The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Wednesday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
2:12 p.m.: The U.S. will buy 500 million more doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to share through the global COVAX alliance for donation to 92 lower income countries and the African Union over the next year, a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday.
President Joe Biden was set to make the announcement Thursday in a speech before the start of Group of Seven summit. According to the source, 200 million doses — enough to fully protect 100 million people — would be shared this year, with the balance to be donated in the first half of 2022.
The person confirmed the announcement on the condition of anonymity. The news was first reported by the Washington Post.
The announcement comes days after the White House unveiled its plans to begin sharing the existing U.S. vaccine surplus with the world.
2:06 p.m.: Getting a COVID-19 vaccine in Manitoba will soon earn you a shot — at nearly $2 million in cash and scholarships.
The province, which currently has the highest case rate in the country by a significant margin, has announced the new lottery in a bid to get doses into arms as soon as possible. Two draws will be held this summer and will be open to all Manitobans age 12 and up who have gotten at least their first shot.
Each draw will award a series of $100,000 prizes for different health regions, and 10 $25,000 scholarships for those age 12 to 17.
“Urgency is important,” Premier Brian Pallister said in a news release Wednesday. “We need Manitobans to get vaccinated to protect each other and protect our health-care system.”
Down in the United States, lotteries or free giveaways have begun more common as public health officials work to woo the hesitant. But it’s still a novel approach in Canada, where vaccination rates haven’t yet hit a wall of hesitancy.
Late last month, California offered up one of the biggest single prizes available to a vaccinated person — a draw of $1.5 million US. It’s part of a total purse of $116.5 million US the state is giving away in an effort to get more people vaccinated before the state fully reopens.
Read Alex Boyd’s full piece here.
1:50 p.m. Facebook Inc. said it will let all employees work remotely even after the pandemic if their jobs can be done out of an office, but may reduce their pay if they move to a less-expensive area.
Starting June 15, any Facebook employee can request to work from home, the Menlo Park, California-based company said Wednesday in a statement. If those employees move to a lower-cost region, their salaries will be adjusted accordingly and they will be encouraged to go into the office at times to enhance team building.
Facebook said it will be more flexible for employees expected to return to the office.
“Guidance is to be in the office at least half the time,” the company said.
Facebook also plans to open most of its U.S. offices to at least 50 per cent capacity by early September and reopen fully in October. Until the end of 2021, employees can work as many as 20 business days from another location away from their home area, the company said.
1:40 p.m. Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting three new cases of COVID-19, and at least two infections linked to variants of concern.
The news comes as a school in the central Newfoundland town of Gander closed for the day following a possible COVID-19 exposure.
The regional health authority also opened a testing clinic for employees of the Gander Walmart store after a staff member tested positive for the disease.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, the province’s chief medical officer of health, says contact tracers are still trying to chase down the source of several infections across in province, including some linked to the Alpha variant first detected in the United Kingdom and the Delta variant first found in India.
1:30 p.m. The Manitoba government is offering $100,000 cash prizes and $25,000 scholarships in an effort to convince more people to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
Anyone who has or will receive a shot will be automatically entered into two lottery draws this summer, and each draw will have seven cash winners — three in Winnipeg and one in each of the four other health regions — and 10 scholarship winners.
The scholarships will be reserved for people aged 12 to 17.
1:20 p.m. Procurement Minister Anita Anand says Canada will have enough vaccine delivered for 80 per cent of eligible Canadians to be fully vaccinated by the end of July.
Only people over the age of 12 are able to get vaccinated currently, with Pfizer and Moderna hoping to submit data from trials on younger children in the fall.
Anand says there are now confirmed deliveries of 55 million doses by July 31, about 70 per cent of it from Pfizer-BioNTech.
That is enough to give two doses to more than 27 million people.
Currently, Canada has given one dose to 23.8 million people and both doses to 3.3 million people.
1:10 p.m. An economist says the recent decision by Air Canada executives to voluntarily give back their bonuses is an incredibly rare case of an about-face on compensation from a company.
David Macdonald, a senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, says it’s unusual for public outcry to be successful in nudging C-Suite employees to return their bonuses.
