Today’s coronavirus news: North York General postponing non-emergency surgery after outbreak; Ontario reporting 851 cases, 6 deaths

The latest news from Canada and around the world Monday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.

9:04 p.m.: Yukon’s chief medical health officer says two more people in Watson Lake have tested positive for COVID-19.

Dr. Brendan Hanley says in a statement the two new cases bring the cluster of infections to five in members of the same household.

The statement says the origin source of the infections is still being investigated and contact tracing is underway.

Watson Lake residents who have any symptoms, even mild ones, are being urged to get tested.

The territory is also advising that people who were at Watson Lake Foods, Home Hardware and the Big Horn Motel on a number of days between Oct. 7 and Oct. 16 make arrangements for testing.

The household cluster brings Yukon’s total cases to 22 since the first COVID-19 infection was announced on March 22.

8:24 p.m.: British Columbia’s top doctor is limiting the size of gatherings in private homes as COVID-19 infections rise, particularly in the province’s Lower Mainland.

Dr. Bonnie Henry says gatherings are now limited to people in an immediate household, plus their so-called “safe six” guests.

“If you come from a large family that’s living in a home together, six additional guests may be too many,” the provincial health officer added during a news briefing on Monday.

“This is something we need to do together as a community so that we can get through the coming respiratory season and best protect each and every one of our families and our communities,” she said.

B.C. has reported its highest-ever jump in infections over three days with 817 new cases detected between Friday and Monday. The province has confirmed 13,371 cases since the start of the pandemic, including 2,325 that are currently active.

There are 77 people in hospital and three more residents of long-term care homes have died after contracting the illness, bringing the death toll in B.C. to 259.

Henry said her new order may be subject to enforcement, but her hope is that everyone will do the right thing and it won’t be needed.

Public health officials are examining if added measures are needed in areas where there is more transmission of the illness, said Henry.

“The immediate focus will be on the Fraser Health region,” she said, because of the marked increase in cases related to social gatherings in private homes, such as weddings and funerals.

“This has been the case in every part of the province, but we know the risk is highest where there is more virus circulating in our community.”

Henry said public health orders are a last resort, and the latest change reflects how seriously B.C. residents should be taking the pandemic.

“Social gatherings are where we are seeing significant transmission of COVID-19 in B.C. and it is not slowing down.”

Henry also said her “expectation” now is that people wear face coverings in indoor public spaces, though it is not an order. She’s asking businesses to review their pandemic safety plans with masks in mind.

Two schools in the Interior and Fraser Health regions have also been closed for the duration of the COVID-19 incubation period as a result of exposures affecting larger numbers of staff, she said.

“We knew, of course, this would be a possibility, especially in some of the smaller schools, where the potential of exposure impacts a larger proportion of the school population,” said Henry. “And while the numbers of people with COVID are small, the requirement for those in contact to be in self-isolation has meant that the school can no longer safely operate.”

The schools are working with families to make sure students have educational support during the temporary closures, she added.

Henry said there have been fewer than 10 transmission events at schools across the province, where the virus was actually passed from one person to another.

An outbreak has also been declared at the Surrey Pretrial Services Centre, she said, while an outbreak at a FedEx office in Kelowna is over.

8:04 p.m.: Health officials in Ontario and Manitoba are pointing to recent Thanksgiving celebrations as they continue to see high numbers of new COVID-19 infections despite strengthening restrictions in hot spot areas.

In Ontario, where new cases reached a peak over the weekend, Health Minister Christine Elliott said the holiday took place around the same time as the province imposed stricter health measures in three regions, including Toronto. The tighter rules were applied to a fourth region more than a week later.

While the number of new daily infections is starting to decrease in some areas, such as Ottawa, in the other regions, “we’re not seeing that happen quite as quickly as we’d like to,” Elliott said.

“We’re also seeing some of the impacts from Thanksgiving several weeks ago, so we’ve got that adding to the increase in community transmission, but we are also starting to see some of the numbers in some of the modified areas,” she said.

Read more here:

6:45 p.m.: York Region Public Health issued a public notice after a “cluster” of linked coronavirus cases related to family exposures following a Thanksgiving weekend get-together in Vaughan came to light.

According to public health, there are 13 confirmed COVID-19 cases and three probable cases, with three additional test results pending.

Out of these confirmed cases, seven of the confirmed cases and three of the probable cases are related to families staying in one household, public health reports.

Four of the other confirmed cases are from a connected household, and two are related to workplace transmissions.

According to public health, an extended family of 12 gathered together over a span of two weeks near the Thanksgiving weekend. They shared a single residence in Vaughan during that time.

Some of the family members were symptomatic with what was later discovered to be COVID-19, public health reports.

“This large cluster of COVID-19 infections serves as an example of close contact transmission which accounts for roughly half of all cases being reported in York Region during the current wave,” public health reported.

5:07 p.m.: Hamilton’s appears to have started with a person who visited a Toronto bar, Ontario’s associate chief medical officer of health says.

