Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reports 1,248 new cases and 29 deaths in highest single-day death toll since June; U.S. surpasses 11 million cases of coronavirus, hospitalizations hit record level

The latest news from Canada and around the world Sunday. This file is no longer updating. . Web links to longer stories if available.

9:11 p.m. A massive surge in COVID-19 cases in recent days wasn’t enough to deter some revelers in Brampton from gathering in large groups to celebrate Diwali on Saturday night.

Peel police Const. Akhil Mooken said the city’s bylaw office and police dispatchers received several complaints from residents about large gatherings in violation of COVID-19 laws.

“We did receive several complaints in regard to noise complaints (and) breaching of the provincial guidelines when it comes to gathering limits,” he said.

“Our partners from the municipal bylaw team are primarily responsible for enforcing those, but we were called up on by them to assist at several places of worship to assist them in dispersing the large crowds that had gathered,” Mooken added.

8:50 p.m. In-person classes at high schools and colleges statewide will be suspended for three weeks along with eat-in dining at restaurants and bars under sweeping new restrictions aimed at reining in the exponential growth of coronavirus cases in Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Sunday.

The new restrictions are to take effect Wednesday, and include the cancellation of organized sports and group exercise classes, though gyms may remain open for individual exercise with strict safety measures, and professional and college athletics may continue.

Casinos and movie theatres also will have to temporarily shut down, and all businesses are asked to allow employees to work from home if possible.

6:37 p.m. Manitoba’s justice minister condemned the actions of demonstrators opposing mandatory masks and other lockdown measures in a community southwest of Winnipeg over the weekend, calling actions at the event “incredibly unfortunate, dangerous and wrong.”

Cliff Cullen thanked the officers who enforced provincial health orders at Saturday’s event in Steinbach, Man., and issued a stern reminder that those who break COVID-19 restrictions will be ticketed.

“The language and vitriol experienced by our enforcement personnel at (Saturday’s) event is absolutely unacceptable. These individuals are working to keep all Manitobans healthy and safe so we can slow the spread of this virus and save lives,” Cullen said in the statement.

“Manitobans have been warned and, if they choose to participate in events that openly disregard public health orders, they can expect that enforcement action will be taken.”

The rally in Steinbach drew a large crowd, though it came just a day after the president of the Manitoba Nurses Union said nurses reported having to triage patients in their cars at the local hospital because of a lack of space in the Emergency Department.

5:21 p.m. Premier Doug Ford is encouraging Ontarians to “limit their trips outside of the home” as a result of rising COVID-19 numbers.

In a tweet on Sunday, Ford asked that outings be kept to “essential reasons like going to work, school, getting groceries, or for medical appointments.”

He added that families should not allow visitors to their homes and should also avoid social gatherings.

5 p.m. U.S. officials have reported more than 11 million cases of coronavirus as of Sunday, as the country’s outbreaks speed to agonizing new levels of hospitalizations. The tally passed 10 million just a week ago, and more than 1 in 400 Americans have tested positive since.

The country logged more than 159,100 new cases Saturday, the third-highest total of the pandemic, raising the new seven-day average to more than 145,000, with upward trends in 48 states and an 80% increase in added cases from the average two weeks ago.

Ten states set single-day case records; 29 states added more cases in the past week than in any other seven-day period. On Sunday, officials in New Jersey announced 4,538 new cases, the second single-day record in a row.

4:20 p.m. Nunavut says nine new cases of COVID-19 have been identified in the Hudson Bay community of Arviat. One other new case has also been identified in Rankin Inlet which the territory says is linked to Arviat. The 10 new cases bring the territory’s total to 18, with 14 of them in Arviat.

The first diagnosis in the community was only identified on Friday. Dr. Michael Patterson, Nunavut’s chief public health officer, is asking anyone who left Arviat on or after Nov. 2 to immediately isolate for 14 days, wherever they are.

3:52 p.m. Maryland reported 1,840 new cases of the coronavirus and nine more deaths Sunday as new cases continued to surge in Western Maryland and in the Baltimore-Washington D.C. corridor.

Sunday’s additions bring the state’s total to 165,930 cases of COVID-19 and at least 4,153 people who have died due to the disease or complications from it since mid-March.

As of Sunday, 938 people in Maryland were hospitalized due to complications from COVID-19, 17 more than Saturday.

According to health officials, 20 more virus patients were placed into intensive care units, for a total of 238. The state reported three fewer people in acute care units, for a total of 700 Sunday.

The statewide seven-day average testing positivity rate was 6.57 per cent Sunday, .41 percentage points higher than Saturday.

3:31 p.m. A Surrey, B.C., elementary school has been ordered to close due to a COVID-19 outbreak, while staffing shortages stemming from virus case clusters have forced closures at two other schools in nearby municipalities.