“In most cases it’s a day or two of bad press and the world goes on and CEO pay packages continue to increase,” Macdonald said in an interview Monday.
“It’s only in very extreme cases like this where CEOs and other C-Suite members are shamed into giving their money back.”
The airline announced Sunday its president and CEO, as well as its executive vice-presidents, had volunteered to return their 2020 bonuses and share appreciation units after “public disappointment” grew over its compensation program.
In the statement, it said former president and CEO Calin Rovinescu, who retired in February, will be donating the value of his 2020 bonus to the Air Canada Foundation.
Air Canada on Monday said the executives had chosen to voluntarily return their 2020 bonuses and share appreciation units.
It also noted that the $10-million bonus program included 900 employees, with $8 million awarded to middle management.
Both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland expressed their displeasure with the company’s bonus program last week after the airline disclosed millions in bonuses to people it called “instrumental” to the airline’s survival during the pandemic.
1:05 p.m. China appeared to get the coronavirus under control nearly a year ago. But hundreds of millions of Chinese people remain unvaccinated. New variants of the coronavirus have appeared, and questions remain about whether China’s self-made vaccines can stop them.
The latest cases have been found in Guangzhou, capital of the southern province of Guangdong. Authorities have blamed the delta variant, which has caused widespread loss of life in India.
The city tested practically its entire population of 18.7 million between Sunday and Tuesday, some of them for the second time. It has also put neighborhoods with a total of more than 180,000 residents into total lockdown, with practically no one allowed out except to go to medical testing.
The early infections appear to have jumped from person to person at a cluster of eateries. Each infected person has infected more other people than in any previous outbreak that China has confronted, Zhang Zhoubin, deputy director of the Guangzhou Center for Disease Control, said.
“The epidemic faced by Guangzhou this time is an unprecedented opponent, and it requires more resolute and decisive measures to deal with it,” he said.
China’s approach has evolved since the coronavirus first emerged, when Beijing initially put harsh restrictions on hundreds of millions of people. Today its lockdowns are focused on neighborhoods rather than cities or provinces. China has made vaccination the centerpiece of its strategy.
Foreign businesses have worried that those limits on international travelers could snarl their plans. A European Union Chamber of Commerce survey released this week found that three-quarters of member companies said they had been adversely affected by travel restrictions, usually by hindering them from bringing in key engineers or executives.
12:50 p.m. Nova Scotia is reporting 13 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday.
Health officials have identified seven cases in the Halifax area and six in the province’s eastern zone which includes Cape Breton.
There are 164 known active cases of novel coronavirus with 15 people in hospital, including seven in intensive care.
As of Tuesday, 647,604 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered, with 45,372 people having received their booster shot.
12:35 p.m. Quebec is reporting 178 new cases of COVID-19 today and eight more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus.
Health officials say hospitalizations dropped by six, to 257, and the number of people in intensive care was unchanged at 60.
The province says more than 74,000 doses of vaccine were administered Tuesday.
Montreal reported 61 new cases today, more than any other region in the province. It was followed by the Chaudière-Appalaches region, south of Quebec City, which reported 21 new cases.
12:32 p.m. Manitobans who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will soon be able to travel within Canada without having to self-isolate upon returning to the province.
Premier Brian Pallister says new secure vaccination cards will be available to people who have received both doses.
The card will exempt people from the current rule that requires people to self-isolate for 14 days after travelling to another province or territory.
The card will also give people more ability to visit loved ones in hospitals and personal care homes.
Pallister says the measure is temporary until vaccination is more widespread and the threat from COVID-19 is reduced.
He says the card might also be required in the future for things like sporting events, but no decision has been made.
12:27 p.m. (updated) Fully-vaccinated Canadians could be free of a requirement to quarantine upon return to Canada as early as next month, the federal government said Wednesday.
But whether that will be possible will depend on COVID-19 case numbers, hospitalization rates and other scientific guideposts, said Health Minister Patty Hajdu in making the announcement.
“We’ll be watching carefully here in Canada and around the world as cases change and as vaccination rates rise,” Hajdu told a news conference.