“The big outbreak with SpinCo in Hamilton, it began with someone who probably got infected at a bar in Toronto,” said Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario’s associate chief medical officer of health during a media update Monday.

Yaffe was speaking in response to a question about regions and cities asking for more information about COVID cases in their jurisdictions as the threat of further restrictions looms.

There are at least connected to the SpinCo outbreak, which was declared Oct. 5.

4:34 p.m. Opposition parties won their bid Monday to launch a probe of the Liberals’ handling of the COVID-19 pandemic following a week of parliamentary turbulence over how to review their management of the crisis.

MPs from all four opposition parties voted to pass a motion that orders the Trudeau government to turn over to the House of Commons health committee all records on a raft of issues related to the coronavirus response.

The move by Conservative, Bloc Québécois, New Democrat and Green MPs, plus one Independent, comes five days after the government survived a confidence vote on a previous Conservative motion that would have created a special committee to investigate the WE Charity affair and other alleged examples of corruption.

The more recent motion zooms out from the WE controversy to focus more broadly on Ottawa’s reaction to COVID-19, but the probe can still examine documents tied to the embattled charity.

Canada’s procurement minister says an investigation would jeopardize federal contracts for personal protective equipment and vaccines as it could trigger the release of commercially sensitive information.

Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole calls the warning “utterly false” given the carve-outs for confidentiality concerns.

4 p.m. , just as health experts had feared, and cases are climbing in nearly every state, despite assurances from President Donald Trump over the weekend that “we’re rounding the turn, we’re doing great.”

With Election Day just over a week away, average deaths per day across the country are up 10% over the past two weeks, from 721 to nearly 794 as of Sunday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Confirmed infections per day are rising in 47 states, and deaths are up in 34.

Health experts had warned that it was only a matter of time before deaths turned upward, given the record-breaking surge in cases engulfing the country. Deaths are a lagging indicator — that is, it generally takes a few weeks for people to sicken and die from the coronavirus.

3:49 p.m. Nova Scotia public health officials are warning passengers on an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Halifax of a potential exposure to COVID-19.

Air Canada Flight 626 on Oct. 24 left Toronto at 9:30 p.m. and landed in Halifax at 12:15 a.m. on Oct. 25.

Officials are asking passengers who sat in rows 18 to 24 and in seats A, B and C to call 811 for advice and to continue to self-isolate.

Officials say anyone exposed to the virus on this flight may develop symptoms up to and including Nov. 7.

3:46 p.m. Manitoba’s top doctor gave a stern warning that people need to stop socializing in large groups after announcing another death linked to the province’s deadliest COVID-19 outbreak at a Winnipeg care home.

A woman in her 80s is the 18th person to die at Parkview Place in Winnipeg. More than 90 of the facility’s 220 residents have now tested positive for COVID-19.

“We let the virus off the hook,” Dr. Brent Roussin, the chief provincial public health officer, said Monday.

In far too many cases, he said, people with COVID-19 have more than 50 contacts. Some people are going to work or attending gatherings while having symptoms, he said.

There were 100 new infections Monday. The vast majority are in Winnipeg, which is under enhanced restrictions after a stark increase in infections in recent months.

3:44 p.m. Ontario’s largest municipalities are asking the federal and provincial governments to provide an immediate funding boost for infrastructure projects, saying cities need the help to stimulate economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mayors representing the province’s largest cities say the global health crisis has created revenue shortfalls that will prevent municipalities from doing state-of-good-repair work on key pieces of infrastructure.

Cam Guthrie, the mayor of Guelph, Ont., and chair of Ontario’s Big City Mayors organization, said that funding support can’t come fast enough.

“Municipalities are ready to go,” said Guthrie. “Help us out by putting shovels in the ground and putting people back to work.”

Ontario’s Big City Mayors raised the issue with the federal and provincial infrastructure ministers at a meeting on Oct. 15 and urged both to fund municipal infrastructure immediately.

The group also passed a motion stating that funding programs should address critical needs to build growth-related infrastructure and replace aging assets, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and strengthen economic competitiveness.

3:28 p.m. Hundreds of hospital workers in Alberta walked off the job Monday to protest cuts they say will put residents at risk during a global pandemic.

It’s the latest salvo in a dispute between a provincial government focused on finding efficiencies to make up for shortfalls in oil and gas royalties and workers who say the province’s plan to eliminate full-time nursing positions and outsource as many as 11,000 health care jobs amounts to death by a thousands cuts.

The hospital workers were members of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees and the decision to strike was made by the members themselves, the union said in a Monday statement.

They did not specify the number of workers involved in the wildcat strike and said the situation was fluid. At least 175 workers took part in the strike at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton, about 150 at Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary and approximately 150 at the Wetaskiwin Hospital and Care Centre south of Edmonton.

Read the full story from the Star’s Omar Mosleh: ‘

3:10 p.m.: North York General Hospital is postponing non-emergency surgery after an outbreak was declared Sunday.

