Don’t travel this Easter weekend, and if you must, stick to your region with a day trip at most, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Thursday.
“If you are in doubt at all this weekend, just don’t go,” said Henry. “If it requires an overnight stay, a vacation rental, then it is not a good idea right now.”
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Henry suggested that anyone who wants a break go to a local campground or local hotel, which will help businesses struggling under pandemic restrictions. “Get takeaway from your local restaurant,” she said. “Support your local community.”
Island Health issued a notice urging people to avoid high-risk activities that have pushed COVID-19 cases to an “all-time high” in the region.
The health authority pointed to a “significant” increase in close contacts, non-essential travel, large social gatherings and number of social groups reported by those who test positive, many of whom also attended work and social events while symptomatic.
The province reported 832 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, including 53 in Island Health.
Henry said the province is in for a “rough ride,” with more cases expected to be detected before the effects of new restrictions — including the suspension of indoor dining and fitness classes and closure of the Whistler-Blackcomb ski resort until April 19 — begin to kick in.
On the Island, there were 392 active cases on Thursday, including 189 in the south Island region, 171 in the central region and 32 in the north.
Throughout March, cases in individuals ages 19 to 39 represented 45 per cent of all COVID-19 cases in Island Health, the health authority said Thursday.
Thirteen people are in hospital with COVID-19 on the Island, including two in critical care. The average age of cases admitted to hospital in the Island Health region dropped to 55.7 in 2021, from 68.6 last year, according to the health authority.
There have been 90 new confirmed COVID-19 cases that are variants of concern in B.C., for a total of 2,643 cases. Of those, 192 are active, while the remainder have recovered.
On Tuesday, there were 13 variants of concern in the Island Health region, including 11 cases of the U.K. variant, one South African and one Brazil variant.
The health authority said the number of variant cases it’s sending to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control for confirmation has more than tripled in recent days, noting the variants are more easily transmissible and can lead to more severe illness.
There have been five new COVID-related deaths in B.C., for a total of 1,463. There were no new deaths in Island Health, which has seen 29 deaths so far.
To date 787,649 doses of vaccine have been administered, 87,394 of which were second doses.
The province had set a target to vaccinate about 10 per cent of 4.3 million British Columbians eligible, and that number is now over 16 per cent, said B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix.
Meanwhile, Island Health says it’s working on contact tracing after COVID-19 exposures were reported at Oak Bay High, Cedar Hill Middle School and Nanaimo’s Wellington Secondary.
Unless parents are notified by Island Health, children can continue to attend school as long as they follow daily health checks. A COVID-19 exposure in a school setting refers to a laboratory-confirmed case or cases in the school during the infectious period.
A staff member at the Real Canadian Superstore on Langford Parkway has tested positive for COVID-19. Parent company Loblaw said in a statement it has been working with public health and has taken a number of preventive steps, such as increasing sanitation protocols and arranging for additional cleaning.
Anyone who worked closely with the person is in self-isolation at home, Loblaw said.
In B.C. as of Thursday, there were 7,571 active COVID-19 cases and 11,608 people being monitored for the virus as a result of exposures.
There were 296 people in hospital with COVID-19 in B.C., of whom 79 are in intensive or critical care.
The incubation period for the virus is about 14 days, with some people beginning to show symptoms at about four days.
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
