A coronavirus sniffer dog named E.T. receives a cuddle from trainer Anette Kare at the Helsinki airport in Vantaa, Finland, on Tuesday. E.T. is trained to detect arriving passengers with COVID-19. (Antti Aimo-Koivisto/Lehtikuva/AFP via Getty Images)
We looked at 120,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada. Here’s what we found
The coronavirus has been confirmed in more than 146,600 people across the country since the first case was detected. CBC News has dug deep into the data collected by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to examine how COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, affects the young, the elderly, men and women in order to better understand what’s most likely to land you in hospital — or worse. The data contains details on 121,795 cases up to the first week of September.
Some of our findings:
CBC’s analysis reveals that since mid-August, infections among young people (under 30) have surged and now, after a summer of provincial reopenings and expanded testing, cumulatively outnumber the elderly. COVID-19 infections are also on the rise among the very youngest (under 20) as schools, colleges and universities reopen.
The 9,000 cases that list symptom details suggest that people with COVID-19 suffer differently depending on age and symptoms. Chills, sore throat and runny nose were reported more frequently among those under 50. Cough and fever were common among all age groups.
Close to 10 per cent of people who tested positive for coronavirus ended up in hospital, according to the cases tracked by PHAC. Two per cent of cases landed in intensive care units (ICU) across all ages but mostly among people over 50. In people admitted to hospital, shortness of breath and fever were more common symptoms, while headaches, sore throat and runny nose were seen more often in less severe cases.
More than 9,200 people have died in Canada with COVID-19. Of all confirmed infections in Canada, six per cent, or 9,274 cases, have been fatal, with the elderly hit the hardest. Only two people under 20 are known to have died from the disease so far. More women in Canada have died from COVID-19, especially in the 80+ age group, where they outnumber men. Outside that age group, more men are dying from the virus.
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A runny nose and sore throat can be symptoms of COVID-19, but they’re also common symptoms of a cold or flu. British Columbia has removed them from a list disqualifying children from in-class learning, calling it a minor symptom of coronavirus, while other provinces are considering following suit. 2:01
IN BRIEF
Trudeau to make rare address to the nation amid COVID-19 fight; throne speech promises more support for affected Canadians
Two of Trudeau’s rival party leaders, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole and Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet, have tested positive for the virus and have been forced to delay their responses to the throne speech until their self-isolation periods have ended.
CBC News will carry Trudeau’s address at 6:30 p.m. ET, followed by analysis and reaction. Watch, listen and follow live on cbcnews.ca, the CBC News app, CBC TV, CBC News Network, CBC Gem and CBC Radio, as well as on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
Ontario to launch COVID-19 testing in pharmacies Friday
Ontario will begin offering COVID-19 testing in pharmacies Friday, beginning with up to 60 pharmacies around the province, Premier Doug Ford says. The testing will be available by appointment only, for those not experiencing symptoms of the virus, and is expected to roll out to further locations in the coming weeks, the province says.
In addition, three hospitals will be offering saliva testing starting this week. Those hospitals include Women’s College, Mount Sinai and University Health Network―Toronto Western Hospital. The saliva-based tests will at first be conducted alongside the usual nasal-pharyngeal testing to assess their accuracy, Health Minister Christine Elliott said at a news conference Wednesday.
The testing initiative is the second part of the government’s fall pandemic preparedness plan. The first piece involved purchasing millions of seasonal flu shots that the government is encouraging all residents to get.
“We have prepared for the worst,” Elliott said. The province has seen modelling of various scenarios including a slow burn of little peaks and valleys in the daily numbers to more dramatic increases, the minister said. Elliott said further details about those models will be unveiled as the province continues to roll out its fall plan.
120 active COVID-19 cases reported on First Nations reserves across Canada
There are currently 120 active cases of COVID-19 on First Nations reserves across Canada, according to data from Indigenous Services Canada. New cases since last week were primarily reported in Alberta, British Columbia and Manitoba. One death was reported, bringing the total of deaths on-reserve from COVID-19 to 10.