“There are two staff members who tested positive for COVID-19 that appear to be linked,” the hospital said in a statement Monday. “There have not been any patient cases identified to date.”

An investigation and contract tracing are now underway, the hospital said.

“To limit the spread of the virus, we will be postponing non-emergency surgeries at this time,” the statement read. “Physician offices are contacting patients to advise them of their rescheduled surgeries.”

The hospital said it is “working closely” with Toronto Public Health and its Infection Prevention Control team, which has implemented safety measures such as “increased surveillance, testing, enhanced cleaning protocols and additional safety precautions.”

2:45 p.m. Canada’s new ambassador for women, peace and security says authoritarian leaders are using COVID-19 to roll back the rights of women and LGBTQ2 people.

Jacqueline O’Neill also says it remains a challenge in some parts of the world for women to be heard in peacebuilding and conflict resolution.

O’Neill is pointing out that state of affairs persists even though today marks the 20 anniversary of the UN resolution that affirms the role of women in preventing conflict, negotiating peace, peacekeeping and reconstructing postwar societies.

She offered that assessment during testimony before the House of Commons defence committee.

O’Neill was appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in June 2019 to advise the government on how to protect the rights of women and girls who face violence and insecurity.

O’Neill is tasked with advancing the government’s feminist foreign policy, and she told MPs women deserve a seat at all international tables when it comes to advancing peace and security.

2:40 p.m. The World Health Organization says national lockdowns could be avoided to fight the latest surge of coronavirus cases if people are willing to make sacrifices and “if everyone plays their part.”

At a press briefing on Monday, Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19 said she hoped countries would use other tools to stop transmission, including strengthening their surveillance, testing and contact tracing systems.

Van Kerkhove said people should take personal responsibility for everyday decisions, like whether or not they should go out to crowded places, avoiding closed settings and postponing social gatherings.

WHO’s emergencies chief Dr. Michael Ryan noted that 46% of all global COVID-19 cases last week were reported in Europe.

“There’s no question that the European region is an epicenter of disease right now,” he said. Ryan said that the normally open European Union borders might need to be shut down to “take the heat out of this phase of the pandemic.”

2:15 p.m. Dr. Eileen De Villa, Toronto’s medical officer of health, reports 300 new COVID-19 cases in Toronto. De Villa says it’s “reasonable” to think some of the new cases are tied to Thanksgiving gatherings.

2:10 p.m. New Brunswick is reporting three new cases of COVID-19 and 60 active cases overall.

Two of the new cases are in the Fredericton region and one is in the Campbellton region, where public health officials are battling an ongoing outbreak.

Officials say the two cases in the Fredericton region are travel-related, and the case in Campbellton is under investigation.

New Brunswick has had 331 confirmed COVID-19 cases since the onset of the pandemic, including six deaths.

1:30 p.m. Health officials have announced a woman in her 80s is the latest death connected to Manitoba’s deadliest outbreak at a care home.

Eighteen people at Parkview Place in Winnipeg have died.

There were 100 new infections announced Monday, the vast majority in the capital city, which is under enhanced restrictions after a stark increase in infections during recent months.

Dr. Brent Roussin, the chief provincial public health officer, says the increasing numbers have put pressures on the health-care system.

There are 80 people in hospital and 15 people in intensive care.

There have been 4,349 cases in Manitoba, and 2,117 are currently active. Fifty-five people have died.

2 p.m.: A popular Middle Eastern restaurant in east Toronto’s Leslieville area after worker tested positive for COVID-19.

Maha’s Fine Egyptian Cuisine at 226 Greenwood Ave., just north of Gerrard Street East, shared the news with its “beloved patrons, neighbours and friends” in Sunday post on its website and social media.

“While we have done everything possible to ensure the safety and comfort of our spectacular team and wonderful guests while visiting our restaurant, it is with the heaviest of hearts that we share this message with you all today,” the note read.

“We have voluntarily chosen to temporarily close effective immediately, upon receiving news last night that one of our team members tested positive for COVID-19.”

1:55 p.m. The government’s promised update on the health of its finances won’t have a specific anchor to guide decisions and keep spending from spiralling out of control, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says.

Officials have started working on what Trudeau called a “robust” budget update promised in the throne speech, with budget submission letters having gone out to departments.

Trudeau didn’t say Monday when the fiscal update or mini-budget would delivered, only that it will provide some guidelines for ongoing spending to help the economy.

Speaking to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the prime minister said it would be premature to lock in a spending anchor while the country is still dealing with the pandemic.

He defended the unprecedented scale of federal aid, saying doing anything less would have ended up costing the country far more in terms of lost businesses and jobs.

The Liberals projected in July that the government would run a historic deficit of $343.2 billion this fiscal year, but extended spending programs and throne speech promises will shift that number.

It has already meant the Liberals will have to jettison their guiding budgetary light of keeping the debt declining as a share of the economy. That figure is set to jump with debt expected to climb over $1 trillion.

