The latest news from Canada and around the world Thursday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
3:55 p.m. Yukon is confirming a new case of COVID-19 in Whitehorse, bringing the total number of cases in the territory to 24 since the start of the pandemic.
3:48 p.m. Ontario’s new modelling for COVID-19 shows that at 3.5 per cent growth, the province could top 2,000 new cases daily and at 5 per cent growth the province could top 6,000 new infections daily by December. That would be four times today’s record level of 1,575 new COVID-19 cases.
3 p.m. Toronto has had 2,432 new cases of COVID-19 in the past five days, said Eileen de Villa, medical officer of health for the City of Toronto. “The medical community knows this is just the tip of the iceberg,” she said.
Toronto is reporting 500 cases in the past 24 hours, and there are 164 people in hospital, 36 of which are in the ICU, de Villa said.
“Please stay home!” said Toronto Mayor John Tory. “Don’t socialize with people outside your home!
“If everyone stays home, less people will get COVID-19,” Tory said.
“I’m asking you to stay home,” said Tory, speaking of this weekend’s Diwali festival celebration in the South Asian community, and of weddings.
Tory suggested people not focus on the complicated system of colour codes, stages and different categories of tests that make up the Ford government’s framework for determining whether communities could remain open or be subject to lockdown restrictions.
He said the thing to do is to focus on just staying home.
“Assume COVID-19 is everywhere,” said de Villa, who spoke of the City’s efforts to boost its contact-tracing system. It’s a team of 900 people and has been able to contact 90 per cent of new cases. It’s been enhanced to use automation to reach people more quickly and now has a system to notify people if they have been in contact with someone who has COVID-19. It has reached 600 people for a success rate of 97 per cent.
Tory dismissed the idea the City was singling our restaurants and the prohibition of indoor dining to set an example to other businesses, and mentioned that the experience of other jurisdictions showed this was essential to stop the spread of the virus.
“We’re preventing something much, much worse from happening to avoid a long, long, long lockdown.”
2:23 p.m.: Manitoba’s top doctor is clarifying a public health order as the province enters a self-imposed economic and social hibernation to try to bring surging COVID-19 numbers back under control.
“The current restriction on the Pandemic Reponse System is critical,” Dr. Brent Roussin said in a statement Thursday. “It says stay home. I say stay home.”
The province has been struggling to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus since it started spiking in recent weeks after a summer lull.
Roussin, chief public health officer, announced earlier in the week that enhanced restrictions which came into effect Thursdaywould ban social gatherings.
The public health order, however, was written with a limit of five people on gatherings to accommodate caregivers and others who may have to enter a household
2:15 p.m. (updated): Toronto is reporting 500 new cases, the city’s medical officer of health Dr. Eileen de Villa said Thursday. She said there are 164 people in hospital and 36 of them are in intensive care.
In last five days, there have been 2,432 new cases of COVID in Toronto.
Medical community agrees what’s reported is “just the tip of the iceberg” so more virus is out there.
“You should assume COVID-19 is everywhere” and without proper precautions you are at risk, de Villa says.
1:40 p.m.: Manitoba has matched its deadliest day as the province enters a second lockdown period in an effort to get surging infections under control.
Health officials say there have been nine more deaths — matching the record set the day before — and 474 new cases of COVID-19.
There are 227 people in hospital with 34 people in intensive care.
Dr. Brent Roussin, the chief public health officer, says restrictions that came into effect today are the strictest public health orders yet.
Private gatherings are limited to five people, and everyone is asked not to socialize outside their households.
Churches can’t hold in-person services and non-essential stores and restaurants are limited to curbside pickup and delivery.
1:30 p.m.: Quebec Premier Francois Legault says he is to reduce COVID-19 transmission.
The premier says the province had to close 324 schools in the past two days following COVID-19 outbreaks.
He says closing schools is a last resort but his government is considering either advancing or prolonging the winter break to keep children home.
Legault says Quebec is suffering through a strong second wave of COVID-19 and that the next few weeks are going to be tough.
1:30 p.m.: The Opposition wants the Saskatchewan government to make it mandatory provincewide to wear a mask in public to try to stem rising COVID-19 infections.
