Despite a “demonstrative” improvement in the number of daily COVID-19 cases reported in Ontario in recent days, residents in the province need to be “cautious and aware” as variants of concern continue to circulate, the coordinator of Ontario’s pandemic response says.
Health officials say Ontario saw fewer than 1,000 new COVID-19 infections on both Monday and Tuesday as daily case counts continue to trend downward in the province.
Ontario reported 904 new COVID-19 cases today along with 964 new infections yesterday with about 27,000 tests completed over the past 24 hours and a little over 30,000 tests processed one day prior.
While Ontario has seen the number of new infections dip below the 1,000 mark on multiple occasions over the past month, the province has conceded that the totals on those days were likely artificially low due to data reporting issues by Toronto Public Health.
The case counts on Monday and Tuesday appear to be the first time since November that daily totals have dropped below 1,000 with complete data included.
Of the new cases reported in the province today, 320 are from Toronto, 154 are from Peel Region, and 118 are from York Region.
The province said there were 251 new cases of COVID-19 in Toronto on Monday.
On multiple days over the past couple of weeks, Toronto has seen a steep decline in the number of reported daily cases, sliding to as low as 112 last Thursday. The drop has been attributed to a data cleanup as the public health unit migrates to the provincial system.
In the province’s recent daily epidemiological summaries, officials have cautioned that case counts could still fluctuate due to “data quality checks and remediation activities” following Toronto’s migration.
The Ministry of Health says the provincewide positivity rate today is now 3.3 per cent, on par with the rate reported last Tuesday.
According to the province, 742 COVID-19 patients are currently in hospital with 292 of those people in intensive care, down from 909 and 318 respectively just seven days ago.
The Ministry of Health notes that more than 10 per cent of hospitals did not submit data to the province today.
The rolling seven-day average of new cases now stands at 1,034, down from 1,367 one week ago, and active infections in Ontario have declined from nearly 14,000 last week to 11,604.
Another 26 virus-related deaths were confirmed in Ontario over the past two days, including six involving residents of long-term care homes.
“Clearly there is improvement, clearly there is demonstrative change in the numbers but… we have to continue to be cautious and aware,” Dr. Dirk Huyer, Ontario’s chief coroner and coordinator of the province’s pandemic response, said at a news conference on Tuesday afternoon.
“We’ve talked about a decreased number of people who have died but people are still continuing to die.”
Restrictions eased in most regions of Ont.
The recent decline in novel coronavirus cases in Ontario has prompted the Ford government to ease restrictions in many parts of the province. As of 12:01 a.m. today, many businesses, including restaurants, gyms, and hair salons, reopened in the vast majority of regions in the province after the Ontario government reinstated its reopening framework last week.
Niagara Region is the only area that has been placed in the grey zone, the most restrictive category of the province’s colour-coded system, while Toronto, York Region, Peel Region, and the North Bay Parry Sound District Public Health Unit have been left out of the framework altogether due to high levels of community transmission of COVID-19.
The province has said that the remaining regions will likely be reintroduced to the framework next week.
Citing concerns with the ongoing spread of more transmissible COVID-19 variants in the community, officials in Toronto and Peel Region have indicated that they would like to be placed in the grey ‘lockdown” zone of the province’s colour-coded system.
But York Region’s medical officer of health has said he believes his region should ease restrictions even further. Dr. Karim Kurji, York Region’s top public health doctor, told CP24 on Monday that he wants the region to enter the red “control” zone next week, which would allow many businesses, including restaurants and gyms, to open with reduced indoor capacity.
Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario’s associate chief medical officer of health, said Tuesday that a final decision has not yet been made about where the regions will be placed in the framework or whether the province still plans to keep stay-at-home orders in place beyond next week.
When asked about the possibility of people in lockdown zones visiting areas with fewer restrictions, Yaffe said she is hopeful that won’t happen.
“I think that the last time there was a concern around this was pre-Christmas, where as I recall York Region still had open shopping malls and Toronto and Peel didn’t. So I think people were doing their shopping, they were excited for Christmas. In a way, it was understandable (but) unfortunate that they did travel,” she said.
“I am very much hoping that now it’s not a holiday period, people understand that all these measures have had a very promising effect but if we let loose, we are going to see another pandemic wave, and possibly worse, now with the variants.”
She noted the province is keeping a close eye on the situation and if there are concerns, stay-at-home orders can be reintroduced.
Yaffe called the variants of concern “a significant threat” and urged people not to see this easing of some restrictions as “permission to start gathering with your friends and coworkers.”
“While there is reason for some optimism, we must continue exercising caution given the rates in many health units remain high and the emergence of the variants,” she said.
The numbers used in this story are found in the Ontario Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 Daily Epidemiologic Summary. The number of cases for any city or region may differ slightly from what is reported by the province, because local units report figures at different times.
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.