“The cost of having massive numbers of businesses go out of business because of this pandemic, the cost of having households diving into debt on their credit cards on extra mortgages because they can’t make it through would be much (worse),” Trudeau said during the virtual appearance.

“COVID is going to be expensive. The question is who is best positioned to bear these additional costs, and we don’t feel it’s businesses, we don’t feel it’s ordinary Canadians.”

1:30 p.m. The pandemic has taken a firmer grip on the province with cases surging by almost one-third this weekend and one of Premier Doug Ford’s MPPs taking it on the chin for not wearing a mask.

Ontario’s Ministry of Health reported 851 new COVID-19 cases Monday, on top of record-level infections of 1,042 Sunday and 978 Saturday, up 704 or 32 per cent from the same days last weekend.

There were six deaths from the highly contagious virus, bringing the total since Friday’s report to 19.

“His government’s plan for the second wave has fallen tragically, tragically short,” NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said of Ford in the legislature’s daily question period.

Health Minister Christine Elliott said the sharp rise two weeks after Thanksgiving could reflect increased spread from families and friends getting together despite warnings to be careful.

“Locally, there are 281 new cases in Toronto, 215 in Peel, 90 in York Region and 76 in Ottawa,” she wrote on Twitter.

Halton had 27 new cases, Durham 23 and Hamilton 41.

1:20 p.m. Italy registered slightly more than 17,000 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Monday. That’s fewer than daily increases of the last few days, but tens of thousands fewer swab tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, as often happens over a weekend.

Italy’s total of known coronavirus infections during the pandemic now stands at 542,789.

Compared to the first months of the outbreak, when most cases were concentrated in Italy’s north, the current situation sees surging infections nationwide, prompting the government to order new restrictions that took effect on Monday, including closures of gyms, cinemas and early shutdown of restaurant dining and cafes.

The regions with the highest day-to-day caseload on Monday was again northern Lombardy, which includes Milan, Italy’s financial hub, followed by Tuscany in the central-north and Campania, the southern region that includes Naples.

Hospitalizations and ICU admissions continued their steady increase. Italy’s death toll rose to 37,479, after 141 more deaths.

1:15 p.m. Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives will table a provincial budget on Nov. 5.

Ford said Monday there would be not tax hikes in the big-spending fiscal blueprint designed to help Ontario tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

Finance Minister Rod Phillips said the government is prepared to spend what is needed to address the coronavirus that has killed more than 3,000 Ontarians since March.

“A great deal of uncertainty remains today,” said Phillips, adding his forecast will include three different scenarios to ensure the government is prepared for any eventuality.

1:10 p.m. Stocks are slumping sharply in afternoon trading on Wall Street Monday and deepening last week’s losses, as a troubling climb in coronavirus counts threatens the global economy.

The S&P 500 was 2.3 per cent lower and on track for its worst day in more than a month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 826 points, or 2.9 per cent, at 27,508, as of 12:42 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was down 2 per cent.

Stocks also weakened across much of Europe and Asia. In another sign of caution, Treasury yields were pulling back after touching their highest level since June last week.

Coronavirus counts are spiking in much of the United States and Europe, raising concerns about more damage to the still-weakened economy. The U.S. came very close to setting back-to-back record daily infection rates on Friday and Saturday. In Europe, Spain’s government declared a national state of emergency on Sunday that includes an overnight curfew, while Italy ordered restaurants and bars to close each day by 6 p.m. and shut down gyms, pools and movie theatres.

Hopes are fading, meanwhile, that Washington will be able to deliver more support for the economy anytime soon. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke several times last week on a potential deal to send cash to most Americans, restart supplemental benefits for laid-off workers and provide aid to schools, among other things.

12:40 p.m. The resurgent COVID-19 pandemic , turning winter into a survival test for carriers now pinning hopes on a spring rebound.

Airlines are urging governments to introduce more testing and travel bubbles to help spur demand. The industry is on track to burn through an estimated $77 billion (U.S.) in cash the second half. The International Air Transport Association has called for fresh government support, while stressing the safety of flying.

The pain is evident across the globe, where airlines have rescinded earlier forecasts that called for traffic to gradually increase toward normal levels during the fourth quarter. Instead, carriers are retrenching and shoring up their finances.

12:19 p.m. A coalition of about 200 Quebec gym, yoga, dance and martial arts business owners say they in defiance of provincial health rules.

The businesses are calling on Quebec Premier Francois Legault to lift COVID-19 restrictions that forced fitness facilities to close this month.

In a statement, they say their facilities contribute to the overall physical and mental health of the population and they were not the source of COVID-19 outbreaks.

They say the lockdown measures will force them out of business after they’ve made significant investments to comply with health measures during the pandemic.

12 p.m.: The number of new COVID-19 cases in public schools across Ontario has jumped by 72 from the previous day, to a total of 866 in the last two weeks.

