As of Monday, the size of indoor personal gatherings and large events will be limited in B.C., sports tournaments will be cancelled, proof of vaccination will be required for all events and movement will be restricted in restaurants, under new provincial health orders intended to slow a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases.
The measures will remain in place until Jan. 31.
The revised orders announced Friday come on the heels of 302 cases of Omicron detected in B.C. on Friday — more than double the previous day’s total — with almost half of those, 145, in the Island Health region.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Omicron is rapidly replacing other variants in B.C., primarily Delta, and there’s been a sharp increase in the number of new cases of COVID-19, particularly in the Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health regions and Vancouver Island.
“We will see rapidly rising cases over the next few weeks,” said Henry.”And we need to take additional measures to slow that down so that we don’t overwhelm our hospital system.”
B.C.’s COVID-19 case rate nearly doubled over the past week. New cases spiked from 345 on Dec. 1 to 789 Friday. New COVID modelling shows daily cases could climb to 2,000 a day by the end of the month. Active COVID‑19 cases in the province jumped from 2,994 on Dec. 10 to 4,313 Friday.
Island Health posted its highest-ever one-day COVID case count Friday at 147, eclipsing the previous high of 143 on Dec. 10. “It is moving quickly and so must we,” said Henry.
Most of the new cases so far have been in younger vaccinated people, and have caused mostly mild illness, she said.
Henry is asking people to limit holiday gatherings “to be only with our family and close friends.”
“We can still host a holiday meal, but ensure everybody’s fully vaccinated so that you can do that in the safest way possible.”
The new measures include:
• limiting indoor personal gatherings, including in rental and vacation properties, to one household plus up to 10 individuals, or one additional household — providing all youth and adults are fully vaccinated
• requiring the B.C. Vaccine Card for organized events of all sizes and ensuring the QR code is scanned at events
• requiring that restaurant patrons remain seated with no movement between tables; stay masked when not sitting
• limiting venues of 1,000 individuals or more to 50 per cent of the seated capacity, reinforcing mask wearing, and scanning of the B.C. Vaccine Card QR code
• restricting all New Year’s Eve organized gatherings and events to seated-only events — no matter their size — with no mingling or dancing allowed
• pausing all sports tournaments.
A number of sports tournaments, particularly hockey tournaments, had been due to start on Boxing Day, and will need to be suspended, Henry said.
Two large-scale events in Victoria will be affected by the venue capacity limits, including a Jan. 14 performance at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre as part of Canada’s Drag Race Season 2 Tour, and a concert by the Glorious Sons at the Royal Theatre on Jan. 15. Contingency plans for either event had not been announced as of late Friday.
An order for B.C. public service workers to return to the office was delayed until at least Jan. 17, when an update will be issued. Henry recommends other organizations also “consider continuing your work from home if that’s possible.”
Henry is also asking retail stores to have COVID-19 safety plans in place for holiday and Boxing Day sales.
“While vaccination remains the best defence against COVID-19, we are now dealing with the new threat of a more transmissible variant,” she said. “We need to take these measures until we understand the full impact Omicron will have in the B.C. context.”
In addition to the provincial health orders, British Columbians are being advised to avoid all travel if not fully vaccinated and avoid non-essential travel outside of Canada.
“This is going to be a very difficult three weeks,” said B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix. “We can deal with that in a number of ways, but I think what we need to do together is continue to make the best efforts we can across British Columbia supporting one another.”
The province says it will update its plan for rapid tests on Tuesday and aims to give people boosters six months after their second shots, which means many people will receive invitations to book in the next few weeks.
ceharnett@timescolonist.com
— With a file from Mike Devlin
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• For those feeling mentally and emotionally overwhelmed and unable to cope under this latest surge of cases and added restrictions, Henry advised calling 811, visiting Bounce Back B.C. for free mental health help at https://bouncebackbc.ca/, calling the Kids Help toll-free 24-hour phone counselling line at 1 800-668-6868 or texting 68686.
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.