“These metrics are very important factors as we move towards implementing the changes on the border that we hope to have place in place in early July.”
Read the full story from the Star’s Stephanie Levitz
12:20 p.m. (update) Procurement Minister Anita Anand says Moderna is going to start shipping its vaccine doses to Canada from its American production lines and will deliver seven million doses before the end of this month.
The deliveries should mean Moderna delivers 11.2 million doses in the second quarter, in the range of the 10.3 to 12.3 million doses it had previously promised.
The company has, however, not provided a specific delivery schedule yet for when the doses will arrive.
Moderna had until today only confirmed 1.5 million doses to be shipped next week, but that shipment may also be delayed or adjusted as the company shifts its Canadian supply to the United States.
12:15 p.m. A Manitoba church accused of repeatedly violating COVID-19 restrictions could face a fine of up to $1 million.
The Church of God Restoration, south of Steinbach, has already been given tickets after holding in-person services contrary to public health orders.
Now the provincial government says the matter is heading to court, where a judge will determine a potential penalty, up to a maximum of $1 million.
11:45 a.m. Nova Scotia is easing COVID-19 visitor restrictions at hospitals in a phased approach that aligns with the government’s reopening plan.
The health authority says the plan for hospital visitors will proceed in two-to-four-week intervals, depending on the number of infections in the province, the vaccine rollout and the capacity of the health-care system to manage new cases.
Beginning today, two family members or support people will be allowed to visit patients in intensive care, critically ill patients in the emergency department and women in labour and after birth.
Under the second phase, slated to begin June 16 at the earliest, one family member or support person will be allowed to visit an admitted patient or a patient in the emergency department, and three family members or support people will be allowed for palliative care patients and others nearing end of life.
The third phase, scheduled to start June 30 at the earliest, would allow two family members or support people to visit admitted patients and four would be allowed to visit patients in palliative care and others nearing end of life.
The fourth phase is tied to the start of the fourth step of the province’s reopening plan and would allow one family member or support person to accompany someone receiving outpatient care.
11:15 a.m. Lawyers for a doctor who faced a barrage of hate and racism after being accused of violating COVID-19 measures in New Brunswick say time is running out for Premier Blaine Higgs to apologize.
Dr. Jean-Robert Ngola was accused of violating the province’s Emergency Measures Act, but the Crown withdrew the charge last week after concluding there was no chance of conviction.
In May 2020, Higgs had referred to a health-care worker being investigated by the RCMP for failing to self-isolate, in connection to an outbreak that resulted in 40 COVID-19 cases and two deaths. Ngola’s name later leaked on social media.
Now he and his lawyers are threatening legal action if Higgs does not publicly apologize by the end of this week for the statements the premier made last year.
Higgs said Tuesday that if Ngola would waive his rights to privacy, then all the information in the case can be released publicly — something Higgs said would end the discussion.
Ngola’s lawyer, Joel Etienne, said today in an interview that Higgs needs to apologize, adding that a news conference will be held Friday to discuss his client’s next steps.
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10:12 a.m. (will be updated) Ontario is reporting 411 COVID-19 cases and 33 deaths Wednesday. The high total of reported deaths today includes 11 that the province says occurred in April and May.
The seven-day average is down to 657 cases per day or 32 weekly per 100,000, and up to 18.4 deaths per day. Labs are reporting 30,456 completed tests and a 2 per cent positive, according to the Star’s Ed Tubb.
Locally, there are 97 new cases in Toronto, 72 in Peel, 35 in Waterloo, 26 in York Region and 25 in Hamilton.
9:51 a.m. The federal government is set to announce Wednesday that fully vaccinated Canadian travellers will no longer need to spend 14 days in quarantine upon arriving home.
A federal source familiar with the policy says the change will go into effect in early July.
The source spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss a policy decision that has yet to be made public.
It will apply to Canadian citizens and permanent residents who have had a full course of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Affected travellers will be required to take a COVID-19 test upon arrival in Canada, and remain in isolation until the test comes back negative.
The government will also eliminate the need for fully vaccinated Canadian air travellers to spend three days quarantining in an authorized hotel upon arriving in the country.
