Coronavirus Update: Key chemical reaches Canada to help ramp up wide-scale COVID-19 testing

Good evening, here are the coronavirus updates you need to know tonight.

Top headlines:

1. New Brunswick biotech company receives its latest shipment of key chemical it needs to ramp up wide-scale COVID-19 testing
2. Clinical trials to begin as Oxford researchers race to develop vaccine
3. Ottawa creates new benefit to help students, recent graduates without summer jobs due to pandemic
4. Ontario says it will develop a plan to test everyone in long-term care homes for COVID-19

Coronavirus explainers: Updates and essential resources • Coronavirus in maps and charts • The rules in each province

Photo of the day

Open this photo in gallery:

Number of the day

1 in 3

More than one-third of hospital admissions related to COVID-19 are under the age of 60, according to a report by the Public Health Agency of Canada.

• The report underscores warnings about the risks COVID-10 poses to younger people, and a potential second wave of illness across the country.

According to the report, which is based on data from a subset of the total number of patients hospitalized as a result of COVID-19:

• 35 per cent of those admitted are under the age of 60.
• 36 per cent of those admitted to the ICU as a result of the disease are under the age of 60.
• People over the age of 60 represent about two-thirds of hospital and ICU admissions and about 95 per cent of deaths in Canada.

While there are signs the curve is flattening, hundreds of new infections are being identified each day – meaning COVID-19 continues to pose a serious health threat.

Coronavirus in Canada

39,807 cases have been reported, more than double the number from 14 days ago. There have also been 13,901 recoveries and 1,966 deaths. Health officials have administered 633,855 tests.

• At a elementary school in Surrey, British Columbia, educators are finding creative ways to teach the children of essential workers. With May rent due soon, landlords in the province are looking to various levels of government for relief programs.
• In Quebec, François Legault has asked the federal government for 1,000 Canadian Armed Forces members to help staff long-term care homes. Already, 130 members with medical training are committed to care homes.
• In Ontario, Doug Ford is also asking the federal government to provide army members to work in the province’s care homes. The province will detail a plan to test everyone in a long-term care home. At least 399 residents and a personal-support workers have died from COVID-19.
• Nova Scotia reported two additional deaths in care homes, and 35 new cases.

In Ottawa, Justin Trudeau announced a new benefit of $1,250 a month for students and recent graduates. The aid package will total $9-billion.

• The program will run from May to August for students whose summer job prospects have all but disappeared.
• The benefit will be increased to $1,750 where students have dependents or live with a disability.

Another new aid measure will provide between $1,000 to $5,000 for student volunteers who are working in programs related to COVID-19.​

Parliament will again be recalled to pass enabling legislation. Previously, the government suspended federal student loan repayments and interest until Sept. 30.

Also: Despite the fact two Canadian cargo planes returned empty of supplies from China, a New Brunswick biotech company has received its latest shipment of the key chemical that it says it needs to ramp up wide-scale COVID-19 testing.

• The chemical reagent was among the supplies on four other cargo planes that managed to leave China fully loaded with medical supplies, including N95 respirators, surgical masks and gowns. The reagent has been sent to Fredericton’s LuminUltra.
• The ingredient needed in tests for COVID-19 has been in short supply in the highly competitive and strained global market.

Wide-scale testing to determine COVID-19’s spread is a seen a key prerequisite for any decision to reduce the government-imposed lockdowns to control the pandemic.

Coronavirus around the world

2,594,286 cases confirmed around the world; with 698,108 recoveries and 179,736 deaths reported.

• With levels of industrial production, shipping, and transportation drastically reduced around the world due to coronavirus, scientists are recording lower smog and air pollution, from Europe to India and China.
• Researchers at England’s University of Oxford have teamed up with global manufacturers to produce one million doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine that will begin clinical trials on Thursday.
• Germany has entered a gradual reopening of their economy, but the government is still encouraging residents to be cautious and practise physical distancing.
• Watch: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced a call for an inquiry into his government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis after failing to fully explain partial death data, limited testing or the lack of equipment for hospitals.
• WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus encouraged the Trump administration to not withhold funding, but said the organization’s main focus was on ending the pandemic.

And: The coronavirus pandemic is expected to drive carbon dioxide emissions down 6 per cent this year, the head of the World Meteorological Organization said, in what would be the biggest yearly drop since the Second World War.

Coronavirus and business

Metro reported a $125-million spike in sales in the first two weeks of March, as Canadians across the country responded to self-isolation measures. The grocery chain’s second quarter earnings, released today, show the initial sales impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

• Same-store sales were up 25 per cent in the four weeks from March 15 to April 11, compared with the same time last year.
• Last week, Sobeys’s parent company released a report that said its same-store sales surged by 37 per cent in the four weeks starting March 8.

