11:30 a.m. More than half of Canadians are afraid to go back to their workplaces, new research shows.
10:30 a.m. For the fourth consecutive day, Ontario is reporting fewer than 100 cases, with 95 cases today.
9:25 a.m. The House of Commons’ committee probing the government’s ill-fated deal with WE Charity will hear this morning from a charity watchdog organization.
The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Thursday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
6:25 p.m.: Alberta’s chief medical officer of health says the province is seeing a downward trend of COVID-19 cases, with fewer than 100 reported each day over the last week.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Thursday that there were 56 new coronavirus cases and two new deaths.
She says one of the deaths was at the Good Samaritan Society Southgate Care Centre in Edmonton, where 25 people have died.
A COVID-19 outbreak began in the facility on July 17 and is now considered the deadliest one in the province.
The centre says on its site that there are 36 active cases among residents and 20 active cases in employees.
Hinshaw says there are 76 people in hospital with the virus in Alberta, with 19 in intensive care.
Since the beginning of the pandemic in early March, 205 people have died in Alberta.
5:30 p.m.: As of 5 p.m. Thursday, Ontario’s regional health units are reporting a total of 41,845 confirmed or probable cases of COVID-19, including 2,821 deaths, up 85 new infections and deaths in 24 hours.
The province continues to be at its lowest rate of new infections since well before the pandemic first peaked in Ontario in the spring. Ontario has averaged 94 cases per day over the last seven days, down from a peak of nearly 600 daily, seen in mid-April.
On Thursday, just three health reported more than 10 new cases: Toronto with 21, Ottawa at 19, and Peel Region at 13. All three have seen among the most new infections in the province since late July.
Meanwhile, 22 of Ontario’s other 31 health units reported no new cases Thursday.
Chatham-Kent remains the only area of the province that’s currently experiencing its worst rate of infection since the beginning of the pandemic — a still-relatively low 9.3 cases per day over the last week.
The vast majority of the province’s COVID-19 patients have since recovered; the province lists fewer than 4,000 active cases of the disease.
Earlier Thursday, the province reported that 71 Ontarians are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, including 29 in intensive care, of whom 13 are on a ventilator.
The Star’s count includes some patients reported as “probable” COVID-19 cases, meaning they have symptoms and contacts or travel history that indicate they very likely have the disease, but have not yet received a positive lab test.
The province cautions its separate data, published daily at 10:30 a.m., may be incomplete or out of date due to delays in the reporting system, saying that in the event of a discrepancy, “data reported by (the health units) should be considered the most up to date.”
5:20 p.m.: Almost everyone boarding a bus, train or Seabus in Metro Vancouver will soon have to wear a mask to protect against the spread of COVID-19.
TransLink has announced that starting Aug. 24 customers will be required to wear non-medical masks or face coverings while on board its vehicles.
TransLink CEO Kevin Desmond says physical distancing isn’t always possible on transit, especially as more riders return to the system.
Exceptions to the mandatory policy include those with medical conditions, people unable to remove a mask without help, children under five and police, employees or first responders in an emergency.
Desmond says customer confidence is key to rebuilding ridership during the pandemic and this step is important to bring riders back.
4:35 p.m.: Saskatchewan is reporting another death due to COVID-19.
The latest fatality, of a person in their 70s in the Regina region, brings the death toll in the province to 19. There are also 11 new cases.
The government says 13 infected people are in hospital, and six of those are in intensive care.
Premier Scott Moe says Saskatchewan is continuing to see significant recoveries each day — 278 in the past 10 days.
Of a total 1,387 infections, 204 are considered active.
4:20 p.m.: Toronto is reporting 21 new cases today, for a total of 15,472. The number of people in hospital stays the same at 77, and there were no new deaths so the total remains at 1,161. The city is reporting 28 more people have recovered for a total of 14,043. The numbers are as of 3 p.m. Wednesday.
3:20 p.m.: New Brunswick is reporting two new cases of COVID-19 involving temporary foreign workers who went into self-isolation after arriving in Moncton.
They are in addition to four cases reported Wednesday, also involving temporary foreign workers in self-isolation in Moncton.
Chief medical officer of health Dr. Jennifer Russell has said the fact that the cases are self-isolating shows COVID-19 protocols in the province are working.
One of the people newly diagnosed is in their 40s and the other is in their 50s.
New Brunswick now has a total of 176 cases, with just the six most recent still active.
There have been two deaths from COVID-19 in the province, and 53,999 tests have been conducted.
2:50 pm. Ontario Premier Doug Ford is promising to introduce measures to help improve conditions for the province’s personal support workers.
Ford says the PSWs, who have played a major in the struggle against the COVID-19 pandemic, are underpaid and overworked.
He says he plans to ask the provincial Health Ministry to come up with a plan to bolster salaries and take other steps to ensure the workers are properly compensated for their efforts.
