SEOUL, KOREA, REPUBLIC OF —
South Korea reported fewer than 10 new coronavirus cases Sunday for the first time in two months as U.S. governors ease lockdowns amid pressure worldwide from businesses and the public to limit the pandemic’s economic damage.
Orthodox Christians celebrated Easter under curbs that left churches empty. The leader of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Christians held a service in a desert monastery that was shown on television.
In Brazil, hundreds of people protested Saturday in major cities against anti-virus lockdowns. France reported a decline in numbers of intensive care patients, but its health agency warned the public to stick to strict isolation measures.
The pandemic that began in China in December is believed to have infected more than 2.3 million people worldwide. While most recover, at least 155,000 have died, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University based on figures supplied by health authorities around the globe.
South Korea, the first country after China to report a surge in cases, announced its number of new infections fell Sunday to eight. That raised its total to 10,661, including 234 deaths.
Infections in South Korea have fallen from a peak of 909 on Feb. 29, but officials have warned that a “quiet spread” is possible as people relax social distancing.
“We must not let down our guard until the last confirmed patient is recovered,” President Moon Jae-in said Sunday.
Japan reported 568 new cases for a total of 10,361, with 174 deaths. Pakistan reported 16 deaths and 514 new cases, raising its fatality toll to 159 and infections to 7,993.
Taiwan reported 22 new cases — a student who returned from the United States and 21 crew members of a naval ship that visited the Pacific island nation of Palau.
Even as case numbers rise, governments face pressure to reopen factories, shops, travel and public activities.
Shutdowns that began in China in late January and spread to the U.S., Europe and elsewhere have plunged the world into its most painful economic slump since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Millions of workers have lost their jobs.
The International Monetary Fund expects the global economy to contract by 3% this year — a far bigger loss than 2009’s 0.1% after the global financial crisis.
“Government efforts alone aren’t enough,” said South Korea’s Moon. He called for “public solidarity” to revitalize the economy.
In Egypt, Pope Tawadros II held Easter services at the Monastery of Saint Pishoy, in the desert valley of Wadi Natrun west of Cairo known as Wadi Natrun. The handful of clerics who attended stood apart from each other.
Christians comprise about 10% of Egypt’s 100 million people. The country has 3,032 coronavirus cases, including 224 deaths.
On Saturday, supporters of President Donald Trump protested in several states demanding governors end controls on public activity.
Texas, Indiana and some other states have announced plans to allow some retailing and other activity to resume. Florida and South Carolina are reopening beaches.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has criticized the federal response as inadequate, rejected pressure to reopen businesses. New York’s daily death toll fell below 550 on Saturday for the first time in two weeks, but Cuomo said hospitals are reporting nearly 2,000 new patients a day.
“We are not at a point when we are going to be reopening anything immediately,” Cuomo told reporters.
Massachusetts had its highest single-day death toll of 159 on Friday. Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, citing health experts’ advice, said states should wait until infection rates and hospitalizations decline for about two weeks before acting.
Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, who has criticized anti-virus shutdowns imposed by state governors, said Saturday he would recommend reopening its borders with Paraguay and Uruguay.
Bolsonaro has downplayed the threat of the disease. On Friday, he fired his health minister, who supported anti-disease controls, and indicated he expects the new minister to protect the economy.
Trump is pushing to relax the U.S. lockdown by May 1, a plan that hinges partly on more testing.
Vice-President Mike Pence delivered a speech at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, on a trip aimed at showing the country is on course to reopen.
In Austin, Texas, several hundred people outside the state capitol chanted “Let us work!” Many clamoured for an immediate end to restrictions in a state where more than 1 million have filed for unemployment.
In Indianapolis, more than 200 people stood close together outside the governor’s mansion, carrying American flags and signs demanding that Gov. Eric Holcomb lift restrictions.
Indiana’s state health department reported 529 new cases between April 7 and midday Friday, raising the total to more than 10,600. The number of deaths rose by 26, to 545.
Elsewhere, demonstrators waved signs outside the Statehouse in New Hampshire, which has had nearly 1,300 cases and more than three dozen deaths.
“Even if the virus were 10 times as dangerous as it is, I still wouldn’t stay inside my home,” said one of the protesters, talk show host Ian Freeman.
In Asia, McDonald’s suspended operations in Singapore after seven employees tested positive for the conronavirus. The company said it will keep paying more than 10,000 employees in 135 outlets during the closure, due to last through May 4.
In Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government bowed to demands by religious leaders and agreed to keep mosques open during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. Pakistan has been blamed for contributing to the virus’s spread by refusing to stop a gathering of tens of thousands of religious missionaries. Nearly 2,000 confirmed cases have been traced to them.
In Europe, there are tentative signs that anti-disease curbs are working.
France and Spain started dismantling some field hospitals. The number of active cases in Germany has declined over the past week as people recover.
Still, France’s health agency urged the public to stick to confinement measures that have been extended until at least May 11. “Don’t relax our efforts at the moment when confinement is bearing fruit,” the agency said.
