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NS COVID-19 roundup: 689 new infections announced, estimated active case count is 3844 – CTV News Atlantic
For eight straight days, Nova Scotia has set record-high COVID-19 single-day case increases.
On Thursday, the province reported 689 new cases of COVID-19, the highest single-day case increase since the onset of the pandemic.
The previous record for the highest single-day case increase was on Wednesday, when 537 new infections were announced.
Public health says 498 of Thursday’s cases are in the province’s Central zone, 55 are in the Eastern zone, 79 cases are in the Northern zone, and 57 are in the Western zone.
As of Thursday, public health says there is an estimated 3,844 active cases of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia.
Fourteen people are currently in hospital, four of whom are in intensive care.
The province did not provide an update on recoveries on Thursday.
On Wednesday, 11 schools in the province were notified of an exposure at their school.
A full list of school exposures is available online.
Due to an increase in testing and positive cases, public health says it is experiencing some delays in follow-up and will try to contact anyone confirmed positive by the lab within 24 hours.
All cases will be asked to contact their close contacts. This may be the only contact a positive case has with public health.
Detailed follow-ups are being prioritized to support contact tracing in schools, long-term care, health-care facilities, correctional facilities, shelters and other group settings.
On Wednesday, Nova Scotia Health Authority’s labs completed 8,181 tests.
OUTBREAK DECLARED AT SHELBURNE NURSING HOME
Public health has declared an outbreak at Roseway Manor – a nursing home in Shelburne.
Two staff members have tested positive for the virus. Health officials say neither of the positive cases are in hospital or have had contact with residents.
All staff at the facility are fully vaccinated, and 98 per cent of residents are fully vaccinated and have had a booster shot.
NO NEW CASES AT DARTMOUTH GENERAL HOSPITAL
Public health says there are no new positive cases at the Dartmouth General Hospital, where fewer than five patients have tested positive for the virus.
Health officials say all patients are being closely monitored.
“Infection prevention and control measures are being put in place, and NSHA is currently testing all patients and staff identified as a close contact. NSHA will provide a further update when more information is available,” read a release from the province on Thursday.
UPDATE ON ST. MARTHA’S REGIONAL HOSPITAL
Health officials say no new cases of COVID-19 have been identified at St. Martha’s Regional Hospital in Antigonish, N.S.
Public health says there are still fewer than five positive cases connected to the hospital.
As a precaution, NSHA is testing identified close contacts, and other infection prevention and control measures are being put in place.
Testing will also be made available for all staff and doctors on site who want to get tested.
NO NEW CASES AT PARKSTONE ENHANCED CARE
There have been no new cases of COVID-19 identified at Parkstone Enhanced Care – a nursing home in Halifax.
To date, a total of two residents and one staff member at the facility have tested positive. No one is in hospital.
All staff and residents are fully vaccinated, and all eligible residents have had a booster shot, according to public health.
UDPATE ON OUTBREAK AT HALIFAX INFIRMARY
Public health says there are no new cases connected to the outbreak at the Halifax Infirmary side of the QEII Health Sciences Centre.
To date, there have been fewer than five patients test positive for the virus.
“All patients are being closely monitored and other infection prevention and control measures are being put in place,” wrote public health.
UPDATE ON PARKLAND ANTIGONISH
There are no new cases of COVID-19 at Parkland Antigonish – a seniors’ living community in Antigonish.
To date, three residents and two staff members have tested positive for the virus. No one is in hospital and all staff and residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
VACCINE UPDATE
As of Thursday, 1,758,286 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered.
Of those, 793,489 Nova Scotians have received their second dose, and 105,019 eligible Nova Scotians have received a third dose.
CHANGES TO DAILY COVID-19 REPORTS
Nova Scotia says beginning Thursday, the province is changing how it reports daily COVID-19 data due to delays in data entry caused by the recent high number of infections.
For most of the pandemic, Nova Scotia has reported data from Panorama – public health’s disease information system.
Since Dec. 10, the province has shifted to reporting the number of positive lab test results to more accurately reflect the situation in the province, given the backlog in the Panorama data entry.
The province says, although this data is more accurate overall, it does contain a small number of duplicate results due to some people getting tested more than once.
“Starting today, duplicate results will be removed from reported case numbers. Each case will only be counted when the person first tests positive,” wrote the province in a release. “The data released Monday through Friday will include the number of positive cases after excluding duplicate lab results, the breakdown by zone, estimated active case count, and immunization data and testing data.”
On weekends and holidays, officials say the number of positive cases will be reported based on raw lab data, which may include a small number of duplicates, with a breakdown by zone.
“Following weekends and holidays, the number of cases will be updated with the duplicates removed. There will not be reports on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day,” wrote public health.
Also beginning Thursday, the COVID-19 dashboard will temporarily include the estimated number of active cases and some data will be removed.
“These reporting changes are expected to be temporary and last four to six weeks. The Province will then resume reporting Panorama data,” wrote public health.
COVID ALERT APP
Canada’s COVID-19 Alert app is available in Nova Scotia.
The app, which can be downloaded through the Apple App Store or Google Play, notifies users if they may have been exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.
LIST OF SYMPTOMS
Anyone who experiences a fever or new or worsening cough, or two or more of the following new or worsening symptoms, is encouraged to take an online test or call 811 to determine if they need to be tested for COVID-19:
- Sore throat
- Headache
- Shortness of breath
- Runny nose/nasal congestion
Tesla has promised to start selling cheaper models next year, days after a Reuters report revealed that the company had shelved its plans for an all-new Tesla that would cost only $25,000.
