Health Minister Christine Elliott said Ontario has “plateaued at a very high level.” On Wednesday, she also said case numbers went up after lockdowns were enacted in certain regions “largely because of some of the events in certain communities.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government will be ready to deploy COVID-19 vaccines to Canadians soon after they are approved by Health Canada. He says four promising vaccine candidates are currently under review. 5:04
The latest:
- Alberta asks federal government, Red Cross for field hospitals as COVID spreads.
- Manitoba students in grades 7 to 12 will shift to remote learning for 2 weeks following winter break.
- Quebec hospitals are filling up, and doctors worry Christmas gatherings could push them over the edge.
- Ontario reports 1,723 new COVID-19 cases, 35 more deaths.
- Arviat, Nunavut, remains under lockdown as restrictions lifted elsewhere in territory.
- U.K. approves Pfizer vaccine for emergency use.
- Health minister says Ottawa’s review of Pfizer vaccine expected to be completed soon.
- Health-care workers, nursing home residents should get vaccine first, U.S. government panel advises.
- Italians barred from midnight mass over Christmas.
- From the efficacy of vaccines to seeing relatives over the holidays: Experts answer your questions on COVID-19.
- Have a coronavirus question or news tip for CBC News? Email us at [email protected]
Ontario reported more than 1,700 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, as the province’s health minister said the results of lockdowns in Toronto and surrounding regions won’t be seen until next week.
Health Minister Christine Elliott said Ontario has “plateaued at a very high level.” She also said case numbers went up after lockdowns were enacted in certain regions “largely because of some of the events in certain communities.”
Continued high infection levels in Canada’s most populous province come as Manitoba’s top doctor announced a record of 315 people in hospital with the illness on Wednesday.
Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin said the figures are too high for Manitoba’s health-care system to sustain, even as the number of new cases began to stabilize.
“We can’t rest at these numbers, even though we’ve seen some minor improvements,” Roussin told a news conference on Wednesday.
“We still have too much strain on our ICUs and hospitals and too much strain on our health-care professionals.”
Fourteen more people with COVID-19 have died in Manitoba, Roussin said, while another 277 have contracted the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.
Separately, Ottawa should soon complete its regulatory review of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine candidate, Health Minister Patty Hajdu said on Wednesday.
The news that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has been approved in the U.K. is encouraging. Health Canada’s review of this candidate is ongoing, and is expected to be completed soon. 2/
—@PattyHajdu
Hajdu posted her comment on Twitter shortly after Britain approved the candidate. Pfizer developed the vaccine with its German partner BioNTech SE.
Health Canada is reviewing vaccine candidates from Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson but has yet to approve any of them.
What’s happening across Canada
As of 6:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Canada’s COVID-19 case count stood at 389,775, with 67,564 of those cases considered active. A CBC News tally of deaths based on provincial reports, regional health information and CBC’s reporting stood at 12,325.
British Columbia reported 834 new cases Wednesday, back up from 656 Tuesday. The province also reported 12 new deaths, bringing the provincial death toll to 457. Health officials said there were 336 people in hospital, including 76 in intensive care.
WATCH | COVID-19 returns to B.C. nursing homes, death toll rises:
British Columbia has seen more COVID-19 deaths over the past two weeks than the preceding two months because the virus has found its way back into nursing homes. And with long-term care workers exhausted and families frustrated, it’s not clear what can be done. 1:54
In Alberta, where hospital capacity is stretched as COVID-19 cases soar, the province has reached out to the federal government and the Canadian Red Cross for help to supply field hospitals, CBC News has learned.
Alberta reported 1,685 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday and 10 more deaths.The total number of active cases in the province reached 17,144, an increase of 516 from the day before. A total of 561 people in Alberta have now died from the disease since the start of the pandemic.
WATCH | Nunavut town must keep strict measures to stop COVID-19 as restrictions lifted elsewhere:
Nunavut’s chief public health officer, Dr. Michael Patterson, warns Arviat needs to keep its tight restrictions to stop the spread of COVID-19. 1:04
In Saskatchewan, health officials reported 181 new cases of COVID-19 and four additional deaths, bringing the provincial death toll to 51.