Ford says his determination to address PSWs’ needs came after a recent visit to a Toronto-area long-term care facility where his mother-in-law currently lives.
Ontario’s congregate-care settings have been particularly hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting measures earlier this year that prevented PSWs from working in more than one facility at a time.
Ford did not offer an estimate as to when any new measures may be introduced.
2:44 p.m. House of Commons committee probing the government’s ill-fated deal with WE Charity dove deeper into the organization itself with partisan swords being drawn around a watchdog group that testified on Thursday.
Charity Intelligence Canada has been cited multiple times during finance committee hearings about the WE affair, but had yet to testify in the committee’s probe of the Canada Student Service Grant program.
Charity Intelligence has previously raised red flags about WE’s practices, which garnered rebukes from WE and its co-founders, Craig and Marc Kielburger, who testified before the committee last week.
The controversy around the grant program has raised questions about WE’s complex structure and accounting mechanisms, its use of high-profile corporate sponsors and celebrity endorsements and its workplace culture.
The Star’s Alex Ballingall has the story.
2:12 p.m. Sending students back to class in September in British Columbia will be “an unprecedented challenge” during a pandemic but Premier John Horgan says he’s confident children will be safe.
Some parents and teachers have expressed concern about the resumption of school next month, but Horgan says the government would not put children at risk if “the danger was overwhelming.”
He says the province has done very well slowing the spread of COVID-19 by following scientific advice but, despite that, he understands that parents, students and teachers are anxious.
Horgan says it’s time to start opening schools so plans can be made and adjusted and he’s confident that every effort is being made to get it right.
The BC Teachers’ Federation has said that government’s plan to fully reopen schools needs more time and a lot more work if it is going to keep everyone safe.
The premier made the comments in Surrey where he announced a new regional cancer centre for the city to be included in the construction of the new Surrey hospital.
1:57 p.m. Hamilton’s Catholic school board says it’s looking into reducing class sizes in elementary schools amid growing concerns from parents and teachers about reopening from the pandemic, but acknowledged that space and lack of funding may be an obstacle.
“We’re looking at all our options,” said Pat Daly, chair of the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board (HWCDSB), on Wednesday.
“There are obviously a number of significant factors, mostly concerning space in classrooms and funding. But we’re looking into it for sure.”
In the time since the Ontario government released its school reopening plans last week, parents and teachers’ unions have sounded the alarm over the decision to allow elementary schools to host full-sized classrooms, which in some schools can amount to over 30 students in one class.
Some health experts and educators have warned that less physical distancing among students could heighten the risk of transmitting COVID-19 and prompt an outbreak that could shut down schools.
Ontario’s Ministry of Education has said that the decision is based on the advice of medical experts and that children under the age of 10 are less likely to spread COVID-19.
1:50 p.m. Major League Baseball, in the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreaks on the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals, sent severe, revised protocol measures to all clubs Wednesday, threatening to suspend a player or staff member for the remainder of the season for repeated or flagrant violations.
MLB, which is dealing with scheduling havoc caused by 33 members of Marlins and Cardinals testing positive for COVID-19, is hiring officials to monitor clubhouses and team hotels to assure there are no violations.
MLB made it clear in the memo it will not tolerate reckless activity, or there will be severe punishment.
“Any covered individuals — whether players or club staff — who are found to have repeatedly or flagrantly violated the protocols, including refusing to wear a face covering when required and reminded to do so,” the memo reads, “risks being prohibited from further participation in the 2020 season and postseason (in the case of players, subject to the just cause provisions in the Basic Agreement). The Commissioner’s Office will send written warnings prior to any such action being taken.”
In the new protocols, MLB is requiring everyone to always wear masks when not on the field, while also severely limiting all interaction among players, coaches and staff members.
Read the full list of protocols: MLB gets serious with protocol measures after COVID-19 outbreaks on Marlins, Cardinals
1:49 p.m. A teacher with a Medicine Hat-area school division is speaking out after a Tweet of his regarding masks and the province’s back-to-school plan went viral on Tuesday.
Scott Raible, who teaches under the Prairie Rose School Division, says his tweet was taken the wrong way by fellow Twitter users.
Raible’s Tweet read, “Just bought some non medical masks as teachers are being forced to wear them now. They should arrive before school starts. Can’t wait to wear them in front of my students. This semester looking forward to teaching my students the novel 1984. Very timely. #abed #1984 #medhat.”
Attached to the Tweet was a photo, with four handmade masks on it. Each mask had a different message. They read, ‘So you think this mask works?’ ‘This mask does nothing.’ ‘Only wearing to make you feel better.’ ‘Pointless placebo.’
He says it was intended as a joke, but quickly got out of hand.
