OTTAWA —
The City of Ottawa is seeing the highest one-day increase in COVID-19 cases in more than a week.
Ottawa Public Health reported 91 new cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa on Thursday, along with one new death linked to novel coronavirus.
It’s the highest one-day increase in COVID-19 cases since Nov. 1, when 132 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Ottawa. The 91 new cases comes after two straight days with case levels in the 20s.
Since the first case of COVID-19 in Ottawa on March 11, there have been 7,725 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa, including 350 deaths.
The Ottawa COVID-19 Testing Taskforce reported 1,692 swabs were taken at assessment centres in Ottawa on Nov. 10. A total of 3,319 lab tests were performed in Ottawa.
Across Ontario, nearly 39,600 tests were performed.
HOSPITALIZATIONS IN OTTAWA
There are 59 people in an Ottawa hospital with COVID-19 related illnesses, including three in the intensive care unit.
Of the people in hospital, one is between the ages of 10 and 19, three are in their 30s, two people are in their 40s, four are in their 50s, eight are in their 60s, 13 are in their 70s, 17 are in their 80s, and eleven are 90 or older.
ACTIVE CASES OF COVID-19 IN OTTAWA
Ottawa Public Health reports there are 495 active cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa, up from 490 active cases on Wednesday.
A total 6,880 people recovered after testing positive for COVID-19.
The number of active cases is the number of total laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 minus the numbers of resolved cases and deaths. A case is considered resolved 14 days after known symptom onset or positive test result.
CASES OF COVID-19 IN OTTAWA BY AGE CATEGORY
Here is a breakdown of all known COVID-19 cases in Ottawa by age category:
0-9 years old: 10 new cases (502 cases total)
10-19 years-old: 17 new cases (882 cases total)
20-29 years-old: 14 new cases (1,585 cases total)
30-39 years-old: Six new cases (1,020 cases total)
40-49 years-old: 12 new case (982 cases total)
50-59 years-old: 11 new cases (907 cases total)
60-69-years-old: Nine new case2 (608 cases total)
70-79 years-old: Two new cases (396 cases total)
80-89 years-old: Five new cases (500 cases total)
90+ years old: Two new cases (340 cases total)
The ages of three cases of COVID-19 is unknown
COVID-19 CASES ACROSS THE REGION
Twelve new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the Eastern Ontario Health Unit Region.
The Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox and Addington Public Health unit reported two new cases.
There are two new cases in the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit.
INSTITUTIONAL OUTBREAKS
Ottawa Public Health is reporting COVID-19 outbreaks at 32 institutions in Ottawa, including long-term care homes, retirement homes, daycares, hospitals and schools.
The COVID-19 outbreaks are over at Riverpath Retirement, Innovative Community Support Services and the Ottawa Hospital – General Campus 6W. The outbreak is also over at the Ottawa Islamic School.
The schools and childcare spaces currently experiencing outbreaks are:
Cornerstone Children’s Centre – Heatherington Nursery School
École élémentaire catholique Des Pionniers
École secondaire publique Louis Riel
École secondaire publique Omer-Deslauriers
St. Mother Teresa High School
St. Mother Teresa High School (2)*
St. Patrick School
*NOTE: There are two ongoing but unrelated COVID-19 outbreaks declared at St. Mother Teresa High School.
The long-term care homes, retirement homes, hospitals, and other spaces currently experiencing outbreaks are:
Alta Vista Manor
Beacon Heights retirement home
Bridlewood Trails Retirement Home
Garden Terrace
Glebe Centre
Hôpital Montfort 4C Med
Longfields Manor
Lord Lansdowne retirement home
Maison Acceuil-Sagesse
Medex
Park Place
Robertson House
Rockcliffe Retirement
Rooming house location
Shelter location
Sisters of Charity retirement home
St. Patrick’s Home
St. Vincent Hospital (3 South)
Starwood
Stirling Park Retirement Home
Supportive Housing location
The Ottawa Hospital Rehab Centre – Special Rehab – Ward B
The Ravines
Valley Stream Retirement Home
West End Villa
A single laboratory-confirmed case of COVID-19 in a resident or staff member of a long-term care home, retirement home or shelter triggers an outbreak response, according to Ottawa Public Health. In childcare settings, a single confirmed, symptomatic case in a staff member, home daycare provider, or child triggers an outbreak.
Under provincial guidelines, a COVID-19 outbreak in a school is defined as two or more lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases in students and/or staff in a school with an epidemiological link, within a 14-day period, where at least one case could have reasonably acquired their infection in the school (including transportation and before or after school care).
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.
