COVID-19 infections and deaths are mounting with alarming speed in India with no end in sight to the crisis, and a top public health expert is warning of hard weeks ahead.
India’s official count of coronavirus cases surpassed 20 million on Tuesday, nearly doubling in the past three months, while deaths officially have passed 220,000. Staggering as those numbers are, the true figures are believed to be far higher, the undercount an apparent reflection of the troubles in the health-care system.
On Tuesday, the health ministry reported 357,229 new cases in the past 24 hours and 3,449 deaths from COVID-19.
Infections have been increasing in India since February in a disastrous turn blamed on more contagious variants of the virus as well as government decisions to allow massive crowds to gather for Hindu religious festivals and political rallies before state elections.
WATCH | Frantic patients seek care as hospitals in India struggle to keep up with COVID-19 cases:
A ‘monster’ variant of the coronavirus in India is ‘killing patients like anything,’ says Dr. Dhiren Shah, a cardiac surgeon in Ahmedabad, India, while the country remains desperately short of hospital beds, oxygen and medications. 9:26
Dr. Dhiren Shah, a cardiac surgeon at a private hospital in Ahmedabad, India, told CBC’s Heather Hiscox that the situation in hospitals is grim.
“We are in a situation where there are a lot of patients begging for a bed in the hospital,” he said, but there is no way to care for them all.
The overall scenario is “gruesome” right now, he told CBC News Network.
Patients seeking a bed are forced to move from hospital to hospital as they spend hours searching for an open bed, Shah said, with some people dying in ambulances as they try to secure care.
The challenges are steep in states where elections were held and unmasked crowds likely worsened the spread of the virus. The average number of daily infections in West Bengal state has increased by a multiple of 32 to over 17,000 since the balloting began.
“It’s a terrifying crisis,” said Dr. Punyabrata Goon, convener of the West Bengal Doctors’ Forum.
Goon also said that the state needs to hasten immunizations. But the world’s largest maker of vaccines is short of shots — the result of lagging manufacturing and raw material shortages.
Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health in the United States, said he is concerned that Indian policymakers he has been in contact with believe things will improve in the next few days.
“I’ve been … trying to say to them, ‘If everything goes very well, things will be horrible for the next several weeks. And it may be much longer,’ ” he said.
Jha said the focus needs to be on “classic” public health measures: targeted shutdowns, more testing, universal mask-wearing and avoiding large gatherings.
“That is what’s going to break the back of this surge,” he said.
India’s top health official, Rajesh Bhushan, refused to speculate last month as to why authorities weren’t better prepared.
What’s happening across Canada
WATCH | Expert discusses latest NACI recommendations and what they might mean for Canada:
Changing guidance on COVID-19 vaccines in Canada could lead some people to regret getting the shot that was available to them at the time, says Dr. David Naylor, co-chair of the national COVID-19 Immunity Task Force. He says all of the vaccines available in Canada are very effective. 10:18
As of 2:10 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Canada had reported 1,247,304 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 82,935 considered active. A CBC News tally of deaths stood at 24,385.
At a briefing on Tuesday, federal officials said three million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna would arrive in Canada by the end of the week. That figure includes one million Moderna doses that were meant to be picked up next week, Public Services and Procurement Minister Anita Anand said, noting the company is working with the government on a more regular delivery schedule.
Ontario on Tuesday reported 2,791 new cases of COVID-19 and 25 additional deaths. COVID-19 hospitalizations stood at 2,167, with 886 patients in intensive care, the province reported.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce also announced that students can opt to take all their classes online when the new school year begins in September. Lecce did not, however, provide details on whether or not students will be heading back to class for the remainder of the current school year.
Quebec reported 797 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday and 16 additional deaths. Premier François Legault also announced that emergency lockdown measures will end in some parts of the province next week, including the Quebec City area.
Legault said the situation has improved enough in the capital and in two parts of the Outaouais region in western Quebec to allow high school students to return to class, non-essential businesses to open and the nightly curfew to be pushed to 9:30 p.m. from 8 p.m. beginning May 10.
Nova Scotia reported 153 new cases of COVID-19 and two related deaths on Tuesday. The provincial government also announced more than $12 million in additional support for businesses hit by the latest COVID-19 restrictions in the province.
Labi Kousoulis, minister of inclusive economic growth, said the new grant targets businesses directly affected by the provincewide lockdown that went into effect last Wednesday.
Prince Edward Island on Tuesday reported one new case of COVID-19, bringing the number of active cases in the province to seven, while New Brunswickand Newfoundland and Labradoreach reported four new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday.
Across the North, Nunavut on Tuesday reported seven new cases of COVID-19, bringing the number of active cases in the territory to 85. Yukon and the Northwest Territories had not yet provided updates for the day.
Manitoba reported 291 new COVID-19 cases and one death connected to a more contagious coronavirus variant on Tuesday. The province also declared two outbreaks at Winnipeg schools.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said the province can expect an announcement on stricter public health measures Tuesday as COVID-19 case numbers continue to climb.
Kenney told a news conference on Monday — when the province reported 2,012 new cases of COVID-19 and four additional deaths — that he was angered to see that a large group of people gathered over the weekend at a rodeo event in Bowden, Alta., in flagrant violation of the restrictions in place.
WATCH | Questions around NACI advice for Johnson & Johnson vaccine:
Some doctors are concerned about new guidance for the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine after the National Advisory Committee on Immunization said it should be limited to those over 30 who don’t want to wait for an mRNA vaccine. Meanwhile, Health Canada continues to advise Canadians to take the first vaccine available to them. 2:12
What’s happening around the world
A handwritten message is seen stuck on the face shield of a medical worker as they prepare to vaccinate people at a school in Bangkok on Tuesday. (Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP/Getty Images)
As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 153.7 million cases of COVID-19 had been recorded around the world, according to a case-tracking tool maintained by Johns Hopkins University. The reported global death toll stood at more than 3.2 million.
In the Middle East, Kuwait’s government is barring unvaccinated residents from travelling abroad starting later this month, the latest attempt to tame the spiraling coronavirus outbreak in the Gulf Arab sheikhdom.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Taiwan became the latest place to ban arrivals from India, as it moves to prevent new infections, with more nations reporting cases of a variant first identified in the subcontinent.
In Africa, Tanzania announced new anti-coronavirus measures, saying it wanted to prevent the importation of new variants.
In Europe, the German government says people who are fully immunized or have recovered from a coronavirus infection will be exempt from contact restrictions and curfews.
Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht said the two groups will be treated the same as people who have tested negative. This means they can visit certain places, such as the hairdresser, without taking a test. More than eight per cent of the population in Germany have received two shots, while 28.7 per cent have received at least one dose of vaccine.
Medical staff prepare Moderna vaccines in Cologne, Germany. The city started a program to bring COVID-19 vaccination to people living in a neighbourhood with a high incidence of the illness caused by the novel coronavirus. (Martin Meissner/The Associated Press)
In the Americas, Trinidad and Tobago said on Monday it was tightening lockdown restrictions for three weeks starting at midnight as the number of new COVID-19 cases hit new highs and the Caribbean twin-island nation faces a potential shortage of hospital beds.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