9:15 a.m. Billionaire philanthropist Mo Ibrahim is criticizing vaccine hoarding by wealthy nations, urging the international community to “walk the talk” as Africa desperately lags behind in vaccinating against COVID-19.
Ibrahim, a British mobile phone magnate who was born in Sudan, is hailed as a voice of moral authority across Africa. The 75-year-old earned his fortune by establishing the Celtel mobile phone network across Africa in the 1990s.
He is now using his fortune to promote democracy and political accountability on the continent, including through his sponsorship of the $5 million Ibrahim Prize for African leaders who govern responsibly and who give up their power peacefully. Speaking during a Zoom call with the Associated Press from London, where he is based, Ibrahim urged “at least a reasonable portion” of the vaccines should go to frontline workers in Africa.
“We need to hold our leaders accountable,” he said. “You deny and you pay the price… Unfortunately, your people also pay the price.”
Africa has administered vaccine doses to 31 million of its 1.3 billion people. Only 7 million people are fully vaccinated, according to World Health Organization Africa director Matshidiso Moeti. Health experts are concerned the continent will suffer greatly in the long term if more of its people are not vaccinated.
Africa has confirmed more than 4.9 million coronavirus cases and 132,000 deaths.
8:44 a.m. Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce is holding a press conference at 12 p.m. Wednesday.
7:40 a.m. Tourism associations across Canada launched a campaign Tuesday urging the federal government to announce a clear plan for reopening the Canada-U.S. border to non-essential travellers, as the all-important summer season begins and businesses fear losing another chance to get back on their feet.
At the online event launching the campaign, Tourism Industry Association of Canada chair Dave McKenna said the industry associations want a plan — with federal supports such as the wage subsidy beginning to wind down, opening the border to tourists is even more important.
“We can’t have it both ways. If financial aid is going to decrease, then the border needs to reopen so that the businesses can go back to work and support themselves,” said McKenna.
Read the full story from the Star’s Rosa Saba
7:30 a.m. As COVID-19 cases dwindle and vaccination numbers climb, businesses are slowly but surely preparing to see their offices become a hive of activity again.
But in the usually bustling downtown core of Toronto, just how many workers will be returning to the office towers — and how best to keep them safe — is still an open question.
According to a new study from the Toronto Region Board of Trade looking at five different business districts across the Greater Toronto Area, the “Metropolitan Core” has taken the hardest economic hit from COVID, and faces some of the toughest challenges in getting back to a new normal.
Luring workers back to their office towers after a year of working from home, and bringing back tourists and business travellers, are vital to ensuring a strong rebound, according to the report’s author.
Read the full story from the Star’s Josh Rubin
7:23 a.m. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga says he is aiming to have everyone in the country vaccinated by November, a target he set with a general election scheduled for later this year.
Suga called vaccines “a trump card” of anti-virus measures and said Wednesday: “I want vaccines to be given by the October-November period to all the people who want to be vaccinated.”
The prime minister is desperately pushing to accelerate Japan’s COVID-19 vaccine program ahead of the Summer Olympics, which are scheduled to be held in Tokyo from July 23 to Aug. 8.
Suga is seeking to have 1 million shots administered a day so all of the country’s 36 million older adults will be fully vaccinated by the end of July. He also urged major companies to prepare to start vaccinating their employees later this month to accelerate the process ahead of the Olympics.
Less than 4 per cent of Japan’s population was fully vaccinated as of Tuesday, according to government figures.
Slow vaccinations and concerns about holding the Olympics amid the pandemic has prompted protests and sent Suga’s approval ratings to their lowest levels since he took office in September.
6:25 a.m.: In the global race to vaccinate people against COVID-19, Africa is tragically at the back of the pack.
In fact, it has barely gotten out of the starting blocks.
In South Africa, which has the continent’s most robust economy and its biggest coronavirus caseload, just 0.8% of the population is fully vaccinated, according to a worldwide tracker kept by Johns Hopkins University. And hundreds of thousands of the country’s health workers, many of whom come face-to-face with the virus every day, are still waiting for their shots.
