Good evening, these are the top coronavirus headlines tonight:
Top headlines:
- Here are five things to watch to determine how Canada will cope with COVID-19 in the coming months
- Two Canadian tech firms held a hackathon over the weekend where each independently recreated the ArriveCan app – illustrating that the Canadian government overpaid for the $54-million mobile software
- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is clarifying comments she made yesterday that suggested unvaccinated people have experienced the most discrimination
COVID-19 updates from Canada and the world
- The Globe and Mail spoke with several experts about what to watch for when determining how Canada will cope with COVID-19 during the fall and winter. These are the five factors to watch during the colder months.
- Canada’s tech community reacted with outrage after The Globe and Mail reported last week that total spending on creating and maintaining the ArriveCan app is on pace to exceed $54-million this year, which is more than double what the government had recently said was spent. In response, two tech companies held weekend hackathons to illustrate that ArriveCan could have been made cheaply and quickly.
- Health Canada approved Canadians ages 12 and up for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 booster vaccine that targets the BA.4 and BA.5 strains of the Omicron variant last Friday. The Moderna combination shot approved five weeks ago targets the original virus and the first Omicron variant, while the Pfizer shot authorized last week targets the BA.4 and BA.5 strains.
- Novavax said today that the booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine produced robust antibodies against several Omicron variants, including BA.1, BA.2 and BA.5, according to data from recent studies.
- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is walking back comments she made on her first day as premier that suggested unvaccinated people have experienced the most discrimination she has ever seen in her lifetime. In a statement posted on Twitter today, Smith said she didn’t mean to “trivialize in any way the discrimination faced by minority communities and other persecuted groups.”
- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday broadened access to updated coronavirus booster shots to include children as young as 5, hoping to bolster protection against the now-dominant version of the virus.
- A new COVID-19 wave appears to be brewing in Europe as cooler weather arrives, with public-health experts warning that vaccine fatigue and confusion over types of available vaccines will likely limit booster uptake.
- The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations is increasing across Quebec, but the rise is not as rapid as in previous waves and is not being felt in intensive care units, Health Minister Christian Dube said today.
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Pandemic recovery
- As Canada moves out of the COVID-19 pandemic era, new data from commercial real estate firm Avison Young shows a steady increase in foot traffic across the country, as more people return to the office, shop in-store, head back to class, and venture out for events.
- Private schools in Canada performed better during the pandemic, with the least disruption to learning routines because they were more likely to have resources in place prior to the outbreak that proved vital to maintaining academic achievement during the disruption. In comparison, results from other jurisdictions globally show a significant decline in academic performance during the pandemic. A recent report published by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, for example, found reading scores among nine-year-olds in the United States declined by the largest margin in more than 30 years. Math scores, meanwhile, declined for the first time since the agency began tracking student achievement in the 1970s.
- Japan is counting on the return of foreign tourists to help boost the economy after the pandemic forced many businesses to close over the past two and a half years.
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Globe opinion
André Picard: Should we brace for a new COVID-19 wave this fall?
Iris Gorfinkel: Canada isn’t making the most of its family doctors’ time in the face of critical shortages
George Veletsianos: We need to get online learning right before the next crisis hits
Gus Carlson: Dear remote workers: You’re the first to go in recession layoffs
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More reading
- New spin on parking spaces during pandemic reaps benefits
- Small Yukon First Nation bans sex offender using its COVID-19 emergency law
- 400,000 fewer mammograms performed during pandemic: Ontario Medical Association
- On Thanksgiving, some families divided by the pandemic think of ways to mend fences
Information centre
- Everything you need to know about Canada’s travel rules for vaccinated and unvaccinated people
- When will COVID-19 be endemic? The four factors that will shape the virus’s future
- Wastewater is filling the COVID-19 data gap
Thank you for subscribing to our Coronavirus Update Newsletter. As the pandemic eases, we plan to wind this down and eventually cease sending, but have many other newsletters to keep you informed, including Globe Climate, Carrick on Money and Breaking News.
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