, the province reported 39 more students were infected for a total of 477 in the last two weeks; since school began there have been an overall total of 985.

There are 548 schools with a reported case, which the province notes is about 11.35 per cent of the 4,828 public schools in Ontario.

For the first time in more than a month, no schools are currently closed, according to the Ministry of Health figures.

11:42 a.m.: A Progressive Conservative legislator is apologizing for not wearing a mask while posing for a group photo over the weekend.

Sam Oosterhoff, who is also the parliamentary assistant to the education minister, posted the picture on social media over the weekend but later deleted it.

Critics — including the NDP and the head of the Ontario Hospital Association — have called for Oosterhoff’s resignation as parliamentary assistant, saying he was not following his government’s pandemic guidance.

Oosterhoff says the event took place at a banquet hall where the province’s rules permit less than 50 people to attend.

He says the event included five tables that were distanced and limited to less than ten people at each.

But Oosterhoff says he should have worn a mask when taking the picture given the proximity of the people around him.

11:15 a.m.: Quebec is reporting 808 new COVID-19 cases and 10 additional deaths linked to the virus.

Two of those deaths were in the past 24 hours, while six were from last week and the two others were from an unknown date.

The number of hospitalizations dropped by eight from a day earlier to 543, and the number of patients in intensive care cases decreased by four to 93.

The and 6,153 deaths — the highest in the country.

11:05 a.m.: A coalition of about their doors on Thursday in defiance of provincial health rules.

The businesses are calling on Quebec Premier Francois Legault to lift COVID-19 restrictions that forced fitness facilities to close this month.

In a statement, they say their facilities contribute to the overall physical and mental health of the population and they were not the source of COVID-19 outbreaks.

They say the lockdown measures will force them out of business after they’ve made significant investments to comply with health measures during the pandemic.

The owners say they intend to reopen across the province but will back down if health authorities can demonstrate by Thursday that their operations have led to outbreaks.

On Oct. 8, Quebec introduced new public health measures for regions under the province’s highest COVID-19 alert level, shuttering gyms, putting limits on team sports and making masks mandatory for high school students.

Last week, Legault hinted that some red zone restrictions would remain in place even as the initial 28-day lockdown in Montreal and Quebec City come to an end on Wednesday.

11 a.m.: Canada’s procurement minister says federal contracts for personal protective equipment, vaccines and rapid test kits are in jeopardy due to a proposed parliamentary probe of the Trudeau government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anita Anand says the probe could trigger the release of commercially sensitive information, scaring off manufacturers and drug companies that would otherwise do business with Ottawa and ultimately placing Canadians’ health at risk.

Anand warns that the House of Commons law clerk does not have the expertise in procurement to properly redact records that would surface through the probe.

Opposition parties are poised to approve the probe this afternoon despite growing objections from industry and experts.

A Conservative motion would order the government to turn over to the Commons health committee all records on a raft of issues related to the government’s handling of the pandemic.

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Canada is the latest to express concerns, asking to know how its commercial secrets will be protected.

10:45 a.m.: Albanian authorities have decided to open a new COVID-19 hospital with 150 beds after the existing two hospitals are reaching their limits.

Health Minister Ogerta Manastirliu on Monday said that the two existing COVID-related hospitals with 320 beds are reaching their limits and the new one will open this week.

Albania has seen a surge of the daily new virus cases, doubling compared to two weeks ago.

The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control said Albania’s cumulative figure for new cases per 100,000 inhabitants has increased to 131 cases compared to 75 cases two weeks ago.

Authorities have reported 19,157 confirmed cases with 477 confirmed related deaths, as of Sunday.

Holding the mask is mandatory indoors and outdoors and police have fined hundreds of Albanians not wearing it every day.

10:22 a.m. (will be updated) Ontario is reporting 851 new cases of COVID-19 Monday, and six new deaths due to the virus.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says 281 cases are in Toronto, 215 in Peel Region, 90 in York Region and 76 in Ottawa.

The province says it has conducted 28,652 tests since the last daily report, with an additional 17,603 being processed.

In total, 295 people are hospitalized in Ontario due to COVID-19, including 78 in intensive care. The province says 51 people are on ventilators in hospital.

The latest figures bring the total of COVID-19 cases in Ontario to 71,224, with 3,099 deaths, and 60,839 cases resolved.

Meanwhile, Premier Doug Ford’s office says it will not announce today whether the province will impose stricter COVID-19 restrictions on two Toronto-area regions.

10:17 a.m.: Fewer consumers are feeling optimistic about Canada’s economic prospects, another signal the initially robust recovery is entering a slower, more difficult phase.

Only 12.9 per cent of respondents believe the country’s economy will strengthen in the next six months, the smallest share since early May, telephone polling shows. That left the Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Confidence Index slightly lower at 51.8. The index has dropped for four straight weeks from a post-pandemic high of 53.2 late last month.