NDP Leader Ryan Meili says Premier Scott Moe has yet to present a plan on how to deal with the spread of the novel coronavirus.
More than 400 doctors signed a letter calling for more action from the provincial after a month of rising infections and hospitalizations.
Health officials reported 112 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday and said 48 people were in hospital, 11 of them receiving intensive care.
Meili suggests Saskatchewan talk to other provinces where cases of COVID-19 are higher to get advice on what should be done to avoid ending up in the same situation.
Moe said earlier this week that no added public health measures were under consideration to deal with the caseload.
“Let’s expand that mask mandate to the whole province and let’s be looking at what could prevent us (from) getting into a situation like Manitoba, Alberta, North Dakota are in,” Meili said Thursday.
Masks have been made mandatory in indoor public spaces in Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert for about a week.
Private indoor gatherings are restricted to no more than 10 people, and nightclubs in Saskatoon must close at 11 p.m.
1:16 p.m. Nova Scotia’s premier says the next two weeks with be “absolutely critical” for the province as health officials deal with a small but sudden spike in COVID-19 cases.
Stephen McNeil says he’s concerned that Nova Scotians are becoming complacent about health protocols, given that the province has only 19 active cases among the 1,134 positive cases recorded since the pandemic was declared in March.
No new cases were reported today, but the premier has said he is concerned by the fact that more than a dozen cases have been reported since Nov. 3.
The province has recorded 65 deaths since April, though 1,050 people infected with the virus have recovered.
1:15 p.m.: Nunavut has shut down two communities after announcing its first cases of COVID-19.
The territory’s chief public health officer says all schools and non-essential services in Rankin Inlet and Sanikiluaq are closed.
Officials say travel to and from Rankin Inlet is not recommended after a positive case was announced in the community Wednesday.
Officials also say all contacts with two positive cases in Sanikiluaq have tested negative and an additional 27 residents in the community of 880 have also tested negative.
There are currently three active cases of COVID-19 in Nunavut.
1:15 p.m. New Brunswick says a COVID-19 outbreak tied to a special care home in Moncton is over.
Health officials say it’s been 28 days since the last person connected to the outbreak at Notre-Dame Manor tested positive.
Officials say the outbreak involved a total of 44 cases, including 22 residents and six staff members.
Public health is reporting one new case of COVID-19 today in the Saint John region and a total of 13 actives cases in the province.
1:07 p.m. A group representing tens of thousands of Ontario physicians for imposing stricter COVID-19 measures, as the province reports another record tally of new daily infections.
The Ontario Medical Association says the tiered and colour-coded framework that determines when regions across the province can loosen or tighten restrictions is too lax, particularly at a time when case counts are surging.
It says the criteria to move from one alert level to the other should be much lower — as much as 50 per cent lower in some cases — and the higher levels should include a ban on indoor dining in restaurants and bars.
The group’s comments come on the heels of a Toronto Star report that said the provincial government ignored the advice of its own public health agency in designing the system introduced last week.
12:47 p.m. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will face questions from senators Thursday afternoon as they scrutinize the government’s latest bid to provide pandemic aid to hard-hit businesses.
Freeland is scheduled to testify to the Senate’s national finance committee that is reviewing the aid bill, known as C-9.
The House of Commons agreed last week to pass the proposed package of measures quickly, but none can be enacted until the Senate passes it as well.
Bill C-9 would extend the federal wage subsidy until next summer, cancelling a previously planned decline in its value, as well as expanding a popular business loan program.
The legislation would also redo a program for commercial rent relief that was widely criticized because its original design needed buy-in from landlords, many of whom did not participate.
And it would provide more top-up help for businesses whose revenues crash because of local lockdowns, similar to those being imposed in parts of the country right now as COVID-19 case numbers rise.
More than one-third of small businesses are still seeing revenue declines of 50 per cent or more, Canadian Federation of Independent Business president Dan Kelly told the Senate finance committee Thursday.
The second wave of COVID-19 has prompted a further sales drop at more than half of the country’s 110,000 small and medium-sized enterprises, he said.
“That’s deeply worrisome to us.”