There have been 616 cases of COVID-19 on First Nations reserves as of Sept. 21, as well as 51 hospitalizations. A total of 486 First Nations people have recovered. Cases on First Nations reserves reported per region as of Sept. 21:
Johnson & Johnson begins final phase of single-shot COVID-19 vaccine study
New Jersey-based drug conglomerate Johnson & Johnson is beginning a huge final study to try to prove if a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine can protect against the coronavirus, The Associated Press reports. The study starting Wednesday will be one of the world’s largest coronavirus vaccine studies so far, testing the shot in 60,000 volunteers in the United States, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.
In August, Canada signed a deal with a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson to secure up to 38 million doses of the company’s potential vaccine.
A handful of other vaccines in the U.S. — including shots made by Moderna Inc. and Pfizer Inc. — and some in other countries are already in final-stage testing. Hopes are high that answers about at least one candidate being tested in the U.S. could come by year’s end, maybe sooner.
Many vaccine specialists question whether the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will move at a safe pace under intense pressure from the current U.S. administration. U.S. President Donald Trump has consistently presented a faster timeline for a new vaccine than experts say is adequate to fully test the candidates. On Wednesday, he tweeted a link to news about the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine study and said the FDA “must move quickly.”
“We feel cautiously optimistic that we will be able to have a safe and effective vaccine, although there is never a guarantee of that,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, infectious disease chief at the National Institutes of Health, told a Senate committee on Wednesday.
AND FINALLY…
Preserving your pandemic harvest? Start slow, say experts
In this file photo, pickling jars are seen at a culinary event in New York City in 2011. This year saw an explosion of interest in gardening as the pandemic forced people to stay closer to home. (Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for International Culinary Center Catering & Events)
Canadians who grew their own gardens this pandemic summer and are looking to try pickling their bounty for the first time should start small, says an Edmonton woman who has been canning for years.
“You don’t have to take the whole weekend,” said Johwanna Alleyne, who teaches canning courses and runs a pickling business in Edmonton called Mojo Jojo Pickles, which produces everything from ketchup to jelly and relish. “Start with single jars, like make one or two jars of something that you’re really proud of…. You’ll catch on pretty quickly.”
This year saw an explosion of interest in gardening as the pandemic forced people to stay closer to home. Similar to the early rush for toilet paper and flour, people are now facing a shortage of Mason jars used to preserve their homegrown fruits and veggies.
Alleyne said she’s certainly noticed people getting into canning and pickling for the first time this year. “I didn’t know that pickles were an essential service, but it seems like they are,” she told CBC Radio’s The Current. “I think we’ve all appreciated just slowing down a little bit. And fresh, real food and good flavour and the comfort of good flavours become really important.”
With pickling, the amount of acid in the jar and how you fill it is important, as is the processing time, said Alleyne. That’s because canning gone wrong can lead to spoilage or cause botulism. If jars meant to preserve peaches or nectarines aren’t prepared properly, for example, you may notice air bubbles, which will cause the preserved fruit to slowly spoil.
Netflix (NFLX) stock slid as much as 9.6% Friday after the company gave a second quarter revenue forecast that missed estimates and announced it would stop reporting quarterly subscriber metrics closely watched by Wall Street.
On Thursday, Netflix guided to second quarter revenue of $9.49 billion, a miss compared to consensus estimates of $9.51 billion.
The company said it will stop reporting quarterly membership numbers starting next year, along with average revenue per member, or ARM.
“As we’ve evolved our pricing and plans from a single to multiple tiers with different price points depending on the country, each incremental paid membership has a very different business impact,” the company said.
Netflix reported first quarter earnings that beat across the board on Thursday, with another 9 million-plus subscribers added in the quarter.
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Subscriber additions of 9.3 million beat expectations of 4.8 million and followed the 13 million net additions the streamer added in the fourth quarter. The company added 1.7 million paying users in Q1 2023.