The share of respondents who see the Canadian economy weakening in the next six months rose to 56 per cent, which means pessimists now outnumber optimists about four to one.

Weakening sentiment in Canada reflects the new containment measures provinces like Quebec and Ontario have imposed to dampen the second wave of COVID-19. The new lockdown measures include closures of bars, restaurants and gyms as well as limiting the number of people in social gatherings.

As of Sunday, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Canada had more than doubled in the past month to 24,177.

Every week, Nanos Research surveys 250 Canadians for their views on personal finances, job security and their outlook for the economy and real estate prices. Bloomberg publishes four-week rolling averages of the 1,000 responses.

10 a.m.: Saskatchewan voters choose Monday which leader will steer the province through the rest of the COVID-19 pandemic, and whatever unforeseen challenges lie ahead following election day.

Polls are open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Elections Saskatchewan says more than 185,000 people already voted in five days of advance polls.

Officials received around 61,000 applications for mail-in ballots

The leaders of the both the Saskatchewan Party and NDP will be in Saskatoon to watch the results, and later appear at campaign events lacking the usual election night fanfare because of restrictions in place around gatherings.

Elections officials won’t start counting the ballots received by mail until after today, meaning some election results may not be immediately known.

Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe will start election day in his home community of Shellbrook, 140 kilometres north of Saskatoon, where he will cast his ballot.

9:52 a.m. Canada’s main stock index posted a triple-digit decline amid broad-based weakness on the Toronto Stock Exchange, while U.S. stock markets also fell.

The S&P/TSX composite index was down 125.80 points at 16,178.28.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 316.26 points at 28,019.31. The S&P 500 index was down 32.25 points at 3,433.14, while the Nasdaq composite was down 66.81 points at 11,481.47.

The Canadian dollar traded for 75.91 cents US compared with 76.10 cents (U.S.) on Friday.

9:45 a.m. President Donald Trump plans to intensify an already breakneck travel schedule in the final full week of the presidential campaign, overlooking a surge of coronavirus cases in the U.S. and a fresh outbreak in his own White House.

Trump is expected to hit nearly a dozen states in his last-ditch effort to recover ground from Democrat Joe Biden, including Sunday’s trip to Maine and Tuesday’s to Nebraska. Both states award electoral votes by congressional district and could be crucial in a tight election. Trump will hold 11 rallies in the final 48 hours alone.

Biden is staying close to his Wilmington, Delaware, home on Monday. But he plans to pick up his travel schedule later in the week, aiming to hit the six battleground states the campaign sees as key to his chances, some with socially distanced in-person events and others with virtual events. On Tuesday, the former vice-president is travelling to Georgia, a state that hasn’t voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in more than a quarter-century but where polls show a tight race.

The final week of the campaign is colliding with deepening concerns about a public health crisis in the U.S. Trump is eager for voters to focus on almost anything else, worried that he will lose if the election becomes a referendum on his handling of the pandemic. Biden is working to ensure the race is just that, hitting Trump on the virus and presenting himself as a safer, more stable alternative.

9:36 a.m. A second German district is to go into a de-facto lockdown as new coronavirus infections surge in the country and across Europe.

News agency dpa reported that local authorities in Bavaria’s Rottal-Inn county, on the border with Austria, said Monday that the restrictions will begin at midnight. Rottal-Inn follows Berchtesgaden, another Bavarian county in Germany’s southeastern corner, which introduced similar restrictions last week.

Schools and kindergartens will be closed and events cancelled, and people told not to leave their homes without good reason.

Rottal-Inn has recorded well over 200 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants over the past seven days. In Germany, districts are required to take measures once new infections top the 50 mark, and many have done so in recent weeks — imposing measures such as early bar closures and requirements to wear masks outdoors in some public places.

Germany’s new infections have been increasing by sometimes record numbers over the past two weeks, though they are still considerably short of the numbers seen in many other European countries

9:05 a.m. Researchers have identified the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in a Canadian dog — but it doesn’t mean pet owners should panic.

The dog belongs to a Niagara Region household where four out of six members tested positive for the coronavirus. The family’s canine companion had no symptoms and a low viral load, suggesting that dogs remain at relatively low risk of becoming gravely ill or passing on COVID to others, experts said.

Scott Weese, a veterinary internal medicine specialist and director of the University of Guelph’s Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses, is part of the team that identified the Niagara case. While the discovery is interesting from a research point of view, he said it doesn’t change existing advice: If pet owners are self-isolating, they should do their best to limit their pets’ contact with others, too.

9 a.m. A player and a member of the medical staff at Belgian soccer club Anderlecht have tested positive for the coronavirus.

The club says the unnamed people have both been placed in self-isolation. Residents in Belgium who test positive for the virus are asked to quarantine for seven days.

Anderlecht is the most successful club in Belgium with 34 league titles.

Several Anderlecht players had already tested positive for the virus in September. More than 10,500 people have died from coronavirus-related complications in Belgium.