The news that Tesla was scrapping the Model 2 came amid a drop in sales and profits, and a decision to slash a tenth of the company’s global workforce. Reuters also noted increased competition from Chinese EV makers.
Tesla’s deliveries slumped in the first quarter for the first annual drop since the start of the pandemic in 2020, missing analyst forecasts by a mile in a sign that even price cuts haven’t been able to stave off an increasingly heated competition on the EV market.
Profits dropped by 50%, disappointing investors and leading to a slump in the company’s share prices, which made any good news urgently needed. Tesla delivered: it said it would bring forward the date for the release of new, lower-cost models. These would be produced on its existing platform and rolled out in the second half of 2025, per the BBC.
Reuters cited the company as warning that this change of plans could “result in achieving less cost reduction than previously expected,” however. This suggests the price tag of the new models is unlikely to be as small as the $25,000 promised for the Model 2.
The decision is based on a substantially reduced risk appetite in Tesla’s management, likely affected by the recent financial results and the intensifying competition with Chinese EV makers. Shelving the Model 2 and opting instead for cars to be produced on existing manufacturing lines is the safer move in these “uncertain times”, per the company.
Tesla is also cutting prices, as many other EV makers are doing amid a palpable decline in sales in key markets such as Europe, where the phaseout of subsidies has hit demand for EVs seriously. The cut is of about $2,000 on all models that Tesla currently sells.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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Divisions within the Bank of Canada over the timing of a much-anticipated cut to its key overnight interest rate stem from concerns of some members of the central bank’s governing council that progress on taming inflation could stall in the face of stronger domestic demand — or even pick up again in the event of “new surprises.”
“Some members emphasized that, with the economy performing well, the risk had diminished that restrictive monetary policy would slow the economy more than necessary to return inflation to target,” according to a summary of deliberations for the April 10 rate decision that were published Wednesday. “They felt more reassurance was needed to reduce the risk that the downward progress on core inflation would stall, and to avoid jeopardizing the progress made thus far.”
Article content
Others argued that there were additional risks from keeping monetary policy too tight in light of progress already made to tame inflation, which had come down “significantly” across most goods and services.
Some pointed out that the distribution of inflation rates across components of the consumer price index had approached normal, despite outsized price increases and decreases in certain components.
“Coupled with indicators that the economy was in excess supply and with a base case projection showing the output gap starting to close only next year, they felt there was a risk of keeping monetary policy more restrictive than needed.”
In the end, though, the central bankers agreed to hold the rate at five per cent because inflation remained too high and there were still upside risks to the outlook, albeit “less acute” than in the past couple of years.
Despite the “diversity of views” about when conditions will warrant cutting the interest rate, central bank officials agreed that monetary policy easing would probably be gradual, given risks to the outlook and the slow path for returning inflation to target, according to the summary of deliberations.
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They considered a number of potential risks to the outlook for economic growth and inflation, including housing and immigration, according to summary of deliberations.
The central bankers discussed the risk that housing market activity could accelerate and further boost shelter prices and acknowledged that easing monetary policy could increase the likelihood of this risk materializing. They concluded that their focus on measures such as CPI-trim, which strips out extreme movements in price changes, allowed them to effectively look through mortgage interest costs while capturing other shelter prices such as rent that are more reflective of supply and demand in housing.
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They also agreed to keep a close eye on immigration in the coming quarters due to uncertainty around recent announcements by the federal government.
“The projection incorporated continued strong population growth in the first half of 2024 followed by much softer growth, in line with the federal government’s target for reducing the share of non-permanent residents,” the summary said. “But details of how these plans will be implemented had not been announced. Governing council recognized that there was some uncertainty about future population growth and agreed it would be important to update the population forecast each quarter.”
• Email: bshecter@nationalpost.com
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Shares in US tech giant Meta have sunk in US after-hours trading despite better-than-expected earnings.
The Facebook and Instagram owner said expenses would be higher this year as it spends heavily on artificial intelligence (AI).
Its shares fell more than 15% after it said it expected to spend billions of dollars more than it had previously predicted in 2024.
Meta has been updating its ad-buying products with AI tools to boost earnings growth.
It has also been introducing more AI features on its social media platforms such as chat assistants.
The firm said it now expected to spend between $35bn and $40bn, (£28bn-32bn) in 2024, up from an earlier prediction of $30-$37bn.
Its shares fell despite it beating expectations on its earnings.
First quarter revenue rose 27% to $36.46bn, while analysts had expected earnings of $36.16bn.
Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said its spending plans were “aggressive”.
She said Meta’s “substantial investment” in AI has helped it get people to spend time on its platforms, so advertisers are willing to spend more money “in a time when digital advertising uncertainty remains rife”.
More than 50 countries are due to have elections this year, she said, “which hugely increases uncertainty” and can spook advertisers.
She added that Meta’s “fortunes are probably also being bolstered by TikTok’s uncertain future in the US”.
Meta’s rival has said it will fight an “unconstitutional” law that could result in TikTok being sold or banned in the US.
President Biden has signed into law a bill which gives the social media platform’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, nine months to sell off the app or it will be blocked in the US.
Ms Lund-Yates said that “looking further ahead, the biggest risk [for Meta] remains regulatory”.
Last year, Meta was fined €1.2bn (£1bn) by Ireland’s data authorities for mishandling people’s data when transferring it between Europe and the US.
And in February of this year, Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg faced blistering criticism from US lawmakers and was pushed to apologise to families of victims of child sexual exploitation.
Ms Lund-Yates added that the firm has “more than enough resources to throw at legal challenges, but that doesn’t rule out the risks of ups and downs in market sentiment”.
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