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.
1:30 p.m. The province of Nova Scotia has been added as a defendant in a proposed class-action lawsuit against a long-term-care facility in Halifax where 53 people died from COVID-19 in the spring of 2020.
In a statement Wednesday, the Wagners law firm says the amended lawsuit alleges the province was negligent in its regulation and oversight of the Northwood facility.
It also alleges that repeated budget cuts by the government and freezes to long-term care spending left residents at increased risk to the rapid spread of infectious disease.
The statement of claim, which was initially filed in June 2020 and contains allegations that have not been proven in court, alleged the Northwood facility breached its obligations to residents through “inaction and inadequate response.''
It also claimed the facility's practices caused the untimely deaths of residents and harms, losses and damages to their surviving family members.
1:21 p.m. (updated) Vaccinated travellers will no longer require a negative COVID-19 test to come to Canada as of April 1, according to a source in the federal government.
The source, who is not authorized to speak publicly about the upcoming policy change, says an official announcement is expected later this week.
At the end of February, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos announced travellers coming to Canada would be able to present a negative rapid-antigen test at the border as an alternative to a more costly and time-consuming molecular test.
At the time, he said he would consider easing COVID-19 travel restrictions further if the epidemiological situation continued to improve, hospitalizations diminished and Canadians continued to get their booster shots.
1:05 p.m. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lowered its risk assessment of cruising. Cruise ships are now considered a Level 2 destination with "moderate" levels of COVID-19.
The CDC ranks international destinations with known COVID levels into 4 tiers, with Level 1 being "low" and Level 4 being "very high" for risk.
Cruise ships had been lowered to Level 3 status in mid-February after being at Level 4 since December.
12:40 p.m. Quebec's auditor general is concerned that a boom in telemedicine since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic two years ago will have a negative impact on the quality of care offered to the population.
In her 2021-2022 annual report made public today, Guylaine Leclerc says the Health Department has not provided a framework for when consultations can be carried out remotely and when a physical examination is required.
Her report states health-care providers and the Health Department weren't ready for the surge in telemedicine that came with the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.
Since then, the department, headed by Health Minister Christian Dubé, has still not assessed the extent to which virtual care has contributed to improving the quality of care provided to patients.
12:20 p.m. Quebec health officials reported 11 more deaths from COVID-19 Wednesday and a drop in hospitalizations as the provincial government moved to end the pandemic state of emergency in the province.
There are 1,073 people listed in hospital, a drop of nine based on 67 admissions and 76 patients discharged.
Health authorities say 56 patients are listed in intensive care, a decline of 10 from the previous day.
Earlier today, the Quebec government tabled a bill to lift the state of emergency that since March 2020 has granted it exceptional powers during the pandemic, including circumventing collective agreements in the health network and awarding contracts without a call for tenders.
11:22 a.m. Tuesday marked the final deadline for Georgia health care workers to get their second COVID-19 vaccine dose or a valid exemption to keep their jobs.
Several hospitals reported their employee vaccination levels were as high as 99 per cent. Nursing homes in Georgia reached at least 88 per cent. Under the federal law, health workers in a wide range of fields were required to either get vaccinated or to obtain an employer-approved waiver based on medical or religious reasons.
While public health experts say vaccine requirements are critical to prevent the spread of the virus, the federally imposed mandate created worries that health care workers would walk rather than comply. That could leave health care facilities — particularly in rural areas, which are often more vaccine-hesitant than metro Atlanta — strained and understaffed.
Neil Pruitt Jr., Chairman and CEO of PruittHealth, said meeting the requirement was not as difficult as feared even though more than 450 staff members were fired for refusing to be vaccinated and failing to qualify for a waiver.
10:35 a.m. (updated) Ontario is reporting 649 people in hospital with COVID-19 today, and 204 in intensive care.
That's compared with 688 people in hospital on Tuesday, and 220 in ICUs.
The province is reporting 15 new deaths from the virus today, as well as 2,011 new infections.
But Ontario's top doctor has said the actual number is likely 10 times higher than the daily log, since access to PCR testing is restricted.
9:30 a.m. Halton Region reported three new hospitalizations due to COVID-19 Tuesday. Two of the hospitalizations were in Burlington with the other in Oakville.
There are now four people in Halton’s hospitals with COVID-19, three who were admitted due to the virus, and one who was admitted for another reason but has since tested positive for COVID-19.
Acute care beds remain over capacity at 101 per cent, while intensive care unit occupancy rose from 69 per cent to 78 per cent.
8:30 a.m. Statistics Canada says the annual inflation rate climbed to 5.7 per cent in February, its highest level since August 1991 and the second straight month over 5 per cent.
Helping to drive the increase in February were higher gasoline prices that were up 32.3 per cent compared with February 2021 and 6.9 per cent from a month earlier.
Statistics Canada says that excluding gasoline prices, the headline inflation rate would have been 4.7 per cent in February.
Grocery store prices were up 7.4 per cent for the largest yearly increase since May 2009, pushed higher by rising fuel costs that are being passed on to consumers.
8 a.m. Kitchener is getting help from Harvard University students as a part of city project to support local arts and culture groups in a post-pandemic world.
“There are so many people doing great things in our community but we are working in silos,” said Allan Cayenne, director of marketing for Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest.
Cayenne is among 40 local arts and culture groups who gathered earlier this month at the Walper Hotel to participate in the project which hopes to bring organizations together to talk about challenges they have faced during the past two years and how they can connect to re-engage their audiences.
“So many of the groups could benefit from utilizing each other’s platforms to do more,” Cayenne said.