The Fraser Health authority said seven COVID-19 cases have been identified at Cambridge Elementary School, and the facility will close until Nov. 30 to help break the chain of transmission.

The health authority said two other schools, Jarvis Elementary School in Delta and Al-Hidayah School in New Westminster, will close to manage a cluster of COVID-19 cases.

It said those closures are related to staffing issues presented by the cluster of cases and both will be closed for two weeks.

Jordan Tinney, the superintendent of Surrey schools, said staff understand the concern parents may have and that the safety of the community is of “utmost importance.”

The Fraser Health region has emerged as a provincial COVID-19 hot spot, with the majority of new cases being identified in the region over the past week.

3:07 p.m. Nova Scotia is reporting two new cases of COVID-19. Health officials say both cases reported today are in the central health zone, which includes Halifax.

Both are connected to previously reported cases, including one linked to the city’s cluster in the Clayton Park area. The new cases are still under investigation.

Nova Scotia has 21 active cases of novel coronavirus and has recorded a total of 1,144 positive cases, 1,058 cases are considered recovered, and there have been 65 deaths.

The province reported a total of eight new cases over the weekend.

12:40 p.m.: You should be nervous , with COVID-19 surging across the U.S., says Ralph Baric, a UNC professor who is one of the world’s preeminent researchers of coronaviruses.

Things are likely to get much worse before they get better.

“We are looking at five months of extensive and rapid virus spread,” Baric said in a phone interview with The News & Observer. “The good news is there is a light at the end of tunnel.”

That light appears to be a new vaccine by Pfizer, which delivered promising results on its experimental vaccine this month. A number of other vaccines are being tested as well.

But they won’t be ready for weeks or months and the weather is quickly getting colder, sending more Americans indoors to places where the virus may spread rapidly.

“I think it is important (to note) that before vaccines become widely delivered,” Baric said, “that we are looking at about 250,000 more deaths in the U.S., despite the development of new drugs. That is probably going to still occur because of the massive increases in cases.”

Nationwide, and in North Carolina, records are being set for daily positive coronavirus cases. On Friday, more than 181,100 new cases were reported across the country, a record that came only eight days after the U.S. reported its first 100,000-case day, The New York Times reported.

More than 244,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the U.S.

Perhaps more than half of those additional deaths can be avoided, Baric says. “But you have to wear masks the correct way — not just covering your mouth,” he said.

12:11 p.m.: One of the scientists behind the experimental coronavirus vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer said Sunday that he was confident that it could halve the transmission of the virus, resulting in a “dramatic” curb of the virus’ spread.

Professor Ugur Sahin, chief executive of Germany’s BioNTech, said it was “absolutely essential” to have a high vaccination rate before next autumn to ensure a return to normal life next winter.

“If everything continues to go well, we will start to deliver the vaccine end of this year, beginning next year,” Sahin said. “Our goal is to deliver more than 300 million of vaccine doses until April next year, which could allow us to already start to make an impact.”

“I’m very confident that transmission between people will be reduced by such a highly effective vaccine — maybe not 90% but maybe 50%,” he said.

Pfizer and BioNTech said last week that interim results showed the vaccine was 90% effective in preventing people from getting ill from COVID-19, though they don’t yet have enough information on safety and manufacturing quality.

“What is absolutely essential is that we get a high vaccination rate before autumn/winter next year, so that means all the immunization, vaccination approaches must be accomplished before next autumn,” Sahin said.

11:48 a.m.: New Brunswick is reporting three new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of active cases in the province to 22.

Public Health says the new cases involve a person between 20 and 29 years-old in the Moncton region, an individual between 20 and 29 in the Saint John area, and a person between 70 and 79 years of age in the Fredericton region.

Officials say one of the cases is related to travel and the other two are still under investigation.

The province has reported a total of nine new cases this weekend.

11:20 a.m.: Quebec is reporting 1,211 new cases of COVID-19 and 15 additional deaths linked to the novel coronavirus.

Public health authorities say two of those deaths took place in the last 24 hours, 11 occurred between Nov. 8 and 13, one was before Nov. 8 and one occurred at an unspecified date.

The province has now recorded 123,854 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic and 6,626 total deaths.

Officials say hospitalizations went up by four over the past 24 hours for a total of 587.

Of that, 89 people are in intensive care, an increase of seven from the previous day.

10:20 a.m.: Ontario health officials say there were 1,248 new COVID-19 cases reported on Sunday, and 29 deaths in the past 24 hours — the highest single-day death toll since June.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says 364 cases are in Toronto, 308 in Peel Region and 125 in York Region. The province says it has conducted 44,837 tests since the last daily report. In total, 479 people are hospitalized in Ontario due to COVID-19, including 118 in intensive care.

