The latest:
More Ontarians living in designated hot spots for the delta COVID-19 variant are eligible to book earlier second vaccine doses starting today.
Health units covering Toronto, Peel, Halton, Porcupine, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph, Waterloo and York, Hamilton, Simcoe-Muskoka and Durham are considered hot spots for the more infectious virus variant.
People in those health units who received a first dose of an mRNA vaccine on or before May 30 can move up their second shots today.
The province says sometime next week, all adults who received a first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna's product can book a second appointment as soon as 28 days after their initial shot.
Second doses were initially booked four months after the first in Ontario but the province is shortening that timeline as more vaccine is expected to arrive in the province.
Despite the risk of the delta variant, even in some of the hardest-hit regions, health officials are seeing people walk away from appointments to receive Moderna as their second dose, choosing instead to wait for Pfizer.
Dr. Lawrence Loh, medical officer of health for Peel Region, likens such a move to waiting for your preferred airline to fly off an island that is sinking.
Premier Doug Ford's cabinet voted Wednesday afternoon to move the province's reopening plans up by two days, shifting the province to Phase 2 on June 30. Hair salons and other personal services are among the businesses that will be allowed to reopen with restrictions after being closed since November.
Health officials in Ontario on Wednesday reported 11 additional deaths and 255 new cases of COVID-19.
In Quebec, meanwhile, second dose eligibility opened up to all adults in the province on Wednesday.
Health officials in Quebec on Wednesday reported three additional deaths and 127 new cases of COVID-19. The update came a day after Premier François Legault announced that more restrictions will be eased as of Friday.
WATCH | Loh urges people not to snub Moderna:
![](https://thumbnails.cbc.ca/maven_legacy/thumbnails/254/139/loh_frame_1224.jpg?crop=1.777xh:h;*,*&downsize=510px:*%20510w")
-From The Canadian Press, last updated at 1:50 p.m. ET
What's happening across Canada
As of 5:45 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Canada had reported 1,410,843 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 9,682 considered active. A CBC News tally of deaths stood at 26,174. More than 33.4 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered so far across the country, according to CBC's vaccine tracker.
All four Atlantic provinces' premiers are meeting today to discuss a blockade of the Trans-Canada Highway at the New Brunswick-Nova Scotia boundary.
Protesters angry with Nova Scotia's decision to exclude New Brunswick when it lifted COVID-19 self-isolation requirements today for residents of P.E.I. and Newfoundland and Labrador brought traffic to a standstill.
WATCH | Protest over entry rules at Nova Scotia-New Brunswick border:
![](https://thumbnails.cbc.ca/maven_legacy/thumbnails/686/347/QUE_OPEN.jpg?crop=1.777xh:h;*,*&downsize=510px:*%20510w")
Nova Scotia Premier Iain Rankin said the extra measures are necessary because of New Brunswick's decision last week to allow Canadian travellers with at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine to enter the province without having to self-isolate. New Brunswick's chief medical officer of health defended that move today.
"We took this action because it was what we said we would do when we set out on our path to green last month," said Dr. Jennifer Russell, during a COVID-19 briefing. "We did not act in haste, or without due consideration for the safety of New Brunswickers."
In Atlantic Canada on Wednesday, Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia both reported no new cases of COVID-19, while New Brunswick reported one. Health officials in Prince Edward Island had not yet reported updated figures for the day.
Across the North on Wednesday, there were no new cases reported in Nunavut or the Northwest Territories. Health officials in Yukon hadn't provided updated information for the day.
Manitoba, which reported 123 new cases of COVID-19 and three additional deaths on Wednesday, announced that its reopening would move ahead earlier than planned.
ALSO:<br>▶️Large-scale, outdoor professional sports or performing arts events may also allow fully immunized Manitobans to attend, subject to approval by Public Health. The province will work with organizations to implement proof of vaccination protocols for these events.
—@ianfroese
Premier Brian Pallister said vaccination goals have been surpassed, so some restrictions will be loosened Saturday — a week earlier than planned. More than 71 per cent of Manitobans have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and about 27 per cent have had a second dose.
Saskatchewan, meanwhile, reported one new death and 32 new cases on Wednesday. The seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases reported in the province is 61, which is its lowest since October 2020.
WATCH | What can people do as Quebec reopens? Get the details:
![](https://thumbnails.cbc.ca/maven_legacy/thumbnails/132/67/NS_NB_BORDER.jpg?crop=1.777xh:h;*,*&downsize=510px:*%20510w")
In Alberta, health officials on Wednesday reported two deaths and 92 new cases of COVID-19. Premier Jason Kenney is clashing with Calgary Mayor Neheed Nenshi over the provincial government's plans to lift the mask mandate as of July 1.
Nenshi says wearing a mask is about protecting others, particularly those workers who would come into contact with many maskless people over the course of a day. Kenney says he is following the advice of the chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, and not "following angry voices on Twitter."
"I would encourage every municipality to respect the expert advice that we are receiving and to not confuse the public but rather maintain consistency between the provincial and municipal governments," he said.
In British Columbia, health officials said Tuesday that more than one million people in the province had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The news came as the province reported no new deaths and 56 additional cases of COVID-19.
-From CBC News and The Canadian Press, last updated at 4 p.m. ET
What's happening around the world
As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 179.2 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to the data reported by Johns Hopkins University's case tracking tool. The reported global death toll stood at more than 3.8 million.
In the Middle East, Abu Dhabi is offering tourists free COVID-19 vaccinations, previously restricted to United Arab Emirates citizens and residency visa holders.
Israel has postponed its planned July 1 reopening of the country to vaccinated tourists over concerns about the spread of the infectious delta variant of the coronavirus.
In Europe, a spokesperson for Angela Merkel says the German chancellor received two different vaccines in a conscious effort to encourage people not to be afraid if they are advised to get a mix of shots. Merkel's office confirmed Tuesday that the 66-year-old received a first shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine on April 16. For the second, she received Moderna.
A telephone line set up to allow people in the Netherlands to book a Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccination has been overwhelmed with callers. The J&J single-dose shot had largely been removed from the Dutch COVID-19 vaccination program because of the tiny risk of an extremely rare blood clotting disorder. But the government has about 200,000 J&J shots available over the next two weeks and is making them available to the public on a first-come-first-served basis.
In the Americas, Colombia reached 100,000 confirmed deaths from COVID-19 this week, becoming just the tenth country in the world to hit the unwanted milestone.
The South American nation of 50 million has been registering a growing number of daily cases since April, and over the past seven days it had the world's third-highest per capita death rate from COVID-19, according to data published by Oxford University and Johns Hopkins University's COVID tracker.
In Africa, the WHO said Tuesday that the number of reported cases on the continent had risen to more than 5.2 million, with more than 137,000 deaths. South Africa, the hardest-hit country on the continent, reported more than 11,000 new cases on Tuesday.
22 June 2021 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19</a> statistics in South Africa Total number of positive cases 1 843 572. Total number of new cases 11 093. Number of daily deaths 297 and cumulative number of total deaths 59 092 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CoronaVirusSA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CoronaVirusSA</a> <a href="https://t.co/f0h2N5MVrQ">https://t.co/f0h2N5MVrQ</a>
—@HealthZA
In the Asia-Pacific region, India's vaccinations over the next few weeks could fall short of the pace set on the first day of a federal campaign, experts said.
Australia's most-populous state reported its biggest daily increase in cases in nearly a week, while New Zealand paused quarantine-free travel with the state.
-From The Associated Press, Reuters and CBC News, last updated at 2 p.m. ET
Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world on Wednesday - CBC.ca
Read More
No comments:
Post a Comment