“It is difficult to give a more accurate forecast as many factors affect the development of the epidemiological process,” he said.
Officials have repeatedly said that Russia does not intend to reimpose the strict lockdown restrictions that were in place in the spring, despite a surge in cases and deaths across the country.
The situation with the coronavirus in Ukraine is close to catastrophic and the nation must prepare for the worst, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said on Tuesday, as the country registered a record 8,899 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours.
Nursing students disinfect each other at the COVID-19 testing facility on the Spoor Oost site in Antwerp on Tuesday. Belgium is in a second lockdown as hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients reach record highs. (Dirk Waem/Belga/AFP/Getty Images)
In Africa, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has tested positive for COVID-19, but his condition is gradually improving as he receives treatment in a German hospital, the presidency said on Tuesday.
Mozambique will receive €100 million in coronavirus-related aid from the European Union, EU Ambassador Antonio Sanchez-Benedito Gaspar said. South Africa remained the hardest-hit country in Africa, with more than 727,000 cases recorded and more than 19,400 deaths.
In the Asia-Pacific region, authorities in Sri Lanka have extended the school holidays for two more weeks, postponing the opening of classes amid a surge of COVID-19 patients from two clusters in Colombo and the capital’s suburbs.
Schools were suddenly closed last month as a precautionary measure after a new cluster of coronavirus infections centred on a garment factory erupted in the densely populated Western province, where the capital is. Another cluster centred on the country’s main fish market arose later.
Security personnel stand at a checkpoint in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Monday following a one-week curfew extension for the Western province to contain the spread of COVID-19. (Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP/Getty Images)
India has registered 38,310 confirmed coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, maintaining an overall downturn even as fresh infections continue to appear in its capital, New Delhi. The Health Ministry on Tuesday also reported 490 more fatalities from COVID-19, raising the overall death toll to 123,097.
With a total of 8.2 million coronavirus cases during the pandemic, India is the second-worst-hit country behind the United States. But it has been witnessing a steady fall in daily cases.
Still, health officials say New Delhi remains in the grip of its third and worst wave of infections yet. In the past week, there were more than 5,200 cases on average every day. The Health Ministry attributes the city’s surge to the festival season, with people crowding markets for shopping.
In the Middle East, Iran reported on Tuesday a record daily total of 8,932 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the overall figure to 637,712 for detected infections in the Middle East’s worst-hit country, the Health Ministry said.
Health Ministry spokesperson Sima Sadat Lari told state television that 422 patients had died in the past 24 hours, taking the total death toll to 36,160.
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Donald Trump is refusing to say how he voted on Florida’s abortion measure — and getting testy about it.
The former president was asked twice after casting his ballot in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday about a question that the state’s voters are considering. If approved, it would prevent state lawmakers from passing any law that penalizes, prohibits, delays or restricts abortion until fetal viability — which doctors say is sometime after 21 weeks.
If it’s rejected, the state’s restrictive six-week abortion law would stand.
The first time he was asked, Trump avoided answering. He said instead of the issue that he did “a great job bringing it back to the states.” That was a reference to the former president having appointed three conservative justices to the U.S. Supreme Court who helped overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 2022.
Pressed a second time, Trump snapped at a reporter, saying “you should stop talking about it.”
Trump had previously indicated that he would back the measure — but then changed his mind and said he would vote against it.
In August, Trump said he thought Florida’s ban was a mistake, saying on Fox News Channel, “I think six weeks, you need more time.” But then he said, “at the same time, the Democrats are radical” while repeating false claims he has frequently made about late-term abortions.
In addition to Florida, voters in eight other states are deciding whether their state constitutions should guarantee a right to abortion, weighing ballot measures that are expected to spur turnout for a range of crucial races.
Passing certain amendments in Arizona, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota likely would lead to undoing bans or restrictions that currently block varying levels of abortion access to more than 7 million women of childbearing age who live in those states.
NEW YORK (AP) — In a new video posted early Election Day, Beyoncé channels Pamela Anderson in the television program “Baywatch” – red one-piece swimsuit and all – and asks viewers to vote.
In the two-and-a-half-minute clip, set to most of “Bodyguard,” a four-minute cut from her 2024 country album “Cowboy Carter,” Beyoncé cosplays as Anderson’s character before concluding with a simple message, written in white text: “Happy Beylloween,” followed by “Vote.”
At a rally for Donald Trump in Pittsburgh on Monday night, the former president spoke dismissively about Beyoncé’s appearance at a Kamala Harris rally in Houston in October, drawing boos for the megastar from his supporters.
“Beyoncé would come in. Everyone’s expecting a couple of songs. There were no songs. There was no happiness,” Trump said.
She did not perform — unlike in 2016, when she performed at a presidential campaign rally for Hillary Clinton in Cleveland – but she endorsed Harris and gave a moving speech, initially joined onstage by her Destiny’s Child bandmate Kelly Rowland.
“I’m not here as a celebrity, I’m not here as a politician. I’m here as a mother,” Beyoncé said.
“A mother who cares deeply about the world my children and all of our children live in, a world where we have the freedom to control our bodies, a world where we’re not divided,” she said at the rally in Houston, her hometown.
“Imagine our daughters growing up seeing what’s possible with no ceilings, no limitations,” she continued. “We must vote, and we need you.”
Harris used the song in July during her first official public appearance as a presidential candidate at her campaign headquarters in Delaware. That same month, Beyoncé’s mother, Tina Knowles, publicly endorsed Harris for president.
Beyoncé gave permission to Harris to use the song, a campaign official who was granted anonymity to discuss private campaign operations confirmed to The Associated Press.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May pay tribute to the life of Murray Sinclair, former judge, senator and chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Sinclair died November 4, 2024 at the age of 73. (Nov. 4, 2024)
