(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump has tested negative for Covid-19 and is no longer infectious to others, his doctor said. A study showed that the proportion of Americans dying from the coronavirus is the highest in the developed world.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will close bars and pubs in the worst-hit parts of England to control a resurgence of the virus. Singapore’s central bank warned the city’s economy faces “deep scarring” from the pandemic.
The World Health Organization’s director-general urged countries not to pursue “herd immunity,” saying the vast majority of people haven’t yet been infected and questions remain about the virus’s long-term effects.
Key Developments:
Global Tracker: cases pass 37.6 million; deaths top 1.07 million
U.S. Hot Spots: Covid-19 soars in red states as Trump returns to trail
Top U.K. medic warns hot spot curbs aren’t enough to stop virus
Summers says Covid-19 will end up costing U.S. $16 trillion
Trump rallies raise concern about spread, Fauci says
A second bout of Covid infection may be far worse, study shows
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Singapore Economy Faces Deep Scarring: MAS (7:22 a.m. HK)
Singapore’s central bank chief said as much as 20% of the city-state’s economy faces “deep scarring” from the pandemic. Aviation and tourism are a worry, especially with an expected slow recovery in travel, Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, said at a virtual event hosted by the Institute of International Finance on Monday. About 10% to 20% of the economy faces scarring from the virus, he said.
“What is going to happen to that industry when the planes haven’t flown, the pilots haven’t flown for months on a stretch?” said Menon. “It’s not like picking up after taking two months off. When you take two years off, it’s very different.”
Trump Rallies Raise Concern About Spread: Fauci (5:35 p.m. NY)
President Donald Trump’s planned campaign rallies this week — starting with one on Monday night in Florida — threaten to advance the spread of the coronavirus, warned Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert.
“Look at it purely in the context of public health,” Fauci said on CNN. “We know that that is asking for trouble when you do that. We’ve seen that when you have situations of congregant settings where there are a lot of people without masks, the data speak for themselves.”
Trump Tests Negative, Doctor Says (5:28 p.m. NY)
President Donald Trump has tested negative for Covid-19 on consecutive days, a week after being released from the hospital for treatment of the disease, White House doctor Sean Conley said.
“This comprehensive data, in concert with the CDC’s guidelines for removal of transmission-based precautions, have informed our medical team’s assessment that the President is not infectious to others,” Conley said in a memo.
Cuomo Touts N.Y. Infection Rate (5:02 p.m. NY)
New York’s 1.1% positive test rate for Covid-19 remains among the lowest in the U.S., as the state increased the number of tests to a record 834,342 last week, Governor Andrew Cuomo said.
Cuomo contrasted New York’s commitment to increased testing with states that have reduced diagnostic testing, such as Florida, where he said the positive-test rate was 11.7%, and Texas, with a 7.6% rate.
“There are some states that have taken the politics of denial and turned it into science fiction. If you test less you will find fewer cases, that’s a laughable concept,” Cuomo said in a briefing Monday afternoon.
Pandemic’s U.S. Cost Seen at $16 Trillion (4:30 p.m. NY)
The Covid-19 pandemic will exact a $16 trillion toll on the U.S.. about four times the cost of the Great Recession, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers and fellow Harvard University economist David Cutler wrote in an essay published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
About half of that amount is related to lost gross domestic product as a result of economic shutdowns and the ongoing spread of the virus, while the other half comes from health losses including premature death and mental and long-term health impairments, Cutler and Summers said.
The $16 trillion amount is equal to about 90% of annual U.S. GDP; it’s also more than twice as much as the U.S. has spent on wars since Sept. 11, 2001, according to the essay.
The Czech government tightened social distancing rules and closed down schools, restaurants and bars through early November. It also banned public alcohol consumption and limited outdoor gatherings to six people.
