Good evening. Going forward, the coronavirus newsletter will be distributed once a week, on Wednesdays.
Top headlines:
- Rich countries should help lower-income countries emerge out of the pandemic, a senior World Health Organization official says
- Canada plans to drop the COVID-19 vaccination requirement for people entering the country by the end of September – and U.S. lawmakers are urging the Biden administration to follow
- As the COVID-19 recovery continues, there have been hopeful signs in recent months that prime-age workers – those aged 25 to 54 – are finally re-entering the labour force in Canada. In America, that cohort of workers is disappearing
An increasing number of health agencies have changed how they're reporting data on the coronavirus. A look at the current numbers in Canada for reported cases, deaths from COVID-19 and for hospitalizations can be found here.
COVID-19 updates from Canada and the world
- Richer nations must not step back from tackling COVID-19 as a global problem now, ahead of future potential waves of infection, a senior World Health Organization official told Reuters. In the last few weeks, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the end of the pandemic was in sight, and U.S President Joe Biden said the pandemic was over. “When I hear them say, ‘Well, we’re so comfortable here,’ it’s like, ‘Great, now you can really help us get the rest of the world done’,” said WHO senior adviser Bruce Aylward.
- The Canadian government plans to drop the COVID-19 vaccination requirement for people who enter Canada by the end of September, the same day it ends random testing of arrivals and makes optional the ArriveCan app, The Globe has learned. In response, U.S. lawmakers are urging the Biden administration to follow Canada’s lead in easing COVID-19 travel restrictions at the northern border. Some critics say they fear the border restrictions have already caused a lasting decrease in cross-border travel.
- People who had COVID-19 are at higher risk for a host of brain injuries a year later, according to a new study. Brain and other neurological disorders occurred in seven per cent more of those who had been infected with COVID-19 compared with a similar group of veterans who had never been infected.
- Nova Scotia is now offering Omicron-targeted COVID-19 vaccines to residents aged 18 and older. Chief medical officer of health Dr. Robert Strang said the province now has capacity to offer the new vaccine to all adults.
- COVID-19 vaccines for children under the age of five have been available for two months already in Ontario, but only about six per cent of those kids have had their first dose. Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Kieran Moore, said that is lower than the number he thought he would see by this point.
- The Manitoba government is expanding access for a COVID-19 bivalent booster to people 18 and older. Those who are eligible were able to start booking appointments on Thursday.
- France’s health authority has cleared two separate COVID-19 bivalent shots to combat the BA.1 version of Omicron and the original virus.
- Hong Kongers returning from abroad will no longer have to quarantine, Chief Executive John Lee announced today.
- Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said earlier this week his country will ease COVID-19 border control requirements next month – a key step in fostering a recovery in Japan’s tourism sector.
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Pandemic recovery
- There’s one large and widening difference between American and Canadian job markets: Millions of prime-working-age Americans – those aged 25 to 54 – are missing from the labour force, even as that same cohort in Canada continues to grow. The pandemic has only exacerbated the opposing trends.
- The number of Canada’s international arrivals increased in July but has yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels, Statistics Canada says. The agency says Canadians made about six times more trips than a year earlier. Like U.S. visitors, however, that number was still below July 2019 levels, with about 64 per cent of that month’s volume.
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Globe opinion
André Picard: Governments got an F for their pandemic responses – but will they learn from their multiple mistakes?
The Editorial Board: Want to help Canada’s overwhelmed health care system? Get your COVID-19 booster shot
First Person: Cancer during COVID-19 freed me to drop the ‘bucket list’ and just live
J. Kelly Nestruck: Are Canadian theatre companies luring audiences (and staff) back this fall?
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More reading
- Japanese office allows dogs as pandemic accelerates shift in work patterns
- Unvaccinated Novak Djokovic awaiting word on Australian Open
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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