Ottawa Public Health reported only one new COVID-19 case Sunday, bringing the city’s total to 2,055 confirmed cases since the start of the outbreak.
Another staff member at the Peter D. Clark long-term care home has tested positive, the 24th case at the municipal facility.
Ontario reported 175 new cases of COVID-19 Sunday as the number of people in hospital continues to decline.
Hundreds of Ottawans — many wearing masks — turned out to a march Saturday to remember Abdirahman Abdi.
It’s the last day of the virtual Summer Solstice Indigenous Festival.
Splash pads are open in Ottawa to help families stay cool during this weekend.Cooling centres are open to the public at five community centres, with physical distancing measures in place.
What’s the latest?
With Ottawa in the middle of both a pandemic and a heat wave, emergency cooling centres have opened at five community centres: Ron Kolbus Lakeside Centre, Hunt Club Riverside Park Community Centre, Hintonburg Community Centre, Sandy Hill Community Centre and St-Laurent Complex.
The centres will also be open Monday. Physical distancing measures will be in place, and people should bring a cloth mask if they have one.
Splash pads are also open; however, beaches do not officially open until June 27. Indoor and outdoor pools, along with wading pools, are still closed but set to open next month.
Like many events, the Summer Solstice Indigenous Festival has had to move online. The three-day festival happens every year during National Indigenous History Month and wraps up today.
Farmers markets are open and no longer require people to register in advance.
Starting Monday, Quebec residents will be able to gather indoors in groups of up to 50 people and will only have to stay up to 1.5 metres apart.
Two protesters hold up signs at the Justice for Abdirahman rally in Ottawa on June 20, 2020. (Natalia Goodwin/CBC )
How many cases are there?
There have been 2,055 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa and 260 deaths.
There are more than 3,275 known cases across eastern Ontario and western Quebec.
More than 2,750 people in the region have recovered from COVID-19.
COVID-19 has killed 102 people outside Ottawa: 52 in Leeds, Grenville and Lanark counties, 17 in other parts of eastern Ontario and 33 in the Outaouais.
NEW: Updated modelling for <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ottawa?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Ottawa</a> suggests the city is <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/PhysicalDistancing?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#PhysicalDistancing</a> at 69 per cent.<br><br>Plus: A 20 per cent increase in <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#COVID19</a> transmission would cause a 2nd wave in the fall with 100 people in hospital.<br><br>Here’s more modelling data: <a href=”https://t.co/H4utcit5Ab”>https://t.co/H4utcit5Ab</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/ottnews?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#ottnews</a> <a href=”https://t.co/T88ttnLuwl”>pic.twitter.com/T88ttnLuwl</a>
Eastern Ontario is in “Stage 2” of the province’s recovery plan, allowing “circles” of up to 10 people who don’t have to distance as long as they limit close contact to that group.
The coronavirus primarily spreads through droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes. People don’t need to have symptoms to be contagious.
That means physical distancing measures such as working from home and in Ontario, staying at least two metres away from anyone they don’t live with or have in their circle.
Children in Quebec can now be one metre apart at school and day camps. Starting Monday, all Quebecers can be within 1.5 metres of each other while seated at indoor venues such as theatres.
Splash pads in Ottawa are now open. (John Hart/Wisconsin State Journal/The Associated Press)
Anyone who has symptoms or travelled recently outside Canada must self-isolate for at least 14 days.
Specifically in Ottawa, anyone waiting for a COVID-19 test result must self-isolate at least until they know the result.
The same goes for anyone in Ontario who’s been in contact with someone who’s tested positive or is presumed to have COVID-19.
People 70 and older or with compromised immune systems or underlying health conditions should also self-isolate.
What are the symptoms of COVID-19?
COVID-19 can range from a cold-like illness to a severe lung infection, with common symptoms including fever, a dry cough, vomiting and the loss of taste or smell.
Less common symptoms include chills, headaches and pink eye. The Ontario government says in rare cases, children can develop a rash.
It’s been 100 days of COVID-19 quarantine in Canada. What will you remember? 5:29
TheLeeds, Grenville and Lanark unit asks you to get tested if you have a symptom or concerns about exposure.
It has a walk-in site in Brockville open seven days a week at the Memorial Centre and testing sites in Smiths Falls and Almonte which require an appointment.
The public health unit in the Belleville area is asking people to call it, their family doctor or Telehealth if they have symptoms or questions.
There are weekly pop-up clinics in other communities and you may also qualify for a home test.
Renfrew County is also providing pop-up and home testing under some circumstances. Residents without access to a family doctor can call 1-844-727-6404 if they have health questions, COVID-19-related or not.
If you’re concerned about the coronavirus, take the self-assessment.
Local communities have declared states of emergency, put in a curfew or both.
Akwesasne has opened a mobile COVID-19 test site available by appointment only. Anyone returning to Akwesasne who’s been farther than 80 kilometres away is asked to self-isolate for 14 days.
Anyone in Tyendinaga who’s interested in a test can call 613-967-3603 to talk to a nurse.
Pikwakanagan‘s council let businesses reopen May 29 and is not running checkpoints at entrances during the day.
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.