The country of 10.7 million is suffering the most acute epidemic among EU states. New infections reached a record of 8,618 cases on Friday, leapfrogging Spain as the bloc’s top hot spot based on the two-week cumulative number of cases per capita, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
California Studying Theme Park Openings (4:20 p.m. NY)
California Governor Gavin Newsom said he is sending a team to visit reopened theme parks in other states, as his administration argues with the industry over guidelines for welcoming visitors back to still-shut attractions such as Disneyland.
In an update with reporters on Monday, Newsom said he wanted first-hand accounts of how well safety measures seem to be working in theme parks elsewhere that have been allowed to reopen. The governor also said the state may set different guidelines for large-scale amusement parks and smaller attractions such as civic piers or Ferris wheels, saying they faced different risks.
WHO Says 180 Nations in Vaccine Push (1:35 p.m. NY)
China’s joining of a global push to make coronavirus vaccines accessible for developing nations brings to 180 the number countries participating in the World Health Organization-backed initiative — representing 90% of the global population, Soumya Swaminathan, the WHO’s chief scientist, said Monday. While the U.S. hasn’t joined the $18 billion effort, called Covax, the breadth of participants is encouraging, Swaminathan said.
Meanwhile, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries not to pursue “herd immunity.” The vast majority of people haven’t yet been infected and questions remain about how long immunity lasts and what long-term effects Covid-19 creates, he said.
“Herd immunities are achieved by protecting people from a virus, not by exposing them to it,” he said. “Never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy for responding to an outbreak, let alone a pandemic. It’s scientifically and ethically problematic.”
Texas Deploys Medical Teams to El Paso (1:16 pm NY)
Texas dispatched 75 nurses, respiratory specialists and other medical personnel to El Paso in response to a surge in Covid-19 cases, Governor Greg Abbott said on Monday. Masks and other personal protective equipment are also being delivered.
“This surge in medical personnel and PPE will help support El Paso’s hospitals and first responders as we mitigate the spread of this virus,” Abbott said in a statement.
The El Paso region has a higher percentage of hospital beds occupied by virus patients than anywhere else in Texas, according to state health department figures. The border town is seeing cases climb at a similar rate to Houston, which has almost five times El Paso’s population.
Boris Johnson Shuts Pubs in U.K. Hot Spots (12 p.m. NY)
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new restrictions to control the surge in coronavirus, with bars and pubs closing in the worst-hit parts of the England from Wednesday.
Johnson set out his plan for a three-tier system of Covid alert levels, set at medium, high, and very high, to simplify the imposition of lockdown measures.
The toughest measures will be brought into force from Wednesday in the Liverpool city region of northwest England, where the outbreak is spreading fastest, the prime minister told Parliament on Monday.
Dutch Prepare New Measures as Cases Rise (9:03 a.m. NY)
The surge in new virus cases continued in the Netherlands, with a record 6,854 cases, confirmed in the 24 hours until Monday morning, news agency ANP reported, citing the country’s health agency. More than 41,000 cases were reported in the past seven days. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will likely announce stricter measures tomorrow, according to local media. Without new measures, medics warned that about 5,000 coronavirus patients will be in hospital next month, meaning 70% of regular care would have to be scrapped, ANP said.
OTTAWA – Canada’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.5 per cent last month as hiring remained weak across the economy.
Statistics Canada’s labour force survey on Friday said employment rose by a modest 15,000 jobs in October.
Business, building and support services saw the largest gain in employment.
Meanwhile, finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing experienced the largest decline.
Many economists see weakness in the job market continuing in the short term, before the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts spark a rebound in economic growth next year.
Despite ongoing softness in the labour market, however, strong wage growth has raged on in Canada. Average hourly wages in October grew 4.9 per cent from a year ago, reaching $35.76.
Friday’s report also shed some light on the financial health of households.
According to the agency, 28.8 per cent of Canadians aged 15 or older were living in a household that had difficulty meeting financial needs – like food and housing – in the previous four weeks.
That was down from 33.1 per cent in October 2023 and 35.5 per cent in October 2022, but still above the 20.4 per cent figure recorded in October 2020.