“It was meant as tongue in cheek,” he said. Raible says his Tweet stems from disappointment in the provincial government’s mask announcement.
Read the full story: Alberta teacher’s mask tweet taken wrong way, meant as jab for back-to-school-plan
1:48 p.m. Dr. Anthony Fauci says even if the coronavirus is around for decades, public health safeguards and an eventual vaccine will allow the world to successfully adapt.
The government’s leading infectious disease expert was asked about whether the coronavirus could become a fact of life for generations.
Fauci says the combination of public health measures — masks, hand washing, social distancing — and vaccines should mean that “you can very well control and essentially eliminate (the coronavirus) from any given country.”
He added: “Remember, there’s only been one virus in the history of the planet that’s been eradicated and that’s smallpox.”
Vaccines are under development and it’s unknown how effective they will be. But Fauci says he hopes it will be in the range of 70% to 80% effectiveness. A vaccine should be available in 2021, he says.
1:48 p.m. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis rescinded an order requiring people travelling from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to quarantine for 14 days.
Early in the national outbreak, the Republican ordered travellers arriving in Florida from then-epicenter New York City and its suburbs to quarantine for two weeks. New York’s statewide daily infection-rate has plummeted since late April and is currently about one-tenth Florida’s.
Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued his own order in June, requiring residents in several states, including Florida, to quarantine upon arriving in New York.
On Thursday, Florida reported 7,650 new coronavirus cases and 120 deaths. The state has a total of 510,389 confirmed cases, second only to California. There have been at least 7,781 deaths, sixth in the nation.
1:48 p.m. A widely cited University of Washington model predicts U.S. deaths from COVID-19 will reach nearly 300,000 by Dec. 1.
The forecast of 295,011 deaths is 137,000 more than the roughly 158,000 U.S. deaths reported so far. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation model assumes that many states will impose new stay-at-home orders as deaths climb.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention monitors the model along with forecasts from about 30 other modeling groups. Combined, the models predict from 168,000 to 182,000 total COVID-19 deaths by Aug. 22.
1:28 p.m. Vancouver Coastal Health is warning the public about a possible exposure to someone who tested positive for COVID-19 at Lions Bay Beach Park.
The health authority says the possible exposure occurred on July 26, 27, 29, 30 and 31.
A statement from Vancouver Coastal Health says the exposure is believed to be low risk, but anyone who was at the park on those days needs to self-monitor for symptoms.
Fraser Health is also warning of a public exposure at the Hookah Lounge on King George Boulevard.
It says in a statement that the potential exposure was over two early mornings, between midnight and 5 a.m. on Aug. 1 and 2.
B.C. recorded 47 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday with no new deaths.
1:11 p.m. Newfoundland and Labrador’s COVID-19 infection rate could be 20 times higher in the absence of a travel ban, the doctor leading a team running models on the contagion said Thursday in court.
Dr. Proton Rahman testified before the province’s Supreme Court during a legal challenge to the travel ban that authorities imposed in May to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Rahman, a clinical epidemiologist and professor of medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland, testified Thursday about with his work with the modelling group.
His team helps the province and other institutions with predictive analysis on issues such as potential surges of COVID-19 cases. Rahman said his team was asked by the province to run modelling scenarios in June for the court case.
The results, he said, showed a “10-fold higher rate of cases in the province” over a nine-week period without a travel restriction in place. A second scenario showed a case rate that was five-to-20-fold higher over 14 weeks without a travel restriction, he said.
Rahman also told the court about a paper he co-authored with Stanford University and Oxford University professors analyzing the impact of lifting the travel ban in the province.
1:03 p.m. A widely cited University of Washington model predicts U.S. deaths from COVID-19 will reach nearly 300,000 by Dec. 1.
The forecast of 295,011 deaths is 137,000 more than the roughly 158,000 U.S. deaths reported so far. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation model assumes that many states will impose new stay-at-home orders as deaths climb.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention monitors the model along with forecasts from about 30 other modeling groups. Combined, the models predict from 168,000 to 182,000 total COVID-19 deaths by Aug. 22.
1:03 p.m. Dr. Anthony Fauci says If you can wear a face shield to protect yourself and others from the coronavirus, you might as well do it.
The head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases says he’s been asked by teachers worried about infection risks from kids in the classroom whether they should wear plastic face shields. They are now commonly used in hospital emergency departments, as well as dental and medical offices. Occasionally, supermarket shoppers also sport them.
“It certainly can’t hurt,” says Fauci, who has also promoted the use of cloth masks to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Fauci took questions from the media at a session sponsored by the non-profit Alliance for Health Policy.
There’s no formal recommendation yet to wear face shields because the science isn’t clear, Fauci said, but there is a certain logic to it: so the virus does enter the body through the mouth, nose and eyes.
1:02 p.m. Florida reported some encouraging news on the COVID-19 front Thursday, with the lowest percentage of positive tests in more than six weeks.