10 a.m.: A Cyprus court has ordered nine people detained for three days on suspicion of smashing store fronts and hurling stones and Molotov cocktails at police following a rally against a regional lockdown in the coastal town of Limassol.

Police said Sunday that they have also arrested the 31 year-old organizer of the rally on suspicion of inciting others to commit a criminal offence.

The violence took place after around 1,000 people gathered late Saturday in Limassol to protest a strict, 19-day lockdown that bans all non-essential movement of people, shut bars and restaurants and imposes a 8 p.m.-5 a.m. curfew. Some 23 people were arrested, of which nine — aged 16 to 27 — were detained.

9 a.m.: The number of coronavirus patients hospitalized in France dropped this weekend for this first time since September, after two weeks of new nationwide lockdown measures aimed at slowing surging infections and easing hospital strains.

The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care also fell for the first time in six weeks, according to figures released Saturday night, though virus patients still occupy 96% of France’s standard ICU beds.

The number of weekly infections per 100,000 people in France has now been falling for 14 straight days, and some doctors say they’re starting to see signs of relief in overstretched ICUs.

France has reported more virus infections than any European country and has had 44,246 virus-related deaths.

8:30 a.m.: Amid the chaos of this unprecedented year, — from outbreaks and tech shortages to staffing issues and problems keeping class sizes to a safe level. The overwhelming number of no-show students presents one more challenge in a year that’s already had far more than its share.

“This has never happened, where you have had this many kids not show up,” Toronto District School Board chair Alexander Brown told the Star. “It is a logistical nightmare. And no one knows how to navigate it.”

The TDSB has reported it is down roughly 5,500 students — more than double the number of no-shows in a typical year, when around one per cent of the board’s roughly 240,000 students don’t turn up in class, according to a spokesperson. Toronto’s Catholic board told the Star its enrolment is also down this year by between 2,000 and 2,500 students. And the Peel District School Board is missing roughly 2,800 students who were expected in class.

All of these kids were either registered and did not show up for school, or were projected to attend, but didn’t.

7 a.m.: John Tory is entering the back half of his second term as Toronto mayor consumed with an enemy that didn’t even exist one year ago.

“Back in March on a Saturday morning about six of us got a presentation from Dr. de Villa on projections for (COVID-19) and there was the case, if we did nothing how many would die, and I think the median number was 8,000 people in the city of Toronto, between then and the end of the year, and it ranged up as high as 10,000,” Mayor Tory told the Star.

“If somebody told you that many people were going to die in Toronto, short of an explosion of some kind or a terrible earthquake — I was just stumped.”

City Hall Bureau Chief, David Rider spoke with Tory about how has changed his job and if seeking a third term is a possibility.

7 a.m.: During the coronavirus crisis, current economic data shows that the pre-pandemic well-off are benefiting while the pre-pandemic marginalized are suffering considerably, write contributors Ronald Meng and Imran Abdool. In short, we are experiencing a K-shaped recovery: the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.

Winston Churchill famously said, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” and its congruent economic crisis is an opportunity to implement key changes that will set Canada’s economic trajectory on the right path.

Specifically, three things must be done: a universal basic income with automatic stabilizers; high-quality, affordable child care; and a well-designed wealth tax.

7 a.m.: Discreet online mourning is part of the new realities of life — and death — for local and international organized criminals during the COVID-19 crisis.

Meanwhile, experts say the smartest organized criminals are now rebounding and even expanding after their initial pandemic scare.

“Crime tends to be a first-mover, sussing out new opportunities whenever a crisis like COVID-19 arises,” Misha Glenny, a fellow at the Berggruen Institute think tank, writes on his blog. “They are very entrepreneurial.”

“The bad news is the surge of online activity during lockdown has multiplied the opportunities for the ever-growing cyber criminal fraternity,” he continues.

For some, the new opportunities lie in a new division of police resources, weakened enemies, legitimate business failures and sloppy online security.

6:10 a.m.: The COVID-19 crisis has overshadowed an equally dark pandemic of opioid overdoses, which have risen sharply since March as the border closure and limited access to services raise fatal risks for drug users.

British Columbia saw more than 100 “illicit toxicity deaths” each month between March and August, with the death toll breaching 175 in May, June and July, according to numbers compiled by the Public Health Agency of Canada last month.

The 181 deaths in June were a 138 per cent increase from the 76 fatalities in the same period a year earlier.

The situation is no better in Ontario, where an estimated 50 to 80 people per week are dying of overdoses, according to the chief coroner’s office. The figures are up by 35 to 40 per cent year over year since the onset of the pandemic.

