Good evening, here are the COVID-19 updates you need to know tonight.
Top headlines:
- After nearly two years, families were reunited at airports as the United States lifted the travel ban first imposed in the beginning of the pandemic
- Fully vaccinated Canadians jammed land borders as the United States finally eased travel restrictions
- During a Liberal caucus meeting Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau criticized federal Conservatives on COVID-19 vaccinations
In the past seven days, 16,446 cases were reported, up 4 per cent from the previous seven days.
There were 169 deaths announced, down 22 per cent over the same period. At least 1,675 people are being treated in hospitals.
Canada’s inoculation rate is 15th among countries with a population of one million or more people.
Sources: Canada data is compiled from government websites, Johns Hopkins and COVID-19 Canada Open Data Working Group; international data is from Johns Hopkins University.
Coronavirus explainers: Coronavirus in maps and charts • Tracking vaccine doses • Lockdown rules and reopening
Photo of the day
Roberta Pavei Gibson is greeted by her husband Christopher and their dog, Choo Choo, after she arrived on a flight from London to Boston today. The U.S. reopened air and land borders to vaccinated travellers for the first time since COVID-19 restrictions were imposed.BRIAN SNYDER/Reuters
Coronavirus in Canada
- Many parents in British Columbia are frustrated and confused why school staff aren’t required to be vaccinated, while health care workers, government employees and youth sports coaches were given vaccine mandates.
- Two elementary schools will be closed on Prince Edward Island today after two children tested positive for COVID-19.
- In Ontario, COVID-19 cases are on the rise again amid cooling temperatures and the lifting of capacity limits, according to experts.
- Quebec is reporting 531 new cases of COVID-19 today and four more deaths attributed to COVID-19.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau assailed the federal Conservatives for their stand on COVID-19 vaccinations at the Liberal caucus meeting today.
- “Even as Canadians are continuing to get vaccinated at record rates, the Conservatives are actually moving backward. More and more Conservatives are now stepping up to stand against vaccinations, to stand against science,” Justin Trudeau told the first Liberal caucus meeting since the election.
Canada-U.S. border: Southbound travel restrictions finally began to ease today along the Canada-U.S. border, for the first time since March, 2020.
Coronavirus around the world
- Britain will add China’s Sinovac and India’s Covaxin to its approved list of vaccines for inbound travellers
- The European Union is negotiating with U.S.-based pharmaceutical companies Merck and Pfizer over possible contracts to supply their experimental antiviral COVID-19 drugs
Coronavirus and business
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell says the pandemic recession has had an unusually harmful economic effect on women, who have been forced to shoulder additional responsibilities for child care, forcing many of them to leave work.
- When the pandemic recession struck in March, 2020, women, who were more likely to hold front-line jobs in health care, at grocery stores and in other public-facing industries, suffered greater job losses than men.
- Women, particularly mothers of young children, are still less likely to be working or looking for work than are fathers or women without children.
Also today: The lifting of the COVID-19 travel restrictions in the United States is a boon for airlines, but that alone won’t be enough for carriers whose profits depend on filling the most expensive seats.
Globe opinion
- André Picard: Will COVID-19 spending data finally force us to take home care seriously?
- Nili Kaplan-Myrth: As a doctor promoting vaccination, I live in fear
- Vanessa Chiasson: We need a vaccination document that is truly global
More reporting
- In a late-stage trial, Regeneron’s antibody drug shows protection against COVID-19 for up to eight months
- The Ottawa Senators cancelled their Monday practice over COVID-19 concerns
- Fully vaccinated Canadians can cross the Canada-U.S. land border for non-essential travel for the first time in nearly 20 months, but testing requirements remain an issue
Information centre
- Everything you need to know about Canada’s travel restrictions for vaccinated and unvaccinated people
- Waiting for a second dose? We answer your COVID-19 vaccine questions
- What is and isn’t ‘paid sick leave’ in Canada? A short primer
- Got a vaccine ‘hangover’? Here’s why
Sources: Canada data are compiled from government websites, Johns Hopkins University and COVID-19 Canada Open Data Working Group; international data are from Johns Hopkins.
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