7:25 a.m. Statistics Canada say this morning how fast prices rose in February with broad expectations that the annual pace of inflation will rise from January.
The annual rate of inflation hit a three-decade high in January when the consumer price index registered a year-over-year increase of 5.1 per cent.
Price pressures have become more pervasive over the past few months.
6:40 a.m. Vietnam on Wednesday scrapped quarantine and other travel restrictions for foreign visitors in an effort to fully reopen its border after two years of pandemic-related closure, the government said.
Visitors entering the Southeast Asian country only need to show a negative COVID-19 test prior to arrival, according to the Health Ministry, which said the new measures were effective immediately.
Visitors must monitor their own health during the first 10 days of their stay and notify medical professionals in Vietnam if they experience any COVID-19-like symptoms.
Vietnam also reinstated visa exemptions and the issuance of visas on arrival similar to their pre-pandemic status.
5:45 a.m. As a COVID-19 outbreak overwhelms Hong Kong, it’s hard for its 7.4 million residents to know what’s next.
Uncertainty is the only certainty as store shelves are stripped of goods, mainland Chinese companies throw up sprawling isolation and testing centers and the government sends mixed messages on whether it will lock down the population for a citywide mass testing.
Pandemic restrictions have sucked much of the energy out of a cosmopolitan city known for its neon lights and dense crowds. The latest closure, announced Wednesday, is public beaches. An overburdened health system means those who get infected often have to fend for themselves. And the death toll, particularly among the elderly, keeps rising.
5:35 a.m. Several of the province’s top doctors say they plan to continue masking in indoor public settings, even after Ontario’s mask mandate ends on March 21.
The Star surveyed all 34 local medical officers of health, from Toronto to Timiskaming, on whether they would continue wearing a mask in these settings, and why, to help readers make their own decisions. A few were refreshingly blunt, while some did not answer the question, even when pressed.
Masks will move from a COVID-19 mandate to a choice next Monday, except in a few places, such as public transit and long-term care, where they will continue to be required until April 27. Dr. Kieran Moore, the province’s chief medical officer of health, said at a news conference last week that with public health indicators such as hospitalizations and ICU admissions stable or declining, it’s time to scrap this restriction.
5:30 a.m. Every morning, Samantha Cover wakes up and braces for what the day will bring.
For two years, the mother of four has been living with the post-COVID-19 condition known as long COVID, which has limited her abilities to engage in physical activity, process information and work long hours.
If she walks too fast, she starts gasping for breath. Headaches are frequent and her vision turns blurry at times. She suffers from brain fog, fatigue, memory loss and a chronic sore throat.
Two years after the pandemic hit, Canadians with long COVID say they often feel frustrated as they grapple with the long-term effects of the virus. Experts, meanwhile, say Canada lacks a centralized system of data collection that could help study and treat the condition.
5:20 a.m. Ashis Basu is wondering how many more COVID-19 vaccines he needs to take before he is safe.
The 68-year-old Mississauga resident suffers from diabetes and is considered to be at high risk for severe illness if he caught COVID. Basu, who said he vomited for nearly 13 hours after his third Pfizer vaccine dose, said he will not go for a fourth unless it is recommended by his doctor.
“I’m not going to keep taking it every three to six months. I’d rather wait for them to come out with a long-term vaccine or even an annual vaccine,” Basu said. “If I have to take a fourth to be protected I will, but after that I’m going to wait.”
Vaccines have proven to be essential in the fight against COVID and preventing severe illness and death, but Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla’s recent comment that a fourth dose of the vaccine “is necessary” has made some question whether there is enough data to start mandating another booster.
5:15 a.m. More women have undergone fertility treatment during the pandemic, especially if they’ve been working from home and haven’t had to disclose their health challenges to an employer, says the head of a national advocacy group.
Carolynn Dubé, executive director of Fertility Matters Canada, said clinics across the country have seen a rise in the number of in vitro fertilization, or IVF, procedures in which eggs are fertilized with sperm in a lab before one or more embryos are transferred into the uterus.
The pandemic has also seen a jump in other assisted reproductive procedures like people having their eggs or sperm frozen to have children in the future.
5:05 a.m. A U.S. Senate committee has approved a bipartisan blueprint to overhaul the nation's public health system, applying the lessons of COVID-19 to future outbreaks through a new chain of command, a stronger medical supply chain, and clearer crisis communications.
The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee approved the PREVENT Pandemics Act by a vote of 20-2 Tuesday.
But it's only a first step. If the ambitious vision does eventually pass Congress, lawmakers must still deliver the tens of billions of dollars it will take to translate it into reality and maintain focus after the coronavirus recedes. Right now, Congress is even having trouble meeting a White House request for additional funds to keep COVID-19 at bay the rest of this year.
The bill also calls for a national task force modelled on the 9/11 Commission to investigate what went wrong in the coronavirus response and make recommendations to the president and Congress. And the legislation incorporates creation of a new advanced medical research and development agency _ dubbed ARPA-H _ that President Joe Biden has called for.
5 a.m. Vaccination bookings for children jumped after Ontario’s chief medical officer revealed mandatory masking in schools would be lifted next Monday as kids return to school from March break.
The Ministry of Health said there was a 23 per cent increase in appointments from the previous week for COVID-19 shots for kids aged five to 11 on the provincial booking system following the announcement from Dr. Kieran Moore.
“This sounds like parents might be compensating for a shift in risk levels,” said epidemiologist Todd Coleman of Wilfrid Laurier University. “No masks and a lack of vaccination is clearly not ideal for preventing spread.”
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