Same-store sales growth is usually reported in the low single digits.

Also today: Grocery retailers are rolling out e-commrece solutions for seniors and vulnerable shoppers.

• Metro will give priority e-commerce access to seniors and other vulnerable shoppers.
• In Western Canada, Save-On-Foods added online slots for seniors or front-line workers.
• Walmart launched a pilot program allowing seniors to order by phone.
• Inabuggy, an online grocery delivery service, announced a dedicated morning deliveries for seniors and those with medical conditions.

Question and answer

Question: How should you work from home?

Answer: Experts say separating a home office from living areas is important and that means not using your laptop on the couch or using your dining room table as a makeshift desk, if possible.

Toronto-based interior designer Laura Stein says natural light from windows is another must-have to avoid eye strain and depression.

Ashley Vancardo, an instructor at the Interior Design Institute of Canada, says as physical distancing and self-isolation practices continue into the future, people may have to consider upgrading their home office equipment, which includes ditching the dining room chair for an ergonomic option.

• See how seven designers and tastemakers set up their WFH stations, along with their tips to stay focused.
• Five style makers share the outfits they’ve been donning while working from home.
• How working from home during this pandemic could provide tax savings

The Globe’s health columnist André Picard answered reader questions on social distancing and many additional topics.

Act of kindness

On a street in north Toronto, people opened their front doors and found a note. It asked them to mix a drink, grab a lawn chair and head out to their front lawns at 5 p.m. At the appointed hour, with the residents waving to each other from a safe distance, they watched as a dapper looking gentleman dressed in a kilt walked slowly up the street belting out tunes such as Auld Lang Syne, Scotland the Brace and Amazing Grace on his bagpipes. The performance lasted about half an hour but brought smiles to everyone on the street who high-fived (from a distance) Frank and Carrie Sullivan at #57. – Gayle MacDonald

Have you witnessed or performed acts of kindness in your neighbourhood? Share your stories, photos and videos and they might be included in The Globe and Mail. Email audience@globeandmail.com

Distractions

🎧For the podcast fan.

Open this photo in gallery:

Three new podcast episodes to inform and relax this week:

• Toronto comedian Chris Locke bills Happy Good with Chris Locke as a “positively weird podcast to make you feel happy and good about yourself.”
• The U.S.-based Coronavirus Morning Report is your daily diary on all things novel coronavirus, delivered hurriedly but with no alarm by the Brooklyn-based Brian McCullough.
• For decades, Canadian artists and music writers have been well served by the good-natured professionalism of Canadian record-label communications man Steve Waxman. Now everybody else can enjoy his congeniality with his podcast The Creationists.

More Globe reporting and opinion

• During difficult times, here’s how to retain top talent
• “It’s too late”: Many small businesses are opting to close permanently, rather than wait out the coronavirus lockdown
• Rogers withdrew its financial guidance and reported a drop in its first-quarter earnings and revenue [For subscribers]
• André Picard: Effective testing in the wider community needs to clear two hefty hurdles: the spotty quality of tests and lack of availability.
• Rob Carrick: “This year’s crop of university and college grads are among the hardest hit. They’re graduating, many of them with considerable student debt, into an economy that will have almost no use for them.”
• Konrad Yakabuski: “The tragedies now unfolding at Quebec’s long-term care and seniors’ homes, makes Premier Legault’s election promise sound like a cruel joke. His government has yet to break ground on a single Maison des ainés, while thousands of CHSLD residents suffer from intolerable neglect.” [For subscribers]

Information centre

• Here’s what you should do if you are newly laid off; how to apply for CERB, EI, and other financial benefits; and other coronavirus and employment questions answered.
• How to minimize damage to your credit score; how to manage retirement anxiety during difficult times; and things to think about if you’re considering home delivery.
• Here are the expectations for self-isolation; tips for managing anxiety; and protecting your mental health.
• How to get social distancing right; measures condo buildings are taking to encourage social distancing; and what you can do to help slow the spread of coronavirus.
• Here are the essentials to stock up on and how to shop safely for groceries; the best pantry staples; foods to eat to maintain an immune system-friendly diet; and how to keep a healthy diet while working from home.
• How to break a bad habit (like touching your face) and what to do if you think you have the virus.

What are we missing? Email us: audience@globeandmail.com. Do you know someone who needs this newsletter? Send them to our Newsletters page.

Have questions about the coronavirus? Email audience@globeandmail.com.