The state Department of Health reported 7,650 new cases of the disease in its latest coronavirus pandemic report. That pushes the overall total to 510,329 confirmed infections.
But officials reported a testing positivity rate of 8.3% among people who tested positive for the first time in the most recent statewide results. That’s the lowest daily mark since June 21, when it was 7.7%.
It happened as Florida counted 104,144 test results for the previous day, after three consecutive days of fewer than 61,000 tests. That was due to the temporary closure of testing sites because of Tropical Storm Isaias.
The test results reported on a single day typically reflect tests taken over several days.
Also Thursday, Florida reported another 120 coronavirus fatalities. That’s down from 225 deaths lists on Wednesday’s report. At least 7,871 people have died from COVID-19 complications since the start of the pandemic.
The latest daily total is not reflective of deaths in the past 24 hours, but rather recent weeks. The most deaths on a daily report —257 last Friday.
12:48 p.m. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine tested positive Thursday for the coronavirus just ahead a planned meeting with President Donald Trump.
The Republican governor’s office said Thursday that he took the test as part of standard protocol before meeting Trump at an airport in Cleveland. He had planned to join the president on a visit to the Whirlpool Corp. plant in northwest Ohio.
His office said the 73-year-old DeWine had no symptoms, but was returning to Columbus. His office said he and his wife, Fran DeWine, will both be tested there. DeWine then plans to quarantine at his home in Cedarville for 14 days.
12:40 p.m. A town of 32,000 people in northwestern Spain will begin lockdown Friday amid a local surge in coronavirus cases.
The senior health official in the Basque country reported 338 news cases in the region on Thursday. Authorities in the northwestern Castile and León region are quarantining Aranda de Duero after 103 new COVID-19 cases emerged there. Contact tracers have reported five active clusters.
New cases have risen steadily in Spain since a more than three-month lockdown ended on June 21, reaching 1,772 new infections reported on Wednesday. A total of more than 28,000 people in Spain have died since the pandemic began, the eighth highest total in the world.
12:40 p.m. The head of the World Health Organization hopes the United States leadership will reconsider its departure from the U.N. health agency.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the U.S. was well recognized both for its generosity and support of global health projects in the past.
“You cannot defeat this virus in a divided world,” Tedros said of a country that contributes more than $450 million to the agency every year.
“When I was a minister in Ethiopia, when HIV/AIDS was ravaging the whole continent of Africa…it’s the U.S. generosity and leadership that gave hope to individuals, gave hope to families and gave hope to nations,” Tedros said.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly accused WHO of botching its response to the coronavirus and said it colluded with China in the pandemic’s early stages to cover up the extent of the outbreak.
WHO had denied that and recently start a probe into the global response to the pandemic.
12:40 p.m. More than 90 staff members in one Georgia school district have been quarantined due to coronavirus exposure or infection, prompting the district to start the year entirely online.
Barrow County Schools officials say the district about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta will begin with distance learning on Aug. 17.
Superintendent Dr. Chris McMichael says the district took “every precaution” and staff members were required to wear masks during preplanning before students returned to buildings. But dozens of employees were still infected or in quarantine due to a suspected case or direct contact with a confirmed case.
Also this week, about 260 employees for Gwinnett County Public Schools, the state’s largest public school district, reported testing positive for the virus.
12:40 p.m. Poland is reintroducing restrictions to some central and southern counties with the highest rates of coronavirus cases after the daily rate recently reached 726 new cases.
Starting Saturday, cinemas and gyms will be reclosed and no more than 50 people allowed to attend wedding parties or funerals in some among the 19 counties. People must wear protective masks in all public spaces.
Poland, a nation of 38 million, has registered nearly 50,000 confirmed cases and more than 1,770 deaths.
12 p.m. A boating trip involving multiple families is behind a spike COVID-19 in southwestern Ontario as the Ministry of Health reports a fourth day in a row with fewer than 100 new cases across the province.
The health unit in Chatham-Kent said 12 of its 24 new cases in the last two days are from a trip of several days duration outside the region and suggested the number of infections from the highly contagious novel coronavirus could spread further.
“Chatham-Kent Public Health is isolating these cases and tracing their contacts, of which there is a large number,” the unit said in a statement Thursday. Officials did not provide details or dates of the boat trip.
The local medical officer of health told residents that a loosening of restrictions under Stage 3 does not mean precautions can be abandoned.
Read the full story from the Star’s Rob Ferguson: Boat trip with multiple families blamed for surge in COVID-19 in Chatham area
11:55 a.m. A new paper suggests a federal program meant to buffer provinces against economic shocks is not up to the task — especially in the COVID-19 era.
University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe is urging Ottawa to review and reform the federal stabilization program so it can help provincial economies weather the effects of the pandemic.