11:35 a.m.: Manitoba is entering the first day of a partial lockdown meant to stem a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Manitoba has the biggest per-capita caseload of active infections in Canada and reported its deadliest day Wednesday with nine new fatalities.
Social gatherings in the province are limited to five people, in-person religious services are cancelled and non-essential stores and restaurants can only offer curbside pickup or delivery.
Bars, museums and theatres are closed and recreational activities suspended. Schools remain open.
11:33 a.m.: Quebec is reporting 1,365 new COVID-19 infections and 42 more deaths linked to the novel coronavirus, including nine that occurred in the past 24 hours.
Authorities say hospitalizations increased by ten, to 583, and 86 people were in intensive care, a rise of two.
Health Minister Christian Dube said today the virus is claiming too many victims.
Dube is scheduled to join Premier Francois Legault and the province’s director of public health for a news conference about the pandemic later in the day.
Officials say 843 more people recovered from the disease, for a total of 101,407.
The province has reported 119,894 COVID-19 infections and 6,557 deaths linked to the virus since the beginning of the pandemic.
10:50 a.m.: Ontario is reporting an additional 103 new cases in public schools across the province, bringing the total in the last two weeks to 1,046 and 3,166 overall since school began.
, the province reported 51 more students were infected for a total of 619 in the last two weeks; since school began there have been an overall total of 1,794.
The data shows there are 14 more staff members infected for a total of 110 in the last two weeks — and an overall total of 397.
The latest report also shows 38 more infected individuals who weren’t identified for a total of 317 in that category in the last two weeks — and an overall total of 975.
There are 653 schools with a reported case, which the province notes is 13.5 per cent of the 4,828 public schools in Ontario.
One school is closed because of an outbreak. The data doesn’t identify that school or where it is.
There is a lag between the daily provincial data at 10:30 a.m. and news reports about infections in schools. The provincial data on Thursday is current as of 2 p.m. Wednesday. It doesn’t indicate where the place of transmission occurred.
The Toronto District School Board updates its information on current COVID-19 cases throughout the day . As of 10:30 a.m. Thursday, there were 219 TDSB schools with at least one active and/or resolved case — 282 students and 71 staff.
The Toronto Catholic District School Board also updates its information . As of Thursday at 10:20 a.m., there were 122 schools with at least one active/resolved case — 113 students and 15 staff.
Epidemiologists have that the rising numbers in the schools aren’t a surprise, and that the cases will be proportionate to the amount of COVID that is in the community.
10:20 a.m. (updated): Ontario is again reporting a daily record of COVID-19 cases, with 1,575 new infections recorded. The province is also reporting 18 new deaths related to the coronavirus.
Just last Thursday, there were 998 infections in Ontario.
Ontario’s seven-day average increased by 83 to 1,299 cases per day — or about 63 cases a week per 100,000, the Star’s Ed Tubb reports.
Health Minister Christine Elliott says there are 472 new cases in Toronto, 448 in Peel Region, 155 in York Region and 91 in Ottawa.
The province says 917 more cases are considered resolved, and the nearly 39,600 tests have been completed since the last daily report.
In total, 431 people are hospitalized in Ontario due to COVID-19, including 98 in intensive care.
Ninety-four long-term-care homes are currently experiencing an outbreak of COVID-19, with 695 active cases among residents and 435 among staff.
The latest figures bring the total of COVID-19 cases in Ontario to 89,784, with 3,293 deaths, and 75,228 cases resolved.
Meanwhile, Ontario is set to release new COVID-19 projections later today.
10:11 a.m.: To ensure the merriment of millions of children, the government of Belgium is offering a special exemption from the country’s strict coronavirus measures to beloved St. Nicholas, who always delivers bountiful presents on the morning of Dec. 6.
In a tongue-in-cheek letter Thursday, the Belgian health and interior ministers soothed the worries of children fearing they might go without presents this year. The officials said Nicholas wouldn’t have to quarantine after arriving in Belgium from Spain, where he lives, and would be able to walk rooftops to drop gifts into chimneys even during curfew hours.
“Dear Saint, do what you do best: make every child happy. We are counting on you,” Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden and Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke said in the joint letter.
