Officials have listed 1,005 U.K. variant cases (B.1.1.7) which is up by 49 since yesterday, 42 South African variant cases (B.1.351) which is up by one, and 34 Brazilian variant cases (P.1) which is up by six, that have been detected so far in the province.
The cumulative case count for a mutation that was detected but the lineage was not determined was 6,859, an increase of 346, the government indicated.
Meanwhile, 296,252 Ontarians were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is 94 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 1,124 from the previous day.
Active cases in Ontario now stand at 11,512 — up from the previous day when it was 11,283, and up from March 5 at 10,378. At the peak of the coronavirus surge in January, active cases hit above 30,000.
The government said 64,611 tests were processed in the last 24 hours. There is currently a backlog of 36,744 tests awaiting results. A total of 11,649,060 tests have been completed since the start of the pandemic.
Test positivity — the percentage of tests that come back positive — for Friday and Thursday was 2.4 per cent for both, up from last Friday when it was 2.3 per cent.
Ontario is reporting 1,371 cases of #COVID19 and over 64,600 tests completed. Locally, there are 371 new cases in Toronto, 225 in Peel, 111 in York Region and 109 in Hamilton.
As of 8:00 p.m. yesterday, 1,062,910 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered.
Ontario reported 676 people hospitalized with COVID-19 (down by four from the previous day) with 282 patients in intensive care units (up by five) and 189 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (up by five).
As of 8 p.m. on Thursday, the provincial government reported administering 1,062,910 COVID-19 vaccine doses, representing an increase of 43,503 in the last day. There are 282,748 people fully vaccinated with two doses.
Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Oxford-AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson are the vaccines currently approved in Canada. The first three require two shots administered several weeks apart while the fourth requires only one.
Here is a breakdown of the total cases in Ontario by gender and age:
155,107 people are male — an increase of 693 cases.
158,083 people are female — an increase of 685 cases.
42,926 people are 19 and under — an increase of 283 cases.
115,483 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 504 cases.
90,750 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 359 cases.
45,093 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 183 cases.
20,567 people are 80 and over — an increase of 41 cases.
The province notes that not all cases have a reported age or gender.
Here is a breakdown of the total deaths related to COVID-19 by age:
Deaths reported in ages 19 and under: 2
Deaths reported in ages 20 to 39: 29
Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 294
Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 1,974
Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 4,827
The province notes there may be a reporting delay for deaths and data corrections or updates can result in death records being removed.
Cases, deaths and outbreaks in Ontario long-term care homes
According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 3,750 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario which increase by one death since yesterday. Eleven virus-related deaths in total have been reported among staff.
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There are 80 current outbreaks in homes, which is a down by three from the previous day.
The ministry also indicated there are currently 45 active cases among long-term care residents and 138 active cases among staff — down by six and up by one, respectively, in the last day.
Cases among students and staff at Ontario schools, child care centres
Meanwhile, government figures show there have been a total of 9,949 school-related COVID-19 cases in Ontario to date — 7,189 among students and 1,610 among staff (1,150 individuals were not identified). This is an increase of 137 more cases in the last day — 99 student cases and 38 staff cases.
In the last 14 days, the province indicates there are 1,219 cases reported among students, 233 cases among staff and 19 individuals were not identified — totaling 1,471 cases.
The COVID-19 cases are currently from 850 out of 4,828 schools in the province. Thirty-four schools in Ontario are currently closed as a result of positive cases, the government indicated.
There have been a total of 2,968 confirmed cases within child care centres and homes — an increase of 20 (14 new child cases and six staff cases). Out of 5,273 child care centres in Ontario, 179 currently have cases and 47 centres are closed.
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Data for cases in schools and child care centres are updated weekdays only, at 10:30 a.m. On Friday’s, numbers are included from Wednesday afternoon to Thursday afternoon.
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.