Albania’s government plans to allow its mining and oil industries to reopen Monday, along with hundreds of businesses including small retailers, food and fish processing, farming and fishing.
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McDonald reported from Beijing. Associated Press reporters worldwide contributed to this report.
OTTAWA – Canada’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.5 per cent last month as hiring remained weak across the economy.
Statistics Canada’s labour force survey on Friday said employment rose by a modest 15,000 jobs in October.
Business, building and support services saw the largest gain in employment.
Meanwhile, finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing experienced the largest decline.
Many economists see weakness in the job market continuing in the short term, before the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts spark a rebound in economic growth next year.
Despite ongoing softness in the labour market, however, strong wage growth has raged on in Canada. Average hourly wages in October grew 4.9 per cent from a year ago, reaching $35.76.
Friday’s report also shed some light on the financial health of households.
According to the agency, 28.8 per cent of Canadians aged 15 or older were living in a household that had difficulty meeting financial needs – like food and housing – in the previous four weeks.
That was down from 33.1 per cent in October 2023 and 35.5 per cent in October 2022, but still above the 20.4 per cent figure recorded in October 2020.
People living in a rented home were more likely to report difficulty meeting financial needs, with nearly four in 10 reporting that was the case.
That compares with just under a quarter of those living in an owned home by a household member.
Immigrants were also more likely to report facing financial strain last month, with about four out of 10 immigrants who landed in the last year doing so.
That compares with about three in 10 more established immigrants and one in four of people born in Canada.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information says health-care spending in Canada is projected to reach a new high in 2024.
The annual report released Thursday says total health spending is expected to hit $372 billion, or $9,054 per Canadian.
CIHI’s national analysis predicts expenditures will rise by 5.7 per cent in 2024, compared to 4.5 per cent in 2023 and 1.7 per cent in 2022.
This year’s health spending is estimated to represent 12.4 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product. Excluding two years of the pandemic, it would be the highest ratio in the country’s history.
While it’s not unusual for health expenditures to outpace economic growth, the report says this could be the case for the next several years due to Canada’s growing population and its aging demographic.
Canada’s per capita spending on health care in 2022 was among the highest in the world, but still less than countries such as the United States and Sweden.
The report notes that the Canadian dental and pharmacare plans could push health-care spending even further as more people who previously couldn’t afford these services start using them.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
As Canadians wake up to news that Donald Trump will return to the White House, the president-elect’s protectionist stance is casting a spotlight on what effect his second term will have on Canada-U.S. economic ties.
Some Canadian business leaders have expressed worry over Trump’s promise to introduce a universal 10 per cent tariff on all American imports.
A Canadian Chamber of Commerce report released last month suggested those tariffs would shrink the Canadian economy, resulting in around $30 billion per year in economic costs.
More than 77 per cent of Canadian exports go to the U.S.
Canada’s manufacturing sector faces the biggest risk should Trump push forward on imposing broad tariffs, said Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters president and CEO Dennis Darby. He said the sector is the “most trade-exposed” within Canada.
“It’s in the U.S.’s best interest, it’s in our best interest, but most importantly for consumers across North America, that we’re able to trade goods, materials, ingredients, as we have under the trade agreements,” Darby said in an interview.
“It’s a more complex or complicated outcome than it would have been with the Democrats, but we’ve had to deal with this before and we’re going to do our best to deal with it again.”
American economists have also warned Trump’s plan could cause inflation and possibly a recession, which could have ripple effects in Canada.
It’s consumers who will ultimately feel the burden of any inflationary effect caused by broad tariffs, said Darby.
“A tariff tends to raise costs, and it ultimately raises prices, so that’s something that we have to be prepared for,” he said.
“It could tilt production mandates. A tariff makes goods more expensive, but on the same token, it also will make inputs for the U.S. more expensive.”
A report last month by TD economist Marc Ercolao said research shows a full-scale implementation of Trump’s tariff plan could lead to a near-five per cent reduction in Canadian export volumes to the U.S. by early-2027, relative to current baseline forecasts.
Retaliation by Canada would also increase costs for domestic producers, and push import volumes lower in the process.
“Slowing import activity mitigates some of the negative net trade impact on total GDP enough to avoid a technical recession, but still produces a period of extended stagnation through 2025 and 2026,” Ercolao said.
Since the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement came into effect in 2020, trade between Canada and the U.S. has surged by 46 per cent, according to the Toronto Region Board of Trade.
With that deal is up for review in 2026, Canadian Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Candace Laing said the Canadian government “must collaborate effectively with the Trump administration to preserve and strengthen our bilateral economic partnership.”
“With an impressive $3.6 billion in daily trade, Canada and the United States are each other’s closest international partners. The secure and efficient flow of goods and people across our border … remains essential for the economies of both countries,” she said in a statement.
“By resisting tariffs and trade barriers that will only raise prices and hurt consumers in both countries, Canada and the United States can strengthen resilient cross-border supply chains that enhance our shared economic security.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