For generations, the visit of St. Nicholas at the onset of winter has been a holiday highlight for Belgian kids, much like the work of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve is in so many other nations.
With Belgium one of the European countries hit worst by the coronavirus, the government is enforcing a nightly curfew, tough quarantine rules and other measures to curb infections. The resurgence of the virus has started to show signs of abating in the past few days.
10:08 a.m. British Columbia’s children’s representative says the as experts brace for rising rates of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress in children and young people.
“Going forward, we would be very wise to invest significantly more in mental health,” given the pre-pandemic shortfalls and the benefits over time, said Jennifer Charlesworth in an interview.
Her office released a review Thursday of previous studies focused on kids’ mental health after infectious disease outbreaks and natural disasters.
The review was led by Dr. Charlotte Waddell, the director of the children’s health policy centre at Simon Fraser University.
Long-term studies and data are needed to assess exactly how the pandemic is affecting kids’ development and mental health in B.C. and beyond, said Waddell, but she’s concerned.
“The studies that we examined really strongly predict that we’re going to see significant increases in the number of kids with anxiety, post-traumatic stress, depression and behaviour challenges,” said Waddell, who’s a specialist in child and adolescent psychiatry.
9:11 a.m. Dr. Adalsteinn Brown and other top provincial health officials are expected to provide new modelling this afternoon.
The new projections for how the virus might spread in Ontario come as the province has reported daily case increases above 1,000 for the past week.
The province reported 1,426 more COVID-19 cases on Wednesday.
According to provincial data, the seven-day average for daily case increases is now 1,217.
Some hot spots such as Toronto and Peel Region have introduced local COVID restrictions in addition to provincial government measures.
9 a.m. The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits fell last week to 709,000, a still-high level but the lowest figure since March and a sign that the job market might be slowly healing.
The figures coincide with a sharp resurgence in confirmed viral infections to an all-time high above 120,000 a day. Cases are rising in 49 states, and deaths are increasing in 39. The nation has now recorded 240,000 virus-related deaths and 10.3 million confirmed infections.
As colder weather sets in and fear of the virus escalates, consumers may turn more cautious about travelling, shopping, dining out and visiting gyms, barber shops and retailers. Companies in many sectors could cut jobs or workers’ hours. In recent days, the virus’ resurgence has triggered tighter restrictions on businesses, mostly restaurants and bars, in a range of states, including Texas, New York, Maryland, and Oregon.
Last week’s new applications for unemployment benefits was down from 757,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said Thursday. The still-elevated figure shows that eight months after the pandemic flattened the economy, many employers are still slashing jobs.
8:30 a.m. In an effort to revive its tourism industry, South Africa has opened up international travel to visitors from all countries, President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced.
South Africa will now admit foreign visitors providing they produce negative COVID-19 test results, Ramaphosa said in a broadcast address Wednesday night.
This step, making South Africa one of the world’s countries most open to international travel, comes as cases of the disease are slowly increasing in the country. Ramaphosa said his government will closely monitor any signs that international visitors increase transmission rates.
“By using rapid tests and strict monitoring we intend to limit the spread of the infection through importation,” said Ramaphosa. “We expect that these measures will greatly assist businesses in the tourism and hospitality sectors.”
After closing its borders as part of one of the world’s strictest lockdowns imposed at the end of March, South Africa has gradually reopened, resuming international flights on Oct. 1 but not admitting travellers from countries with high infection levels. Now that restriction has been removed, Ramaphosa said.
8:28 a.m. German soccer club Hoffenheim says a sixth player has tested positive for the coronavirus.
Hoffenheim says defender Kevin Vogt was found to be positive in a test taken Wednesday after an earlier sample gave an inconclusive result.
The whole team was placed in isolation on Wednesday.
Five other Hoffenheim players and two staff members have tested positive for the virus in the last week. Two of those players were only found to be positive after they had joined up with their national teams.
Two more Hoffenheim players were withdrawn from their national teams as a precaution despite testing negative.
8:11 a.m. Taking care of an infant while juggling work as a freelance writer would be stressful enough in a normal year. Add in the additional stress of the , and 39-year-old Ayano Hodouchi Dempsey feels much older.