He estimates provinces could be on track for a collective $35-billion revenue decline this fiscal year — equivalent to $1,000 per person.
But he notes that figure is offset by up to $23 billion thanks to taxable federal emergency benefits for individuals and employers.
Tombe says there’s still a big gap that can’t be adequately addressed by the fiscal stabilization, which has not been meaningfully reformed since its inception in 1967.
He says the $60 per person cap on stabilization payments to provinces hasn’t been updated since 1986 and should be at least double that, just adjusting for inflation.
Tombe’s paper was published by the Canada West Foundation think-tank. He and other independent academics and policy experts have started the new Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations Commission, which aims to improve the fiscal relationship between Ottawa, the provinces and cities.
11:50 a.m. The union representing employees at a pork processing plant in Manitoba is calling for Maple Leaf to cease production after three more workers tested positive for COVID-19.
The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 832 says in a memo that it wants the company to stop work at the Brandon plant until Aug. 10 at the earliest.
It says time is needed to get outstanding test results from other employees.
The union says Maple Leaf has informed members that the plant will remain open and production will continue as usual.
One worker at the plant tested positive over the weekend, and the union says the three new cases are of non-production staff.
COVID-19 cases in Manitoba have remained relatively low, with a current total of 444, but there has recently been an increase in infections.
11:34 a.m. Canada’s labour market likely continued its comeback last month, but gains are slowing on the long road to full recovery.
Statistics Canada is expected to report that 365,000 jobs were added in July, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists. That would bring total jobs recovered to 1.6 million in the past three months, or just over 50 per cent of the three million lost in March and April.
While the employment gains will be welcome, economists have warned it could still take years before the labour market returns to pre-pandemic levels. Nor are labour outcomes evenly spread.
Women, low-income earners, youth and immigrants have been hit harder and will take even longer to recuperate. On Friday, Statistics Canada will release jobs data by race for the first time that are expected to show minorities have been disproportionately hurt by the recession.
11:30 a.m. More than half of Canadians are afraid to go back to their workplaces and 77 per cent are worried their colleagues might show up infected with the coronavirus, according to research from consulting firm KPMG.
About six in 10 say they’ll will refuse to go back if they believe their place of work is not safe enough and 57 per cent are concerned about sharing meeting rooms and other common areas. The survey polled more than 1,000 Canadians online and was conducted July 22 to 24.
Major Canadian employers including Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Nova Scotia and Telus Corp. have told many employees to continue working from home for the rest of the year. One potential issue for workers in Toronto’s financial district is its often-crowded subway system. The city has one of the busiest transit networks in North America, trailing only New York City and Mexico City.
In the KPMG survey, 71 per cent said they were worried about using public transportation for their commute. In Ontario, the figure was 78 per cent.
Ontario also had the highest percentage of people who said they were “afraid of returning” to the workplace, at 64 per cent. Nationally, the number was 54 per cent.
11:24 a.m. A workers-rights group is calling on the federal government to rethink the employment insurance program as an emergency benefit for workers is set to run out.
The government estimates four million people will be moved onto EI when the Canada Emergency Response Benefit starts winding down, and is promising a parallel benefit for gig and contract workers who don’t qualify for payments through the decades-old system.
The Workers Action Centre says many of the people it works with would get between $600 and $1,000 a month if they’re pushed onto EI next month, with the way the safety program is currently structured.
That would be less than the $500 per week paid out through the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, or CERB, to workers whose incomes crashed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Deena Ladd, the group’s executive director, says an overhaul of EI itself is necessary to provide adequate benefits to stabilize an economy with sectors that won’t fully open for months or may have to shut down in response to outbreaks.
A few of the workers involved with the centre shared their stories and concerns for the coming months during a virtual press conference this morning.
11:24 a.m. Quebec is reporting 133 new cases of COVID-19 and no new deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus.
The province has now recorded a total of 60,133 infections and 5,687 deaths from the disease.
Health authorities said today the number of hospitalizations decreased by two in the past 24 hours, for a total of 165.
There are 19 patients in intensive care, the same number as Wednesday.
The province says it conducted 17,042 COVID-19 tests Aug. 4, the last day for which testing data is available.
On Wednesday, Quebec’s blood collection agency published a study indicating about 125,000 people aged 18-69 in the province contracted COVID-19 — more than three times the official number reported by health authorities.
11:21 a.m. The Canadian Junior Football League has cancelled its 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The league made the announcement Thursday on its Twitter page.
“The Canadian Junior Football League has determined that it is not feasible to operate a regular season or playoffs for the 2020 season,” it said in a statement. “Our focus and attention will now be on our return to play plan for the 2021 season.”
Commissioner Jim Pankovich said safety remains the league’s top priority.
