Ontario reported more than 2,100 COVID-19 cases on both Friday and Saturday, with 81 new deaths over that 48-hour period, as the number of patients in intensive care surpassed 300 for the first time.
The province detected 2,159 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday and 2,142 new cases on Saturday.
“Today, there are 541 new cases in Toronto, 344 in Peel, 262 in York Region, 136 in Hamilton and 131 in Windsor-Essex,” Health Minister Christine Elliott wrote on Twitter.
Officials said 43 people died of infection on Friday and 38 died on Saturday, bringing the total number of deaths reported since the pandemic began to 4,359.
Testing data, usually provided by Ontario Health, was unavailable for Friday and Saturday.
There are now nearly 20,000 active cases of novel coronavirus infection across the province, the highest that number has ever been, up from 18,200 one week ago.
Thirty-nine of the eighty-one deaths reported in the past 48 hours were among residents of long-term care homes.
The latest report from Critical Care Services Ontario obtained by CP24 showed 304 adults in intensive care across the province due to COVID-19 on Saturday, as well as one newborn baby.
Twenty-nine more people entered intensive care due to COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, the report said.
A new enhanced lockdown effort took effect across the province on Saturday morning, with southern Ontario seeing new restrictions on retailers, school and university operations, along with bans on ski hill operation, indoor dining, cinema and fitness facility activities for 28 days.
Elsewhere in the GTA, Durham Region reported 93 cases on Friday and 67 new cases on Saturday, while Halton Region reported 96 new cases on Friday and 93 new cases on Saturday.
Michael Garron Hospital intensivist Dr. Michael Warner says what happens in the next few weeks will determine if Ontario’s hospital system will make it through January without collapsing.
“What happens in the next two or three weeks really depends on how much spread of COVID-19 there has been in the community,” he told CP24. “We could reach 400 or 500 (occupied ICU beds) by mid Jan. or in the worst case scenario up to 1,500 (beds occupied) by Jan. 22, but I don’t think that will happen because if it does we will have to impose a much more severe lockdown in order for the health system to survive.”
He said there needs to be continued surveillance testing among-school age children, and a proven comprehensive way to isolate and support workers in large indoor workplaces if Ontario is to get its rate of infection under control.
“Just cruising along at 2,200 cases per day until a vaccine has been received by enough people to make a difference isn’t going to work,” he said.
“We have to go after the root causes, prove that school is safe before kids return to school so that doesn’t become a tinder box for COVID. And we have to make sure that people who work in factories, especially in Peel, are protected.”
CALGARY – TC Energy Corp. has lowered the estimated cost of its Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico.
It says it now expects the project to cost between US$3.9 billion and US$4.1 billion compared with its original estimate of US$4.5 billion.
The change came as the company reported a third-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of C$1.46 billion or $1.40 per share compared with a loss of C$197 million or 19 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totalled C$4.08 billion, up from C$3.94 billion in the third quarter of 2023.
TC Energy says its comparable earnings for its latest quarter amounted to C$1.03 per share compared with C$1.00 per share a year earlier.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
BCE Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter as it recorded $2.11 billion in asset impairment charges, mainly related to Bell Media’s TV and radio properties.
The company says its net loss attributable to common shareholders amounted to $1.24 billion or $1.36 per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $640 million or 70 cents per share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, BCE says it earned 75 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 81 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
“Bell’s results for the third quarter demonstrate that we are disciplined in our pursuit of profitable growth in an intensely competitive environment,” BCE chief executive Mirko Bibic said in a statement.
“Our focus this quarter, and throughout 2024, has been to attract higher-margin subscribers and reduce costs to help offset short-term revenue impacts from sustained competitive pricing pressures, slow economic growth and a media advertising market that is in transition.”
Operating revenue for the quarter totalled $5.97 billion, down from $6.08 billion in its third quarter of 2023.
BCE also said it now expects its revenue for 2024 to fall about 1.5 per cent compared with earlier guidance for an increase of zero to four per cent.
The company says the change comes as it faces lower-than-anticipated wireless product revenue and sustained pressure on wireless prices.
BCE added 33,111 net postpaid mobile phone subscribers, down 76.8 per cent from the same period last year, which was the company’s second-best performance on the metric since 2010.
It says the drop was driven by higher customer churn — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — amid greater competitive activity and promotional offer intensity. BCE’s monthly churn rate for the category was 1.28 per cent, up from 1.1 per cent during its previous third quarter.
The company also saw 11.6 per cent fewer gross subscriber activations “due to more targeted promotional offers and mobile device discounting compared to last year.”
Bell’s wireless mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.26, down 3.4 per cent from $60.28 in the third quarter of the prior year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. trimmed its financial guidance as it reported its second-quarter revenue fell compared with a year ago.
The luxury clothing company says revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 29 totalled $267.8 million, down from $281.1 million in the same quarter last year.
Net income attributable to shareholders amounted to $5.4 million or six cents per diluted share, up from $3.9 million or four cents per diluted share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, Canada Goose says it earned five cents per diluted share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 16 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
In its outlook, Canada Goose says it now expects total revenue for its full financial year to show a low-single-digit percentage decrease to low-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a low-single-digit increase.
It also says it now expects its adjusted net income per diluted share to show a mid-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a percentage increase in the mid-teens.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