8:40 a.m. AC Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and winger Jens Petter Hauge have tested positive for the coronavirus ahead of the team’s Serie A match against Roma.

Milan says three staff members are also positive for COVID-19.

The team says all five individuals are asymptomatic and “they have immediately entered isolation in their homes and the relevant local health authorities have been informed.”

Milan leads the Italian league with four wins from four matches.

8:30 a.m. Thomas Hartle is a 52-year-old IT technician from Saskatoon who doesn’t smoke, rarely drinks and never dabbled in drugs before trying medicinal cannabis. As part of his profession, the soft-spoken, detail-oriented father of two typically spends much of his time planning and researching.

But these days his preparations have taken a devastating turn — planning for his family’s future as he awaits his imminent death.

Hartle was diagnosed in April 2016 with stage-four colon cancer. It went into remission, but last year he learned it was back, had spread and will ultimately kill him. What followed were crippling panic attacks triggered by worries for his family and the uncertainty of not knowing which day could be his last.

“What caused the anxiety for me was the fact my cancer is completely invisible to every test they do. So I literally have no idea the extent or severity of my cancer right now … and neither do the doctors.”

8:15 a.m. Like the recessions before it, this year’s pandemic-induced economic downturn has had its winners and losers.

Shoppers Drug Mart is one of the winners. Its parent company, Loblaw Companies Ltd., saw profits rise during the first quarter of 2020 despite the added costs of pandemic safety measures, with Shoppers’ same-store sales rising more than 10 per cent. And though Loblaw’s profit in the second quarter due to those extra costs, its revenue increased. At Shoppers, though pharmacy same-store sales fell, front store sales rose.

The pharmacy chain recently got into the COVID-19 testing game alongside Rexall and other community pharmacies, the latest in a long line of moves by the company aimed at expanding its profile in health care.

8:11 a.m. After Ontario reported its second consecutive record day for new COVID-19 infections Sunday, experts are pointing to the week ahead as a “crucial” measuring stick for the province’s second wave.

Ontario . The province’s seven-day average for new infections — a better indicator of the overall trend than single-day numbers, experts say — also hit a new all-time high, now up to an average of 857 cases daily.

The totals suggest the second wave is “getting worse, not better” in Ontario, said University Health Network infectious-disease specialist Dr. Abdu Sharkawy, adding there are other areas that are getting “hotter,” including Halton, where new restrictions “are needed without delay.”

8:07 a.m. Authorities warned Monday that Belgium faces a pivotal week in its struggle to limit the spread of the coronavirus, as a series of new restrictions took effect in one of the European countries hardest hit by the pandemic.

Almost 12,500 new cases are being reported on average every 24 hours, figures released Monday for the week from Oct. 16-22 showed, compared to around 5,000 a day two weeks ago. About one person in every five who is tested turns out to be positive. The very elderly are hardest hit.

On average over the last week, 42 people died from the virus each day, bringing the death toll to 10,810 in a country with a population of around 11.5 million people.

Pressure is building on Belgium’s hospitals, where 467 people are being admitted on average each day, a rise of 85 per cent. Almost 5,000 people are currently in hospitals, more than 750 of them in intensive care, according to the latest data.

“What we do now, what we will do in the next two weeks, will be decisive,” said Yves Van Laethem, a spokesman for Belgium’s COVID-19 crisis centre. If the figures don’t change, he said, “we are likely to reach 2,000 patients in intensive care in two weeks. That is, our maximum capacity.”

New measures announced by Belgium’s federal government were implemented Monday, but the tightening of restrictions until Nov. 19, mainly in the cultural and sports sectors, were considered inadequate by two of Belgium’s three regions.

7:45 a.m. With a bit of rejiggering, President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump played host Sunday to hundreds of superheroes, unicorns, skeletons and even a miniature version of themselves as part of a Halloween celebration at the White House.

In years past, the president and first lady personally handed out candy to the costume-clad kids. This year, the treats were provided separately as participants walked along a path on the South Lawn.

The kids still briefly met the president and first lady, who waved and offered words of encouragement from a safe distance about how much they liked the costumes. Trump and the first lady have both recently recovered from COVID-19.

Trump was particularly pleased with a young boy with a distinctly Trump head of hair and a partner who did her best Mrs. Trump impersonation. The president motioned for them to turn and pose for the cameras, and they happily agreed.

Another tot, a true princess it appeared, was so smitten with the cameras that she kept waving at them as she walked along, never noticing the VIPs behind her.

The spooky celebration was changed up a bit as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Guests older than 2 were required to wear face coverings and practice social distancing. The same went for all White House personnel working the event, while any staff giving out candy also wore gloves.

7:39 a.m. British authorities are likely to tighten restrictions on more areas of the country this week, amid mixed signs about whether recent measures have stemmed a steep rise in coronavirus infections.

Government scientific advisers say there are some signs the increase has begun to level off since a three-tier virus risk system of restrictions came into effect, but that it’s too soon to be certain.