10:51 a.m. A Thai restaurant near Adelaide Street West and John Street is shutting its doors after one of its kitchen workers tested positive for COVID-19.
In an Instagram post on Wednesday, PAI Northern Thai Toronto said that the worker’s last shift was on Monday. The worker is currently quarantining, the restaurant said.
“We have immediately closed our restaurant until further notice for deep sanitation and the full team at Pai is being tested and in self-isolation, although no other team members are experiencing symptoms,” reads the post.
“We will only reopen when we feel it is safe to do so and only with team members who have tested negative… we look forward to welcoming you back at Pai very soon.”
10:50 a.m. North Korea is quarantining thousands of people and shipping food and other aid to a southern city locked down over coronavirus worries, officials said, as the country’s response to a suspected case reinforces doubt about its long-standing claim to be virus-free.
But amid the outside skepticism and a stream of North Korean propaganda glorifying its virus efforts, an exchange between the country and the United Nations is providing new clarity — and actual numbers — about what might be happening in North Korea, which has closed its borders and cut travel — never a free-flowing stream — by outsider monitors and journalists.
In late July, North Korea said it had imposed its “maximum emergency system” to guard against the virus spreading after finding a person with COVID-19 symptoms in Kaesong city, near the border with rival South Korea.
State media reported that leader Kim Jong Un then ordered a total lockdown of Kaesong, and said the suspected case was a North Korean who had earlier fled to South Korea before slipping back into Kaesong last month.
10:30 a.m. For the fourth consecutive day, Ontario is reporting fewer than 100 cases, with 95 cases today, a 0.2 per cent increase, Health Minister Christine Elliott said on Twitter. With 159 more resolved, Ontario continues to see a persistent decline in the number of active cases. Yesterday, the province processed over 26,000 tests. Locally, 29 of Ontario’s 34 public health units are reporting five or fewer cases, with 15 of them reporting no new cases.
10:27 a.m. St. Louis County in northeastern Minnesota this week has added new coronavirus cases faster than any other county in the state.
Of the 475 cases in St. Louis County as of Wednesday, more than half were confirmed in July. The virus has been detected throughout the state’s geographically largest county, but about three-fourths of the cases came from Duluth, according to health officials.
While nursing homes were hit hard by the coronavirus in the spring and early summer, now nearly one-third of those infected in the county are in their 20s.
About 40 per cent of people who tested positive say they’d attended restaurants or bars during the period they were likely exposed to the virus, the county’s public health director Amy Westbrook says.
10:27 a.m. Gov. Kristi Noem is using coronavirus restrictions in other states to lure businesses to relocate to South Dakota.
In an online ad, Noem tells business owners to “grow their company” in South Dakota where government will stay out of their way.
“When it comes to supporting growth and eliminating government heavy-handed interference, South Dakota means business,” Noem said in the ad from the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.
The Republican governor says Minnesota’s COVID-19-related restrictions, including a mandate to wear face masks in public buildings, has created an opportunity for businesses there to cross the border to South Dakota.
Noem says in South Dakota, businesses won’t be shut down.
Noem has taken a relaxed approach to the pandemic. Even as Republican governors in states such as Texas have moved to require people to wear masks, Noem didn’t require physical distancing or masks at the July 3 celebration at Mount Rushmore, which President Donald Trump attended.
10:27 a.m. Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz says the country will begin human trials on a coronavirus vaccine in the fall.
Gantz made the announcement Thursday after a visit to the Israel Institute for Biological Research, a research centre under the Defence Ministry.
Gantz says the human trials would begin after the upcoming Jewish new year holidays, which take place in September and early October.
“All of the successful preliminary trials offer very significant news and a great deal of hope,” Gantz said. “The next phase, as we’ve determined, is to start trials in humans after the autumn holidays.”
More than two dozen experimental vaccines are in various stages of human testing worldwide.
9:25 a.m. The House of Commons’ committee probing the government’s ill-fated deal with WE Charity will hear this morning from a charity watchdog organization.
Charity Intelligence Canada has been referenced multiple times during finance committee hearings about the WE affair, but has yet to testify in the committee’s probe of the Canada Student Service Grant program.
Charity Intelligence has previously raised red flags about WE’s practices, which has garnered rebukes from WE and its co-founders, Craig and Marc Kielburger, who testified before the committee last week.
The controversy around the grant program has raised questions about WE’s complex structure and accounting mechanisms, its use of high-profile corporate sponsors and celebrity endorsements and its work culture.
Meanwhile, opposition parties are hoping the imminent release of government documents will shed some light on how an organization with close ties to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was awarded a deal to administer the $912-million student program.
The government has until Saturday to table with the finance committee all memos, briefing notes, correspondence and other documents related to the now-cancelled agreement.
8:46 a.m. A northern Norway university hospital says two more crewmembers who worked on a Norwegian cruise ship have tested positive for the coronavirus, bring the total to 55.
