The Dutch health council advised the government Tuesday to begin giving COVID-19 vaccine booster shots to residents of nursing homes and everybody 60 and older, saying it was seeing indications that COVID-19 protection was waning among older people.
“To get ahead of an increase in serious illness, the council advises the health minister to start offering boosters now,” the council said. The government, which was set to reimpose some COVID-19 preventive measures later Tuesday, usually follows the health council’s advice.
Other European countries already have begun giving booster shots. France started giving boosters to people over 65 two months ago.
Just under 80 per cent of adults in the Netherlands are fully vaccinated. The government already has begun giving booster shots to people with severely compromised immune systems.
COVID-19 cases have been rising sharply for weeks in the Netherlands. The country’s public health institute reported Tuesday that infections rose 39 per cent compared to the week earlier and hospital admissions were up 31 per cent amid a weeks-long rise that began soon after the government ended most remaining lockdown restrictions in late September.
Infections among nursing home residents rose to the highest level since the start of February, the public health institute said.
The COVID-19 pandemic has killed more than 18,800 people in the Netherlands, according to the Johns Hopkins coronavirus tracker.
A week ago, neighbouring Belgium also ratcheted up its COVID-19 restrictions amid a spike in infections.
-From The Associated Press, last updated at 12:40 p.m. ET
What’s happening in Canada
WATCH | School staff face looming COVID-19 vaccination deadline:
School staff face looming COVID-19 vaccination deadline
17 hours ago
Staff in Canada’s largest school board who don’t declare their COVID-19 vaccination status by the deadline could face unpaid leave within a few weeks. And though the details of vaccine mandates vary across the country, proponents say they can help convince holdouts to get their shots. 2:00
What’s happening around the world
A woman is seen receiving a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Bus Rapid Transit station in Rio de Janeiro last week. (Pilar Olivares/Reuters)
As of early Tuesday afternoon, more than 247.3 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 tracker. The reported global death toll stood at more than five million.
In the Americas, Brazil registered 98 new COVID-19 deaths on Monday, according to data released by the Health Ministry, the lowest daily number since April 2020.
The United States is rolling out Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines for children aged 5 to 11 this week, but most of the 15 million shots being shipped initially are unlikely to be available before next week, the White House said.
In the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates has approved for emergency use the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children aged 5-11, the health ministry said in a statement carried by state media.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Australia’s biggest city will lift more COVID-19 curbs for vaccinated residents ahead of schedule next week, while delaying freedoms it has promised for unvaccinated Sydneysiders as officials aim to boost inoculations. Vaccinated people in the harbour city of around five million will be allowed unlimited numbers of guests in their homes from Nov. 8. Pubs and clubs will also be able to accommodate more guests and reopen dance floors, in changes that were initially planned to come into force on Dec. 1.
International travellers arrive at Sydney Airport on Monday in the wake of COVID-19 border restrictions easing, with fully vaccinated Australians being allowed into Sydney from overseas without quarantine for the first time since March 2020. (Jaimi Joy/Reuters)
In Africa, South Africa on Monday reported 106 new cases of COVID-19 and two additional deaths.
In Europe, Russia’s daily COVID-19 death toll rose to a record high of 1,178 on Tuesday amid a surge that has forced officials to re-impose a partial lockdown nationwide. The government coronavirus task force also reported 39,008 new infections in the last 24 hours, including 5,736 in Moscow.
Romania, meanwhile, reported a record daily number of 591 COVID-19 deaths amid a persistently low vaccination rate. Roughly 37 per cent of Romania’s adults have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, compared to the European Union average of 75 per cent. Within the 27-nation EU, only Bulgaria has a smaller share of its population vaccinated.
Romanian authorities said Tuesday that 541 of the 591 people who had died of COVID-19 since the day before were unvaccinated. A recent wave of coronavirus infections has overwhelmed the country’s ailing health-care system. The unfolding disaster prompted authorities to impose tighter restrictions starting last week. Vaccination certificates are required for many day-to-day activities.
-From Reuters, The Associated Press and CBC News, last updated at 12:45 p.m. ET
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.