6 a.m.: Several thousand supporters of President Donald Trump in Washington protested election results and then hailed Trump’s passing motorcade before nighttime clashes with counterdemonstrators sparked

Several other cities on Saturday also saw gatherings of Trump supporters unwilling to accept Democrat Joe Biden’s Electoral College and popular vote victory as legitimate. Cries of “Stop the Steal” and “Count Every Vote” continued in spite of a lack of evidence of voter fraud or other problems that could reverse the result.

After night fell, the relatively peaceful demonstrations in Washington turned from tense to violent. Videos posted on social media showed fist fights, projectiles and clubs as Trump supporters clashed with those demanding they take their MAGA hats and banners and leave. The tensions extended to Sunday morning. A variety of charges, including assault and weapons possession, were filed against those arrested, officials said. Two police officers were injured and several firearms were recovered by police.

6 a.m.: Mexico on Saturday topped 1 million registered coronavirus cases and nearly 100,000 test-confirmed deaths, though officials agree the number is probably much higher.

How did Mexico get here? By marching resolutely, even defiantly, against many internationally accepted practices in pandemic management, from face mask wearing, to lockdowns, testing and contact tracing.

What is more, officials in Mexico claim science is on their side. Assistant Health Secretary Hugo López-Gatell says any wider testing would be “a waste of time, effort and money.” Face masks, López-Gatell says, “are an auxiliary measure to prevent spreading the virus. They do not protect us, but they are useful for protecting other people.”

5:30 a.m.: India has reported 41,100 new cases of the coronavirus, raising the country’s overall tally since the pandemic began to 8.79 million a day after it celebrated Diwali, a major Hindu festival.

The Health Ministry on Sunday also reported 447 deaths in the same period, driving total fatalities to 129,635.

India is second in the world in total reported cases behind the U.S., but daily infections have been on the decline since the middle of September. There has been, however, a resurgence of infections in New Delhi, which has seen a renewed surge in recent weeks, recording more new cases than any other Indian state.

In other developments in the Asia-Pacific region:

— Authorities in Sri Lanka say about 400 inmates and officers in the country’s highly congested prisons have tested positive for the coronavirus as infections spike in the capital and its suburbs. Twelve of those who tested positive are officers, while the rest are inmates.

4 a.m.: The latest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 4 a.m. EST on Nov. 15, 2020:

There are 291,845 confirmed cases in Canada.

_ Quebec: 122,643 confirmed (including 6,611 deaths, 103,668 resolved)

_ Ontario: 92,761 confirmed (including 3,332 deaths, 77,241 resolved)

_ Alberta: 38,338 confirmed (including 401 deaths, 28,321 resolved)

_ British Columbia: 20,895 confirmed (including 290 deaths, 14,901 resolved)

_ Manitoba: 10,453 confirmed (including 152 deaths, 3,891 resolved)

_ Saskatchewan: 4,820 confirmed (including 29 deaths, 3,100 resolved)

_ Nova Scotia: 1,142 confirmed (including 65 deaths, 1,056 resolved)

_ New Brunswick: 364 confirmed (including 6 deaths, 339 resolved)

_ Newfoundland and Labrador: 301 confirmed (including 4 deaths, 289 resolved)

_ Prince Edward Island: 68 confirmed (including 64 resolved)

_ Yukon: 24 confirmed (including 1 death, 22 resolved)

_ Northwest Territories: 15 confirmed (including 10 resolved)

_ Repatriated Canadians: 13 confirmed (including 13 resolved)

_ Nunavut: 8 confirmed

_ Total: 291,845 (0 presumptive, 291,845 confirmed including 10,891 deaths, 232,915 resolved)

4 a.m.: The fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has cut off supports for children with autism and their caregivers, leaving them feeling abandoned by the British Columbia government, advocates and researchers say.

The neglect of neurodiverse kids with special needs has been “so overwhelming that something fairly radical has to be done by this new government if families are going to rebuild any trust,” said Deborah Pugh, the executive director of ACT — Autism Community Training.

“It’s not just a matter of throwing money at this,” Pugh said in an interview. “We need a change in the whole attitude toward children with special needs and their families in the province.”

Pugh’s organization partnered with the autism and developmental disorders lab at Simon Fraser University for a survey of 238 caregivers of children with autism in B.C. asking about their experiences from March to June.

The survey showed the majority of caregivers reported their child’s anxiety, tantrums, routines and sleep quality had worsened, while parents’ own well-being declined and provincial supports in response to COVID-19 were insufficient to meet their needs.

Previously: have died following a COVID-19 outbreak believed to have started on Nov. 2.

More than 80 per cent of the residents at Rockcliffe Care Community at 3015 Lawrence Ave. E., west of McCowan Road, have tested positive for the virus.

A statement to the Star from Rockcliffe Care’s owner Sienna Senior Living on Saturday confirmed that in addition to the seven deaths, 136 residents and 66 staff and temporary employees have tested positive.