Calls to get remanded prisoners, some offenders out of Saskatoon jail intensify
The province’s minister of corrections said she doesn’t know how COVID-19 arrived in the Saskatoon Provincial Correctional Centre, which is dealing with a growing outbreak that has led to well over 100 cases among inmates, as well as several infections among staff.
Manitoba on Wednesday reported there are 351 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 51 in intensive care, marking yet another new record. The province also announced that students in grades 7 to 12 will shift to remote learning for two weeks following the winter break as part of efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
WATCH | Small-business owner in Toronto region calls out unfairness of lockdown:
Toronto retailer Sydney Mamane says small businesses that have been locked down in Toronto and Peel Region because of COVID-19 are facing ‘carnage’ by missing out on the holiday shopping season. 2:09
Ontario on Wednesday reported 1,723 new cases of COVID-19, with 500 cases in Peel Region and 410 in Toronto. Health Minister Elliott said in a tweet that 44,200 tests had been completed.
- Retailers call on Ontario to open non-essential stores, say restrictions aren’t working
Health officials also reported 35 additional deaths, bringing the provincial death toll to 3,698.
Hospitalizations increased to 656, with 183 people in intensive care units, according to a provincial dashboard.
Health officials in Quebec on Wednesday reported 1,514 new cases of COVID-19 and 43 additional deaths.
Hospitalizations increased to 740, with 99 patients being treated in intensive care units.
WATCH | What doctors are learning about COVID-19 ‘long-haulers’:
Researchers are learning more about why some people who get a mild case of COVID-19 end up experiencing other symptoms for months. Doctors say these so-called long-haulers often have symptoms that resemble a common blood circulation disorder known as POTS. 4:10
Premier François Legault warned Tuesday that the province’s plan to allow gatherings for four days around Christmas is at risk as the number of hospitalizations in the province reached their highest level since June.
“We’re not going in the right direction,” Legault said at a press conference in Quebec City. “If hospitalizations continue to increase, it will be difficult to take that risk.”
In Atlantic Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador reported one new case of COVID-19 on Wednesday.
N.L. has 1 new case of COVID-19. A man, between the ages of 20 and 39, in the Eastern Health region.
It is travel-related.
N.L. has 30 active cases. #cbcnl #covid19nfld
—@CBCNL
Seventeen new cases of COVID-19 were identified in Nova Scotia on Wednesday. According to the province’s numbers, there were also 32 recoveries since Tuesday. There are currently 127 active cases in Nova Scotia.
New Brunswick reported six new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, pushing the number of active cases to 119 with none in the hospital. There were no new cases in Prince Edward Island.
There were 11 new cases of COVID-19 reported on Wednesday in Nunavut, which is at the end of a two-week lockdown period that covered the entire territory. All of the new cases were reported in Arviat, where tight public health restrictions are still in effect.
Nunavut reports 11 new cases of COVID-19, all in Arviat.
Meanwhile, the total number of active cases continues to drop, now down to 80.
GN to hold a news conference at the top of the hour. pic.twitter.com/hcz7NmmAs7
—@NickMurray91
The Northwest Territories and Yukon had no new cases on Tuesday.
What’s happening around the world
From The Associated Press and Reuters, last updated at 3:45 p.m. ET
As of early Wednesday afternoon, there were more than 64 million reported cases of COVID-19 worldwide, with more than 41.2 million of those listed as recovered or resolved, according to a tracking tool maintained by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University. The global death toll stood at well over 1.4 million.
In Europe, British regulators insisted that “no corners have been cut” during the assessment of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by U.S. drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech, which was cleared for emergency use on Wednesday.