In Nigeria, Africa’s biggest country with more than 200 million people, only 0.1% are fully protected. Kenya, with 50 million people, is even lower. Uganda has recalled doses from rural areas because it doesn’t have nearly enough to fight outbreaks in big cities.
Chad didn’t administer its first vaccine shots until this past weekend. And there are at least five other countries in Africa where not one dose has been put into an arm, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The World Health Organization says the continent of 1.3 billion people is facing a severe shortage of vaccine at the same time a new wave of infections is rising across Africa. Vaccine shipments into Africa have ground to a “near halt,” WHO said last week.
Read more from The Associated Press.
6:15 a.m.: After fears Canada is doomed to a “one-dose summer,” COVID-19 vaccinations in Toronto have accelerated to the point that we are having a two-dose spring.
In local clinics, more Torontonians are getting second vaccines doses than first, a daily trend that started last Wednesday and gained steam. On Saturday, 18,532 people became fully vaccinated compared to 13,973 receiving a first jab.
By Monday, 72 per cent of Toronto adults had a least one dose. Eleven per cent were fully vaccinated — a figure that started climbing quickly after Ontario widened eligibility criteria and vaccine supplies from Ottawa increased.
But the growing risk from the extra-contagious B.1.617 virus variant means we have to pick up the second-dose pace even more as Ontario prepares to start to ease restrictions Friday, said University of Toronto immunology professor Tania Watts.
“The most vulnerable are at risk,” because one dose of Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine offers only 33 per cent protection against B.1.617, Watts said in an email, referring to research from the U.K. where B.1.617 is now the dominant strain.
Two doses offer people much greater protection, the researchers found.
Read more from the Star’s David Rider.
5:30 a.m.: An announcement could come as soon as Friday on how fully vaccinated people can more easily travel between Canada and the U.S as the first step in a plan to reopen the border.
Less than eight per cent of the Canadian population is at that mark, and although about 42 per cent of Americans have had both shots, the announcement is unlikely to mean hordes of tourists can come roaring across the border this weekend.
Instead, multiple sources told the Star, the announcement will signal the start of what will be a long process of gradually peeling back every single layer of public health protection at the border, which has been closed to most for nearly 15 months.
Read the Star Exclusive by Stephanie Levitz.
5:15 a.m.: Despite being in the throes of COVID’s third wave, when many neighbourhoods have neared crisis points with business closures and other pandemic-related challenges, Toronto’s Gay Village has persevered. Customers still come for what is available — very few businesses have closed in the last year.
“The gay community has been through a pandemic before, that made us stronger,” says Dean Odorico, the general manager of the bar Woody’s, referring to the AIDS crisis. “People learn to fight. They learn to keep going … You always gotta hope that things are going to get better.”
And like in any crisis, Odorico says people find comfort in being together any way they can. For businesses, that has meant customer loyalty.
Read the full story from the Star’s Brian Bradley.
4 a.m.: The latest numbers on COVID-19 vaccinations in Canada as of 4:00 a.m. ET on Wednesday, June 9, 2021.
In Canada, the provinces are reporting 352,502 new vaccinations administered for a total of 26,843,033 doses given. Nationwide, 3,184,367 people or 8.4 per cent of the population has been fully vaccinated. The provinces have administered doses at a rate of 70,827.296 per 100,000.
There were 294,882 new vaccines delivered to the provinces and territories for a total of 30,123,314 doses delivered so far. The provinces and territories have used 89.11 per cent of their available vaccine supply.
4 a.m.: The latest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 4:00 a.m. ET on Wednesday, June 9, 2021.
There are 1,395,410 confirmed cases in Canada.
Canada: 1,395,410 confirmed cases (21,539 active, 1,348,080 resolved, 25,791 deaths).*The total case count includes 13 confirmed cases among repatriated travellers.
There were 1,268 new cases Tuesday. The rate of active cases is 56.67 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 12,199 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 1,743.
There were 30 new reported deaths Tuesday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 225 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 32. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.08 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 67.86 per 100,000 people.
There have been 35,364,353 tests completed.