Following the outbreak on the MS Roald Amundsen, the ship’s owner halted all cruises on Monday and Norway closed its ports to cruise ships for two weeks.
The University Hospital of North Norway in Tromsoe, north of the Arctic Circle, where the ship currently is docked, said the two were admitted Thursday. They were described as foreign nationals working on the MS Roald Amundsen.
Earlier, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health said during the ship’s two journeys last month, a total of 37 crew members and 16 passengers tested positive. The passengers all registered as living in Norway.
The cruise liner often acts like a local ferry, travelling from port to port along Norway’s west coast. Some passengers disembarked along the route and authorities fear they may have spread the virus to local communities.
8 a.m. The British government says it won’t be using 50 million face masks it bought during a scramble to secure protective equipment for medics at the height of the coronavirus outbreak because of safety concerns.
The masks were part of a 252 million pound ($332 million) contract the government signed with investment firm Ayanda Capital in April. Papers filed in a court case reveal that the masks will not be distributed because they have ear loops rather than head loops and may not fit tightly enough.
The government says another 150 million masks supplied by Ayanda are unaffected but are still being tested.
The papers are part of a lawsuit against the Conservative government by campaigning groups the Good Law Project and EveryDoctor.
As the coronavirus outbreak accelerated across the U.K. in March, it became clear that the country lacked sufficient stockpiles of masks, gloves, gowns and other protective gear for health care workers and nursing home staff. That sparked a race to buy billions of pieces of equipment from suppliers in the U.K. and abroad.
Opposition parties are calling for an urgent investigation into the way personal protective equipment was acquired.
8 a.m. As Africa’s confirmed coronavirus cases near 1 million, the director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that “we cannot at all exercise fatigue” in the pandemic response.
John Nkengasong spoke to reporters as the continent’s cases are now at more than 992,000. More than half are in South Africa.
Africa has seen an 11 per cent increase in cases in the past week, lower than in recent weeks, but Nkengasong says that while it’s tempting to see a decrease, the numbers must be observed over several weeks to determine the real trend of infections on the continent of 1.3 billion people.
Five countries account for 75 per cent of cases: South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana and Algeria.
The low rate of testing remains a concern, but Nkengasong says that if countries do the right things “we have a good chance of beating back this pandemic.” He says the CDC is closely watching countries including Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan as cases climb.
8 a.m. The Philippines reported 3,561 new coronavirus cases Thursday, overtaking Indonesia with the most infections in Southeast Asia, as Manila plunged into a recession.
The latest jump brings confirmed cases to 119,460, including 2,150 deaths. Indonesia reported a total of 118,753 confirmed infections as of Thursday, with 5,521 deaths.
The economy slumped by 16.5% in the second quarter in the worst contraction on record in decades that caused the Philippines to slip into a recession.
The stagnant economy has begun to rebound slightly after President Rodrigo Duterte eased a three-month lockdown in June. But he put the capital and outlying provinces of more than 25 million people back under a two-week moderate lockdown Tuesday, after medical groups warned the health care system was being overwhelmed and could collapse.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque says, “I’ll be honest with you, the economy can no longer withstand a much longer lockdown.”
8 a.m. Nepal has reimposed some restrictions, shutting down hotels and restaurants and restricting travel because of the increasing number of coronavirus cases.
The Home Ministry statement says all gatherings are prohibited and movement of people and vehicles only allowed during the night.
In the districts with high numbers of cases, vehicles will be allowed on the streets on alternating days by even-odd license plates.
Nepal’s lockdown imposed in March lasted for 120 days. The country has had 21,390 cases and 60 deaths, including 81 infections and two fatalities on Wednesday.
8 a.m. A health official says Vietnam’s COVID-19 outbreak could peak in the coming 10 days as the country reported another death and scores of new infections.
Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Truong Son, who is in hot spot Da Nang to oversee the fight against the virus, says new infections have been found every day and “therefore, we have to continue keeping guard up.”
To cope with an increase in virus patients, Da Nang completed a 700-bed makeshift hospital on Wednesday. The hospital, converted from a sports auditorium, has a maximum capacity of 3,000 beds.
A 67-year-old woman became Vietnam’s ninth fatality. She had suffered from other health complications.
Since the outbreak returned to Vietnam two weeks ago after more than three months, 270 local infections have been confirmed, most of them traced to a cluster of hospitals in Da Nang. Among the new cases are six in a high-tech industrial park in the city.
The virus has since spread to 11 provinces and municipalities, including the largest cities of Ho Chi Minh with eight cases and Hanoi with three.
Among measures to curb the outbreak, the government is encouraging the use of a smart phone app that alerts clients if they had come into contact with a person who tested positive.
8 a.m. Germany’s national disease control centre has registered the highest number of new coronavirus infections in a day for three months.
