Coronavirus: What’s happening in Canada and around the world on Monday

The latest:

Coronavirus deaths and cases per day in the United States dropped markedly over the past couple of weeks but are still running at alarmingly high levels, and the effort to snuff out COVID-19 is becoming an ever more urgent race between the vaccine and the mutating virus.

The government’s top infectious-disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said the improvement in numbers around the country appears to be the result of « natural peaking and then plateauing » after a holiday surge, rather than an effect of the rollout of vaccines that began in mid-December.

Deaths are running at an average of just under 3,100 a day, down from more than 3,350 less than two weeks ago. New cases are averaging about 170,000 a day after peaking at almost 250,000 on Jan. 11. The number of COVID-19 patients in the hospital in the U.S. has fallen to about 110,000 from a high of 132,000 on Jan. 7.

States that have been hot spots in recent weeks such as California and Arizona have shown similar improvements during the same period. On Monday, California lifted regional stay-at-home orders in favour of county-by-county restrictions and ended a 10 p.m. curfew.

Across the country, about 18 million people, or less than six per cent of the U.S. population, have received at least one dose of vaccine, including about three million who have gotten the second shot, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only slightly more than half of the 41 million doses distributed to the states by the federal government have been injected into arms, by the CDC’s count.

Fauci also warned that the U.S. shouldn’t let its guard down as variants that are more contagious take hold.

The virus has killed over 419,000 Americans and caused more than 25 million confirmed infections in the United States, according to a database maintained by Johns Hopkins University. And health experts have warned that the variant sweeping through the U.K. will probably become the dominant source of infection in the U.S. by March. It has been reported in over 20 states so far. Another mutant version is circulating in South Africa.

« We don’t want to get complacent and think, ‘Oh, things are going in the right direction, we can pull back a bit,' » Fauci said.

To guard against the new variants, President Joe Biden planned to add South Africa to a list of more than two dozen countries under coronavirus-related travel restrictions, two White House officials said.

Non-U.S. travellers who have been to Brazil, Ireland, Britain and other European countries will be restricted from entering the U.S. under the rules being reimposed by Biden after former president Donald Trump had moved to relax them, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Fauci said scientists are already preparing to upgrade COVID-19 vaccines to address the variants that were first detected in the U.K. and South Africa.

He said there is « a very slight, modest diminution » of the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against those variants, but « there’s enough cushion with the vaccines that we have that we still consider them to be effective » against both.

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What’s happening across Canada

As of 2:40 p.m. ET on Monday, Canada had reported 750,925 cases of COVID-19, with 62,677 cases considered active. A CBC News tally of deaths stood at 19,187.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said the federal government is « looking seriously » at tougher travel measures to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, including mandatory hotel quarantines for air travellers returning from non-essential trips abroad.

Freeland’s remarks build on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s leaving the door open earlier this month to tighter restrictions, sparking questions about how a stricter isolation regime would roll out relative to other countries.

Successful pandemic repellers from South Korea to Australia to New Zealand require 14-day hotel quarantines for passengers arriving from abroad.

Federal data suggests only a small fraction of COVID-19 cases are linked to travel, but there is still virtually no testing at the border and many recent cases do not have an identified source.

WATCH | Where things stand 1 year after Canada’s 1st COVID-19 case:

Ontario on Monday reported 1,958 new cases of COVID-19, according to a tweet from Health Minister Christine Elliott.  The province also reported 43 additional deaths, bringing the provincial death toll to 5,846.

« Locally, there are 727 new cases in Toronto, 365 in Peel and 157 in York Region, » Elliott said in a tweet.

Hospitalizations in Ontario stood at 1,398, with 397 COVID-19 patients in the province’s intensive care units, according to a provincial dashboard.

The updated figures come after schools in seven public health units in the hard-hit province were set to reopen for in-person classes on Monday. Education Minister Stephen Lecce said that means 100,000 students will be returning to the classroom for the first time since before the winter break.

Ontario is implementing more safety measures in areas where schools are reopening, including requiring students in Grades 1 through 3 to wear masks indoors and when physical distancing isn’t possible outside as well. It’s also introducing « targeted asymptomatic testing » and enhanced screening protocols in those regions.

In Quebec on Monday, health officials reported 1,203 new cases of COVID-19. Hospitalizations stood at 1,321, with 217 people in intensive care, according to the province.

In Atlantic Canada, both Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador reported no new cases — but Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal Leader Andrew Furey said the province is monitoring a COVID-19 outbreak on the nearby French territory of St-Pierre-Miquelon.

« Well, obviously whenever there’s an outbreak in adjacent jurisdictions we’re concerned and we monitor, » Furey said.

New Brunswick reported 27 new COVID-19 cases and one new death on Monday. Dr. Jennifer Russell, the province’s chief medical officer of health, said public health officials are recommending that the Saint John and Fredericton regions should move to loosen restrictions as of tomorrow.