People living in a rented home were more likely to report difficulty meeting financial needs, with nearly four in 10 reporting that was the case.
That compares with just under a quarter of those living in an owned home by a household member.
Immigrants were also more likely to report facing financial strain last month, with about four out of 10 immigrants who landed in the last year doing so.
That compares with about three in 10 more established immigrants and one in four of people born in Canada.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information says health-care spending in Canada is projected to reach a new high in 2024.
The annual report released Thursday says total health spending is expected to hit $372 billion, or $9,054 per Canadian.
CIHI’s national analysis predicts expenditures will rise by 5.7 per cent in 2024, compared to 4.5 per cent in 2023 and 1.7 per cent in 2022.
This year’s health spending is estimated to represent 12.4 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product. Excluding two years of the pandemic, it would be the highest ratio in the country’s history.
While it’s not unusual for health expenditures to outpace economic growth, the report says this could be the case for the next several years due to Canada’s growing population and its aging demographic.
Canada’s per capita spending on health care in 2022 was among the highest in the world, but still less than countries such as the United States and Sweden.
The report notes that the Canadian dental and pharmacare plans could push health-care spending even further as more people who previously couldn’t afford these services start using them.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
As Canadians wake up to news that Donald Trump will return to the White House, the president-elect’s protectionist stance is casting a spotlight on what effect his second term will have on Canada-U.S. economic ties.
Some Canadian business leaders have expressed worry over Trump’s promise to introduce a universal 10 per cent tariff on all American imports.
A Canadian Chamber of Commerce report released last month suggested those tariffs would shrink the Canadian economy, resulting in around $30 billion per year in economic costs.
More than 77 per cent of Canadian exports go to the U.S.
Canada’s manufacturing sector faces the biggest risk should Trump push forward on imposing broad tariffs, said Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters president and CEO Dennis Darby. He said the sector is the “most trade-exposed” within Canada.
“It’s in the U.S.’s best interest, it’s in our best interest, but most importantly for consumers across North America, that we’re able to trade goods, materials, ingredients, as we have under the trade agreements,” Darby said in an interview.
“It’s a more complex or complicated outcome than it would have been with the Democrats, but we’ve had to deal with this before and we’re going to do our best to deal with it again.”
American economists have also warned Trump’s plan could cause inflation and possibly a recession, which could have ripple effects in Canada.
It’s consumers who will ultimately feel the burden of any inflationary effect caused by broad tariffs, said Darby.
“A tariff tends to raise costs, and it ultimately raises prices, so that’s something that we have to be prepared for,” he said.
“It could tilt production mandates. A tariff makes goods more expensive, but on the same token, it also will make inputs for the U.S. more expensive.”
A report last month by TD economist Marc Ercolao said research shows a full-scale implementation of Trump’s tariff plan could lead to a near-five per cent reduction in Canadian export volumes to the U.S. by early-2027, relative to current baseline forecasts.
Retaliation by Canada would also increase costs for domestic producers, and push import volumes lower in the process.
“Slowing import activity mitigates some of the negative net trade impact on total GDP enough to avoid a technical recession, but still produces a period of extended stagnation through 2025 and 2026,” Ercolao said.
Since the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement came into effect in 2020, trade between Canada and the U.S. has surged by 46 per cent, according to the Toronto Region Board of Trade.
With that deal is up for review in 2026, Canadian Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Candace Laing said the Canadian government “must collaborate effectively with the Trump administration to preserve and strengthen our bilateral economic partnership.”
“With an impressive $3.6 billion in daily trade, Canada and the United States are each other’s closest international partners. The secure and efficient flow of goods and people across our border … remains essential for the economies of both countries,” she said in a statement.
“By resisting tariffs and trade barriers that will only raise prices and hurt consumers in both countries, Canada and the United States can strengthen resilient cross-border supply chains that enhance our shared economic security.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