“I feel old physically — backaches and stuff. And by the time my baby is in bed at 7:30 pm, I feel ready to go to bed myself!” she said.
Although Dempsey feels lucky to live in northwestern Ontario, where cases are relatively low, her extended family lives elsewhere and COVID-19 restrictions mean she hasn’t received the kind of support she would have normally.
People as young as in their twenties have told the Star they were initially shocked to discover streaks of grey in their hair, but once they thought more about it, they weren’t surprised.
8:06 a.m. Two weddings in late October and related events have been linked to at least 17 confirmed positive tests for COVID-19, according to York Region Public Health.
The weddings occurred Oct. 28 and 30 at venues in Vaughan. Related activities occurred in other municipalities in private residences. The case total was based on reports until Nov. 10.
Of the confirmed cases, York Region residents account for 12, and five are Toronto residents. Between the two weddings, 12 cases attended a pre-event for the Oct. 28 wedding and 16 attended the ceremony for the Oct. 30 wedding. Nine of the cases attended both wedding ceremonies, according to public health.
In the case of the Oct. 28 wedding, a pre-wedding event attended by approximately 14 people was held at a private household in Markham. Public health says attendees did not observe sufficient physical distancing and masking protocols.
Attendees are considered at high risk of exposure.
Additionally, a post-wedding event attended by 10 people at a Markham residence is considered high risk.
The wedding ceremony was held at the Chateau le Jardin, 8440 York Regional Road 27, Vaughan, and attended by between 130 and 140 people. The risk of exposure there is considered low.
A pre-wedding event for the Oct. 30 wedding was attended by an unknown number of participants at a household in Ajax in which physical distancing and masking protocols were not observed. The event is considered a high risk for exposure.
The wedding ceremony was held at Paradise Banquet Hall, 7601 Jane St. Approximately 130 attendees are considered at low risk of exposure.
There was no post-wedding event.
York Region residents in attendance will be contacted by York Region Public Health.
Individuals who attended only the ceremony for either or both weddings are considered to have a low risk exposure to COVID-19.
7:52 a.m. A Norfolk county farm fired a migrant worker and tried to send him back to Mexico as reprisal for raising concerns about a massive COVID-19 outbreak, the provincial labour board has found — a historic ruling highlighting the power imbalance between seasonal labourers and their employers.
In a decision issued earlier this week, the Ontario Labour Relations Board said Scotlynn Growers broke the law when it terminated Gabriel Flores Flores shortly after he spoke out about poor living and working conditions at the farm. Some 199 migrant workers at the multimillion-dollar operation tested positive for , including Flores himself. His bunkmate died from the virus.
It is illegal to terminate or discipline any worker for raising health and safety issues. But advocates have long argued that it is difficult for temporary foreign workers to enforce this protection because they do not have permanent residency and can be sent back to their home countries for almost any reason. Flores’s lawyer John No said he believes this week’s ruling is a first for the province’s migrant farm workers.
7:48 a.m. India reported 47,905 new cases of coronavirus infection, with New Delhi setting another daily record Thursday.
The surge of 8,593 cases in the nation’s capital is the highest for any major Indian city and comes as people crowd shopping areas ahead of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, on Saturday.
Deaths, too, are climbing again, with 85 in New Delhi in the past 24 hours. Deaths are a lagging indicator of the virus due to long periods of illness and medical treatment.
Overall, India’s new cases held steady. The Health Ministry reported 550 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking total fatalities to 128,121.
7:46 a.m. The Serbian soccer federation says defender Luka Milivojevic has tested positive for the coronavirus ahead of the European Championship playoff match against Scotland.
The federation says the 29-year-old Crystal Palace defender left the squad’s training ground near Belgrade and put himself in isolation.
7:44 a.m. Loblaw Companies Ltd. raised its dividend as its third-quarter profit and sales climbed higher compared with a year ago and topped expectations.
The grocery and drug store retailer says it will now pay a quarterly dividend of 33.5 cents per share, up from 31.5 cents per share.
The increased payment came as Loblaw reported a profit attributable to common shareholders of $342 million or 96 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Oct. 3, up from $331 million or 90 cents per diluted share in the same quarter last year.