Revenue beat Bloomberg consensus estimates of $9.27 billion to hit $9.37 billion in the quarter, an increase of 14.8% compared to the same period last year as the streamer leaned on revenue initiatives like its crackdown on password-sharing and ad-supported tier, in addition to the recent price hikes on certain subscription plans.
Netflix’s stock has been on a tear in recent months, with shares currently trading near the high end of its 52-week range. Wall Street analysts had warned that high expectations heading into the print could serve as an inherent risk to the stock price.
Earnings per share (EPS) beat estimates in the quarter, with the company reporting EPS of $5.28, well above consensus expectations of $4.52 and nearly double the $2.88 EPS figure it reported in the year-ago period. Netflix guided to second quarter EPS of $4.68, ahead of consensus calls for $4.54.
Profitability metrics also came in strong, with operating margins sitting at 28.1% for the first quarter compared to 21% in the same period last year.
The company previously guided to full-year 2024 operating margins of 24% after the metric grew to 21% from 18% in 2023. Netflix expects margins to tick down slightly in Q2 to 26.6%.
Free cash flow came in at $2.14 billion in the quarter, above consensus calls of $1.9 billion.
Meanwhile, ARM ticked up 1% year over year — matching the fourth quarter results. Wall Street analysts expect ARM to pick up later this year as both the ad-tier impact and price hike effects take hold.
On the ads front, ad-tier memberships increased 65% quarter over quarter after rising nearly 70% sequentially in Q3 2023 and Q4 2023. The ads plan now accounts for over 40% of all Netflix sign-ups in the markets it’s offered in.
Netflix reported first quarter earnings after the bell on Thursday. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo (REUTERS / Reuters)
Alexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com.
Oil prices initially spiked on Friday due to unconfirmed reports of an Israeli missile strike on Iran.
Prices briefly reached above $90 per barrel before falling back as Iran denied the attack.
Iranian media reported activating their air defense systems, not an Israeli strike.
Oil prices gave up nearly all of early Friday’s gains after an Iranian official told Reuters that there hadn’t been a missile attack against Iran.
Oil surged by as much as $3 per barrel in Asian trade early on Friday after a U.S. official told ABC News today that Israel launched missile strikes against Iran in the early morning hours today. After briefly spiking to above $90 per barrel early on Friday in Asian trade, Brent fell back to $87.10 per barrel in the morning in Europe.
The news was later confirmed by Iranian media, which said the country’s air defense system took down three drones over the city of Isfahan, according to Al Jazeera. Flights to three cities including Tehran and Isfahan were suspended, Iranian media also reported.
Israel’s retaliation for Iran’s missile strikes last week was seen by most as a guarantee of escalation of the Middle East conflict since Iran had warned Tel Aviv that if it retaliates, so will Tehran in its turn and that retaliation would be on a greater scale than the missile strikes from last week. These developments were naturally seen as strongly bullish for oil prices.
However, hours after unconfirmed reports of an Israeli attack first emerged, Reuters quoted an Iranian official as saying that there was no missile strike carried out against Iran. The explosions that were heard in the large Iranian city of Isfahan were the result of the activation of the air defense systems of Iran, the official told Reuters.
Overall, Iran appears to downplay the event, with most official comments and news reports not mentioning Israel, Reuters notes.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that “there is no damage to Iran’s nuclear sites,” confirming Iranian reports on the matter.
The Isfahan province is home to Iran’s nuclear site for uranium enrichment.
“Brent briefly soared back above $90 before reversing lower after Iranian media downplayed a retaliatory strike by Israel,” Saxo Bank said in a Friday note.
The $5 a barrel trading range in oil prices over the past week has been driven by traders attempting to “quantify the level of risk premium needed to reflect heightened tensions but with no impact on supply,” the bank said, adding “Expect prices to bid ahead of the weekend.”
At the time of writing Brent was trading at $87.34 and WTI at $83.14.
