Good evening,
The military is getting ready to deploy to remote communities in Canada that get hit with the novel coronavirus, in the same way that teams might go to help deal with a natural disaster.
General Jonathan Vance, Canada’s top soldier, told The Globe that medical teams are prepared to head out to isolated Indigenous and northern communities that might need emergency help.
It’s not clear the extent to which COVID has hit those communities yet – and, in fact, it’s not clear how much the virus has spread within the rest of Canada.
There have been wide discrepancies in how different jurisdictions are reporting and using data about who is tested, the results of testing, and who has died.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised more transparency on the data today, especially when it comes to modelling how the pandemic will evolve.
Have you had to self-quarantine because of the coronavirus? We want to hear your story. Email: tips@globeandmail.com
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
India is home to the largest lockdown in the world, ordered last week by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with only four hours’ notice. The lockdown led the country’s economy to grind immediately to a halt and sparked a nationwide migration as labourers return home from work that may be hundreds of kilometres away. Mr. Modi has said the lockdown will lift in phases on April 14 – but it’s not clear what will happen to the country then.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has gone the opposite way, playing down the threat posed by the virus and urging Brazil’s society to continue as normal. Critics say he is worried that an economic downturn would hurt his re-election chances.
The head of the European Commission has written a letter to Italy, apologizing for the lack of support other European nations provided in the early days of the Italian struggle to contain the pandemic. The Italian death toll is up to nearly 14,000.
The coronavirus is believed to have spread to humans through an animal market in Wuhan, China. So, shortly after the outbreak started, China banned the sale of wild animals. But that ban has had an unintended consequence: monkeys used in medical testing aren’t getting to labs, which might make it more challenging for researchers in other countries to try to find a corona vaccine.
And the National Ballet of Canada is one more arts organization that is cancelling its much-anticipated summer events because of COVID. The company was planning the debut of a new production of Swan Lake in June that would serve as a farewell to long-serving artistic director Karen Kain.
MARKET WATCH
Canada’s main stock index rose on Thursday, helped by gains in energy stocks as oil prices posted their biggest-one day gains on record. The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX Composite index finished up 221.47 points to 13,097.84.
On Wall Street, U.S. stocks jumped on hopes of a truce between Saudi Arabia and Russia in their oil price war. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 466.58 points to end at 21,413.44 points, the S&P 500 gained 56.40 points to 2,526.90 and the Nasdaq Composite added 126.73 points to 7,487.31.
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TALKING POINTS
Ottawa steps forward as COVID-19 crisis puts provinces in desperate straits
“In normal times, provincial governments are dominant players on the federal scene, responsible for the things that matter most in people’s lives: schools, hospitals, highways, welfare. But in times of crisis, the normally weak federal government takes centre stage, because of its greater ability to borrow money and levy taxes.” – John Ibbitson
Hungary’s Viktor Orban is using the coronavirus to push his populist-nationalist agenda
“This global pandemic has been perceived by populist-nationalists as a validation of their views and as justification for their latest draconian policies. The coronavirus, an outside force that is propelled by open borders, hyper-globalization, and carried by ‘others’ such as immigrants or cosmopolitan world-travelling urban elites, is vindication to populist-nationalist calls for sturdier borders to prevent people from bringing the virus into their country.” – Bessma Momani, professor at University of Waterloo
The dangerous legacy of COVID-19: A rise in antimicrobial resistance
“Because COVID-19 is a viral infection that appears as either a mild cough or cold, a pneumonia or even severe sepsis, most patients will receive antibiotics during their treatment, often unnecessarily. As the documented global burden of coronavirus infections nears one million cases (and counting), the consumption of antibiotics will likely rise proportionately. We can safely predict that this will lead to a rise in antimicrobial resistance, which will affect all aspects of health care long after COVID-19 has left us.” – Andrew Morris and Gerry Wright are, respectively, an infectious diseases physician at Sinai Health and the scientific director of the M.G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research and the D. Braley Centre for Antibiotic Discovery at McMaster University in Hamilton.
LIVING BETTER
We could all use a little more positivity in our lives during these challenging times – perhaps none more so than the health-care workers who are on the front line of this conflict. The Globe and Mail is collecting kind words from readers that we will share with the nurses, doctors and others trying to keep us safe. You can send us your messages here or email audience@globeandmail.com.
TONIGHT’S SPECIAL SHOW
You may not be able to go out to see a concert right now, but there’s no reason the concert can’t come to you. The Globe and Mail is presenting a special live performance by celebrated singer-songwriter Joel Plaskett that will be streaming on our Facebook page tonight at 8 p.m. EDT. See you there.
Evening Update is written by Chris Hannay. If you’d like to receive this newsletter by e-mail every weekday evening, go here to sign up. If you have any feedback, send us a note.
Chris Hannay