Revenue for what was a 16-week period totalled $15.67 billion, up from nearly $14.66 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. Food retail same-store sales gained 6.9 per cent in the quarter, while drug retail same-store sales climbed 6.1 per cent.
On an adjusted basis, Loblaw says it earned $464 million or $1.30 per diluted share, up from an adjusted profit of $458 million or $1.25 per diluted share a year ago.
Analysts on average had expected an adjusted profit of $1.26 per share and $15.6 billion in revenue, according financial data firm Refinitiv.
6:10 a.m.: Dozens of hospital workers have , demanding more medical staff be hired as the country struggles to contain a resurgence of the coronavirus that has led to a new lockdown being imposed.
An increase in the number of people seriously ill with COVID-19 has led the country’s health system to come under increasing pressure. As of Wednesday night, Greece had a total of 1,104 intensive care unit beds, of which 496 were set aside for COVID-19 patients. Of those, 335 are already occupied.
The government has stressed it has massively increased the country’s intensive care capacity, noting there were a total of just over 500 ICU beds in Greece when it came to power after elections in mid-2019.
6:02 a.m.: The majority of Canadians are aware of the public health risk of COVID-19, but 15 per cent say they don’t believe the virus poses a big health risk to the population or are undecided, according to a new survey by Morneau Shepell.
The findings have raised questions among public health experts about how to address those who don’t believe in the seriousness of a virus that has killed more than 10,000 Canadians, and whether their skepticism poses a risk as COVID-19 cases rise at an unprecedented rate.
In a survey of 3,000 workers across Canada conducted Sept. 28 to Oct. 19, focused on COVID and its mental health impacts, 86 per cent of respondents agreed the virus is a serious public health risk. Six per cent said they do not, and eight per cent said they were undecided.
6:01 a.m.: Taking care of an infant while juggling work as a freelance writer would be stressful enough in a normal year. Add in the additional stress of the COVID-19 pandemic, and 39-year-old Ayano Hodouchi Dempsey feels much older.
“I feel old physically — backaches and stuff. And by the time my baby is in bed at 7:30 pm, I feel ready to go to bed myself!” she said.
Although Dempsey feels lucky to live in northwestern Ontario, where cases are relatively low, her extended family lives elsewhere and COVID-19 restrictions mean she hasn’t received the kind of support she would have normally.
People as young as in their twenties have told the Star they were initially shocked to discover streaks of grey in their hair, but once they thought more about it, they weren’t surprised.
6 a.m.: Texas on Wednesday became the first state with more than 1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, and as a surge of coronavirus infections engulfs the country.
In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said all restaurants, bars and gyms statewide will have to close at 10 p.m. starting Friday, a major retreat in a corner of the U.S. that had seemingly brought the virus largely under control months ago. He also barred private gatherings of more than 10 people.
Texas, the second-most populous state, has recorded 1.02 million coronavirus cases and over 19,000 deaths since the outbreak began in early March, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. California, the most populous state, has logged more than 995,000 cases.
The U.S. has recorded over 240,000 deaths and more than 10.3 million confirmed infections, with new cases soaring to all-time highs of well over 120,000 per day over the past week. Health experts have blamed the increase in part on the onset of cold weather and growing frustration with mask-wearing and other precautions.
5:43 a.m.: Africa’s top public health official says as infections creep up again in parts of the continent of 1.3 billion people.
John Nkengasong says “we expected it to happen” and warns that when the virus comes back for a second wave, “it seems to come back with a lot of full force.”
The African continent is approaching 2 million confirmed cases, with just over 1.9 million now including more than 45,000 deaths.
5 a.m.: Italy, which shocked the world and itself when hospitals in the wealthy north were overwhelmed with coronavirus cases last spring,
The Italian doctors federation called this week for a nationwide lockdown to forestall a collapse of the medical system, marked by the closure of non-emergency procedures. The government is facing tougher criticism than in the spring, when the health crisis was met with an outpouring of solidarity.
