Ontario’s top doctor says that we are in a “race against time” with COVID-19 variants now making up nearly a third of all new cases.
More than 31 per cent of all positive cases in Ontario last week screened positive for a variant of concern, up from 18.9 per cent the week prior.
The rapid rise in the proportion of cases involving new variants has prompted concern about a potential third wave, especially given the fact that the more infectious B.1.1.7 variant has made up the vast majority of the cases.
“We are in a race against time here. We are getting more vaccines and we want to vaccinate as quickly and as many (people) as we can as many as we can but that will take time,” Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams said during a briefing on Monday afternoon. “If we just hold and be firm and be careful for the next couple weeks we can keep even the variants I believe under control, bending the curve from that rapid rise. But there is a sense that it (case numbers) will go up. We just want to make sure that it is not too much and doesn’t compromise our healthcare system.”
The stark warning from Williams on Monday afternoon came a few hours after Ontario reported another 1,631 cases of COVID-19, which was the highest single-day tally since Feb. 5.
Officials, however, later said said the spike was due to data management issues with the province’s coronavirus contact management system.
The province reported 1,299 new cases on Sunday, 990 more cases on Saturday and 1,250 new cases on Friday. Williams, however, said that the data delay likely means that those numbers should have been higher.
“We are in this phase where the model is saying we could be trending up back again and we have seen our variants of concern taking up more and more the percentage of cases day by day. So our concerns are there,” he said. “We need to remain vigilant.”
Across the GTA, Toronto reported 568 cases, the highest daily total that city has seen since Feb. 5, while Peel Region reported 322 new cases, the highest daily total the region has disclosed since Feb. 2.
York Region reported 119 new cases on Monday, while Durham Region reported 68 new cases, Halton reported 51 and Hamilton reported 22.
Provincial labs processed 38,063 tests in the past 24 hours, generating a positivity rate of at least 3.4 per cent.
None of the ten deaths reported on Monday occurred in the long-term care system.
There are now 11,016 active cases of novel coronavirus infection across the province, up from 10,570 one week ago.
A total of 7,077 people are known to have died from COVID-19, while 291,800 people have made a full recovery from illness.
The seven-day rolling average of daily cases rose to 1,155 on Monday, up from 1,069 on Sunday.
Meanwhile, hospitalizations stayed relatively flat when compared to Sunday.
The Ministry of Health says there were 626 people in hospital on Monday, up 20 from Sunday.
Of those, 282 were in intensive care and 184 were breathing with the help of a ventilator.
But a count of data from the province’s 34 local public health units and hospital networks found 832 people in hospital receiving treatment for COVID-19 on Monday.
A Toronto ICU doctor citing data from Critical Care Services Ontario said there were 337 people in intensive care due to COVID-19 on Monday.
Public Health Ontario confirmed an additional 63 cases of coronavirus variants of concern in the past 24 hours, bringing the total confirmed through whole genomic sequencing in the province to 935.
There are also several thousand additional positive specimens that screened positive.
The province said it administered another 21,000 doses of approved coronavirus vaccines on Sunday, bringing the total number of shots administered to 912,486.
More than 273,000 people have now completed the full two-dose inoculation.
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.