WATCH | U.K. first country to approve Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine:
Pfizer and BioNTech say they’ve won permission for emergency use of their COVID-19 vaccine in the United Kingdom. British media reports suggest vaccinations for medical workers could start as early as next week. 4:32
In a briefing after the U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency became the first regulator worldwide to approve the vaccine, its chair, Dr. June Raine, said the public can be “absolutely confident” that its standards are equivalent to those anywhere in the world.
Regulators also revealed the order by which the vaccine will be rolled out across the country over the coming weeks and months, beginning next week. The U.K. has ordered about 40 million doses of the vaccine, which can potentially immunize 20 million people, as two doses are required.
Residents in nursing homes and their caregivers will be offered the vaccine first, followed by those 80 and over and front-line health- and social- care workers. From there, the priority plan largely follows age groups.
According to Munir Pirmohamed, chair of a medicines panel, immunity begins seven days after the second dose.
U.K. approves Pfizer coronavirus vaccine for emergency use
British lawmakers approved new coronavirus restrictions in England that take effect Wednesday, but many Conservative lawmakers are unhappy about the economic consequences.
The Spanish government has agreed with regional authorities that up to 10 people will be allowed to gather in households for the Christmas and New Year holidays to avoid spreading the coronavirus, Health Minister Salvador Illa said on Wednesday.
Italians will not be able to attend midnight mass or move between regions over the Christmas period, a top Health Ministry official said on Wednesday, as the country battles high coronavirus infection rates and deaths. Italy has been reporting more daily COVID-19 fatalities than any other European nation in recent weeks.
Russia and Germany both reported record numbers of daily coronavirus deaths, with 580 deaths reported in Russia and 487 in Germany.
- Russia says its COVID vaccine is 95% effective. So why is there still Western resistance to it?
With more than 2.3 million infections, Russia has the fourth-largest number of COVID-19 cases in the world behind the United States, India and Brazil.
President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian authorities on Wednesday to begin mass voluntary vaccinations against COVID-19 next week as Russia recorded 589 new daily deaths from the coronavirus. Russia will have produced two million vaccine doses within the next few days, Putin said.
In the Asia-Pacific region, South Korean officials are urging people to remain at home if possible and cancel gatherings large and small as about half a million students prepared for a crucial national college exam.
Vice-Education Minister Park Baeg-beom says the 490,000 applicants so far include 35 virus carriers who will take exams Thursday at hospitals or treatment shelters. Education authorities have also prepared separate venues for some 400 applicants currently under self-quarantine.
Applicants will be required to wear masks and maintain distance from each other. They will be screened for fever and take exams separately if they have symptoms.
Pakistan reported 75 new COVID-19 deaths Wednesday, one of the highest fatalities from coronavirus in recent months, prompting government to launch a week-long campaign beginning Saturday to urge people to wear masks.
The government, however, has ruled out re-imposing a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the virus, which has killed 8,166 people and infected 403,311 in Pakistan.
Pakistan flattened the curve in August but currently it is facing a lethal new surge of infections.
In the Americas, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned on Wednesday that the COVID-19 pandemic, raging with unprecedented fury nationwide, will pose the country’s grimmest health crisis yet over the next few months, before vaccines become widely available.
“The reality is that December, January and February are going to be rough times,” Dr. Robert Redfield, the CDC’s director, said in a live-stream presentation hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. “I actually believe they’re going to be the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation.” More than 270,000 Americans have perished from COVID-19 to date.
How close are we to a vaccine for COVID-19?
Indigenous people, health workers and those aged 75 years and older will be at the front of the line to be vaccinated, Brazil’s Health Ministry said as it unveiled a four-stage preliminary plan for national immunization.
In Mexico, the government was expected to sign a contract on Wednesday with pharmaceutical company Pfizer for the delivery of its vaccine.
In Africa, South Africa’s reported COVID-19 case numbers stood at more than 792,000 on Wednesday. The country, which has seen more reported cases than any other nation in Africa, has seen more than 21,000 deaths.
Iran, the hardest-hit nation in the Middle East, was approaching 990,000 cases of COVID-19 and 49,000 deaths.