As of Wednesday, 52 per cent of Italy’s hospital beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients, above the 40 per cent warning threshold set by the Health Ministry. Nine of Italy’s 21 regions and autonomous provinces are already securely in the red-alert zone, above 50 per cent virus occupancy, with Lombardy at 75 per cent, Piedmont at 92 per cent and South Tyrol at an astonishing 99 per cent.
4:17 a.m.: Germany’s health minister is cautioning that restrictions meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus are likely to last through the winter as numbers of new infections remain high.
Health Minister Jens Spahn told RBB radio on Thursday that large Christmas parties or other social gatherings of more than 10 to 15 people are not likely to be feasible.
“We have to manage together to get through this winter overall with lower numbers,” he said.
The country’s disease control centre, the Robert Koch Institute, reported 21,866 new infections overnight, down about 1,500 from a record set on the weekend but still stubbornly high.
4:35 a.m.: The British economy remained nearly 10% smaller at the end of the third quarter despite posting a record bounceback in the summer, when many of the restrictions that had been placed on businesses to control the pandemic were lifted. The imposition of new limits on public life in the autumn means the economy will likely end the year even smaller.
The Office for National Statistics said Thursday that the economy grew by 15.5% in the July to September period. Though that was in line with market expectations, the data shows that the recovery was already running out of steam in September, before a resurgence of the coronavirus led to the economically damaging reimposition of new restrictions.
4:02 a.m.: Today is the day to try to bring surging COVID-19 numbers back under control.
The province has been struggling to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus since it started spiking in recent weeks after a summer lull.
Gatherings are limited to five people, but the restriction does not apply to those who live in the same household.
Churches can’t hold in-person services and non-essential stores and restaurants are limited to curbside pickup and delivery.
Bars, museums and theatres are closed and recreational activities suspended, although schools remain open.
The province reported 5,676 active cases on Wednesday, the deadliest day of the pandemic for Manitoba, with nine new deaths for a total of 123.
4:01 a.m.: Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will face questions today from senators scrutinizing the government’s latest bid to provide pandemic aid to hard-hit businesses.
Freeland is scheduled to testify early this afternoon to the Senate’s national finance committee that is reviewing the aid bill, known as C-9.
The House of Commons agreed last week to pass the proposed package of measures quickly, but none can be enacted until the Senate passes it as well.
4 a.m.: The latest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 7:01 p.m. EST on Nov. 11, 2020:
There are 277,061 confirmed cases in Canada.
_ Quebec: 118,529 confirmed (including 6,515 deaths, 100,564 resolved)
_ Ontario: 88,209 confirmed (including 3,275 deaths, 74,303 resolved)
_ Alberta: 35,545 confirmed (including 383 deaths, 26,407 resolved)
_ British Columbia: 19,239 confirmed (including 284 deaths, 13,704 resolved)
_ Manitoba: 9,308 confirmed (including 123 deaths, 3,509 resolved)
_ Saskatchewan: 4,326 confirmed (including 29 deaths, 2,934 resolved)
_ Nova Scotia: 1,134 confirmed (including 65 deaths, 1,049 resolved)
_ New Brunswick: 355 confirmed (including 6 deaths, 332 resolved)
_ Newfoundland and Labrador: 298 confirmed (including 4 deaths, 287 resolved)
_ Prince Edward Island: 68 confirmed (including 64 resolved)
_ Yukon: 23 confirmed (including 1 death, 22 resolved)
_ Repatriated Canadians: 13 confirmed (including 13 resolved)
_ Northwest Territories: 11 confirmed (including 10 resolved)
_ Nunavut: 3 confirmed
_ Total: 277,061 (0 presumptive, 277,061 confirmed including 10,685 deaths, 223,199 resolved)
2:21 a.m.: Turkey’s interior ministry has across the country to curb the spread of COVID-19.
In a statement late Wednesday, the ministry said smoking would be banned in busy streets, bus stops and public squares when necessary. It said the nationwide mask mandate in public spaces, which has been in effect for several months, must be followed at all times and smokers were routinely violating the mask rule.
The ministry also said provinces can decide to impose curfews on senior citizens above the age of 65 if they are seeing increases in the number of critical patients. The governors of Istanbul and Ankara have already reintroduced measures this week, allowing senior citizens to leave their homes only between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