Manitoba’s death toll from COVID-19 surpassed 800 on Monday after the province reported five new deaths and 113 new cases. The provincial government also said it may have to postpone some second-dose vaccine appointments soon, as a result of the disruptions to the supply of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Saskatchewan health officials reported 240 new cases of COVID-19 and one new death on Monday.

In Alberta, two Edmonton high schools have moved classes online after both reported large numbers of COVID-19 infections in the past week.

There have been 20 confirmed cases at M.E. LaZerte School, where nearly 1,300 students had been attending classes in person. At that school, 300 students and 43 staff have been asked to quarantine.

Meanwhile, at J. Percy Page High School, 715 in-person students are now learning at home. Thirteen cases were confirmed at that school, resulting in 366 students and 17 staff members being asked to quarantine.

In-person classes are to resume in two weeks.

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What’s happening around the world

As of Monday afternoon, more than 99.3 million cases of COVID-19 had been detected worldwide, with more than 54.8 million of those cases considered recovered or resolved, according to a database maintained by Johns Hopkins University. The global death toll stood at more than 2.1 million.

In the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong has formally approved use of the Fosun Pharma-BioNTech vaccine, the city government said on Monday, the first COVID-19 vaccine to be accepted in the Asian financial hub.

The first batch of around one million doses is expected to arrive in the second half of February, the government said in a statement. The move comes with Hong Kong lagging other developed cities in rolling out vaccines and after mainland China started its vaccine program in July last year.

Hong Kong has secured a total of 22.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Fosun Pharma-BioNTech, China’s Sinovac Biotech and Oxford-AstraZeneca, the city’s leader Carrie Lam said in December.

Fosun Pharma is German drug manufacturer BioNTech’s partner in Greater China including in special administrative regions Hong Kong and Macau. Fosun is responsible for cold-chain management, storage and distribution. China’s Sinovac vaccine is likely to arrive in Hong Kong after BioNTech’s vaccine in February, with AstraZeneca’s vaccine due by the middle of the year.

Home to 7.5 million residents, Hong Kong has a separate approval process from the mainland for vaccines. The city has recorded nearly 10,000 coronavirus cases and 166 deaths since January 2020. Cases have spiked over the past week after an outbreak in an old residential building located in a busy commercial and residential area.

In China, a vaccination program for emergency use started in July with products from domestic manufacturers Sinopharm and Sinovac Biotech. The program was widened in December to focus on additional priority groups including employees in the cold-chain industry, transportation sector and fresh food markets.

Bangladesh has taken delivery of five million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from an Indian producer. Bangladesh has planned to buy 30 million doses of vaccines from the Serum Institute of India in phases. 

Australia has suspended its partial travel bubble with New Zealand after New Zealand reported its first coronavirus case outside of a quarantine facility in two months.

Thailand on Monday discovered a record 914 new cases of the coronavirus, all in Samut Sakhon province near Bangkok where a major outbreak began in December. The new cases shot the national total past 14,000.

The previous high was on Jan. 4, when 745 cases were reported, mostly in Samut Sakhon among migrant workers from Myanmar. The province is a centre for fishing and industry. The first case reported in the recent surge was detected there in mid-December at a major seafood market, which has been closed. Any new cases in other provinces will be announced on Tuesday.

In Europe, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday he was looking at toughening border quarantine rules because of the risk of « vaccine-busting » new coronavirus variants.

Norway will widen the capital region’s lockdown from Monday, increasing the number of affected municipalities to 25, while Sweden said on Sunday it would temporarily stop all foreigners coming in from Norway from midnight.

German police said hundreds of cars and pedestrians are lining up at border crossings along the Czech-German border after Germany declared the Czech Republic a high risk area in the pandemic, meaning it requires proof of a negative coronavirus test result before entry.

At the crossings in Waldmuenchen and Fuerth im Wald, authorities said hundreds of cars lined up on the Czech side trying to get into Germany in the early morning hours. Further backup was expected during the day Monday.

In the Americas, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he has tested positive for COVID-19.

In the Middle East, Israel will ban passenger flights in and out of the country from Monday evening for a week.

Oman will extend the close of its land borders for another week until Feb. 1.

President Hassan Rouhani said COVID-19 vaccinations will begin in the coming weeks in Iran, the Middle East’s worst hit country.

In Africa, four Zimbabwean cabinet ministers have died of COVID-19, three within the past two weeks, highlighting a resurgence of the disease that is sweeping through the southern African country.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa said the coronavirus is reaping a « grim harvest » in the country.

« The pandemic has been indiscriminate. There are no spectators, adjudicators, no holier than thou. No supermen or superwomen. We are all exposed, » Mnangagwa said in a nationally televised address.