A large chunk of northern England, including the major cities of Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield, has been placed in the top tier of “very high” risk, with pubs closed and people from different households barred from mixing.

The regional disparities are causing friction between local politicians in the north and Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government, which has been accused of not doing enough to support people and businesses hit by the local lockdowns.

The government says it is talking to local leaders in other areas, including the city of Warrington in northwest England and the central England county of Nottinghamshire, about moving into the highest tier.

Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have established their own public health rules, with Wales introducing the strictest measure: a 17-day lockdown for all its 3 million people.

Britain has Europe’s deadliest coronavirus outbreak, with almost 45,000 confirmed deaths.

7:30 a.m. Voters in two Toronto ridings head to the polls today in the first electoral test of the federal Liberal government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Both ridings — Toronto Centre and York Centre — are longtime Liberal strongholds and are widely expected to remain that way after the byelections.

But political strategists will be watching carefully to see what impact, if any, the government’s handling of the pandemic has on the ruling party’s share of the vote.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals captured more than 50 per cent of the vote in both ridings during last fall’s general election, even as their support slumped nationwide, leaving them with just a minority of seats in the House of Commons.

The Liberals are running well-known broadcaster Marci Ien in Toronto Centre, which was left vacant by former finance minister Bill Morneau’s abrupt resignation in August amid reports of tensions between him and Trudeau over massive spending on pandemic relief.

Businesswoman Ya’ara Saks is running for the Liberals in York Centre, left vacant last month by Michael Levitt’s resignation to become CEO of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies.

The NDP has placed a distant second in recent contests in the riding but that dynamic could be affected this time by the presence of the Green party’s newly minted leader, Annamie Paul.

Paul ran in Toronto Centre last fall as well, winning just seven per cent of the vote, but she’s hoping her higher profile as leader will boost her standing this time. She had called on Trudeau to cancel the byelections as the second wave of COVID-19 began sweeping across the country.

6:34 a.m.: As coronavirus infections reached new heights in Iran this month, overwhelming its hospitals and driving up its death toll, the country’s health minister gave a rare speech criticizing his own government’s refusal to enforce basic health measures.

“We asked for fines to be collected from anyone who doesn’t wear a mask,” Saeed Namaki said last week, referring to the government’s new mandate for Tehran, the capital. “But go and find out how many people were fined. We said close roads, and yet how many did they close?”

Namaki’s speech, lamenting the country’s “great suffering” and “hospitals full of patients,” clearly laid the blame for the virus’ resurgence at the government’s door — a stark contrast to the usual speeches from officials who point the finger at the public’s defiance of restrictions.

But one day later, the minister had a vastly different message.

“We should not cause panic for people in vain,” Namaki said in a speech carried by the semi-official ISNA news agency. “We should never announce that we don’t have empty (hospital) beds. We do have empty beds.”

6:31 a.m.: A deeply torn Senate is set to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, but Democratic leaders are asking Vice-President Mike Pence to stay away from presiding over Monday’s session due to potential health risks after his aides tested positive for COVID-19.

Barrett’s confirmation is not in doubt, as Senate Republicans are overpowering Democratic opposition to secure President Donald Trump’s nominee the week before Election Day. Pence has not said if he plans to attend as is customary for landmark votes.

But Democrats said in a letter to Pence on it’s “not a risk worth taking,” according to copy obtained by The Associated Press.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and his leadership team wrote that not only would Pence’s presence violate Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, “it also be a violation of common decency and courtesy.”

Under the Constitution, the vice-president serves as the largely ceremonial role of Senate president and can break a tie vote. Pence’s vote isn’t expected to be needed. Senate Republicans control the chamber and steered their majority to seize the opportunity to install a third Trump justice, securing a conservative court majority for the foreseeable future.

“Nothing about your presence in the Senate tomorrow can be considered essential,” the Democrats wrote. They warned of the risk not just to senators but the police, restaurant workers and others who keep the Capitol running.

The 48-year-old appellate judge’s rise opens up a potential new era of rulings on abortion, gay marriage and the Affordable Care Act. A case against the Obama-era health law is scheduled to be heard November 10.

5:43 a.m.: Opposition parties are poised to approve a parliamentary probe of the Trudeau government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic despite growing objections from industry and experts.

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Canada is the latest to express concerns about the probe, which is the subject of a Conservative motion that will be voted on in the House of Commons today.

The motion would order the government to turn over to the Commons health committee all records on a raft of issues related to the government’s handling of the pandemic.

That includes the purchase of personal protective equipment, medical devices and pharmaceuticals, and in a letter to Health Canada, Pfizer says it wants to know how its commercial secrets will be protected.

The motion is expected to pass with support from the NDP and Bloc Québécois, who insist there is sufficient protection for industry while accusing the Liberals of stirring fears.

Unlike a similar Conservative motion defeated last week that would have created a committee to look into the WE controversy, the government has said the health committee motion will not be a confidence vote.