The Robert Koch Institute says 1,045 cases were recorded on Wednesday. It was the first time since May 7 that it has counted more than 1,000 cases in a day. It’s still far short of early April’s peak of more than 6,000.
While daily numbers are volatile, the figure fits into a pattern of new cases edging higher over recent weeks as authorities deal with a number of small outbreaks in different parts of the country.
The disease control centre’s daily report repeated its assessment that “this development is very disturbing.” Officials last week pleaded with Germans to respect mask-wearing and social distancing rules.
Germany’s COVID-19 response so far is widely regarded as relatively successful. The Robert Koch Institute has recorded 9,175 deaths from over 213,000 confirmed cases — a lower death rate than in many comparable countries.
8 a.m. India has recorded the biggest single-day fatalities of 904 in the past 24 hours as fresh coronavirus infections surged by another 56,282 cases to reach nearly 2 million.
The Health Ministry says the total fatalities touched 40,699. India has recorded 20,000 deaths in the past 30 days.
The ministry also said the recovery rate has improved to 67% from 63% over the last 14 days. Nearly 600,000 patients are still undergoing treatment.
The case fatality rate stands at 2.09%.
Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are the worst-hit Indian states.
8 a.m.The premier of Australia’s hot spot Victoria state has urged residents not to panic-buy as he announced reductions in meat productions.
The state capital Melbourne began its first full day of tough lockdown restrictions on Thursday as Victoria posted 471 new COVID-19 infections and eight deaths.
Premier Daniel Andrews says beef, lamb and pork production will be reduced by one third from late Friday because of the virus transmission risks in abattoirs and meat processing plants.
Poultry production will be reduced by 20%.
He says the measures are designed to drive down to the lowest possible numbers of workers to without at the same time delivering a shortage of products.
Andrews says there was no need for shoppers to stockpile, as has occurred spasmodically and to various extents during Melbourne’s first and second lockdowns.
He says, “You may not necessarily be able to get exactly the cut of meat that you want, but you will get what you need and you will get all the products that are, basically, fundamentally important to you.”
8 a.m. The governor of Japan’s Aichi Prefecture has announced a regional “state of emergency” seeking to curb the coronavirus.
Gov. Hideaki Ohmura on Thursday asked businesses to close altogether or close early and urged people to stay home at night.
The measures continue through Aug. 24, a period that coincides with the Obon holidays, when schools and many companies close. Aichi includes Nagoya, which is home to Toyota Motor Corp.’s headquarters.
The governor says confirmed coronavirus cases have been rising in Aichi since mid-July at 100 or more a day. Before that, daily cases had been zero for extended periods.
Japan’s national government in April called for social distancing and business closings, though those measures were gradually lifted. Japan has had nearly 42,700 confirmed coronavirus cases and about 1,000 deaths.
8 a.m. New COVID-19 cases in China’s northwestern city of Urumqi have shown a slight rise, with 27 reported Thursday, five more than the day before.
The uptick in the Xinjiang region shows authorities are still battling to end country’s latest major outbreak that appeared around three weeks ago. Officials have responded with stiff control measures, including locking down some residential neighbourhoods, limiting public transport and restricting travel outside the city.
Urumqi is the capital and biggest city in Xinjiang, which has reported more than 600 coronavirus cases but no deaths.
With no new deaths, China’s total remains at 4,634, among 84,528 confirmed cases recorded since the coronavirus was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
8 a.m. Mexico is nearing 50,000 confirmed deaths from COVID-19.
The federal Health Department reported 829 newly confirmed deaths Wednesday, giving the country a total of 49,698 such deaths. That is the third highest number of pandemic deaths in the world.
Officials said Mexico’s number of confirmed infections rose by 6,139 to 449,961.
Authorities acknowledge Mexico’s real number of deaths could be much higher, in part because it has done so little testing. Only about 1 million tests have been performed in the country of almost 130 million people since the pandemic began.
8 a.m. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb is defending school reopenings in the face of mounting reports of students and education staff testing positive for the coronavirus since returning to classes.
Box said Wednesday that she “continue(s) to believe that our schools can safely reopen.” She says improved testing and hospital capacity are added safeguards for returning students for in-person learning.
The governor adds that her biggest recommendation to students and families is to know when to stay at home.
8 a.m. The Arkansas state government is requiring public schools to stay open five days a week when classes resume this month, complicating efforts by some districts to limit on-site instruction because of the coronavirus.
Education Secretary Johnny Key issued the guidance to schools Wednesday as the state reported 912 new confirmed virus cases and 18 more deaths.
The state’s guidance says schools must be open all five weekdays to comply with the state constitution. Some districts had planned to limit on-site instruction and use remote learning on the days that schools weren’t open.
Arkansas’ public schools are set to reopen the week of Aug. 24.
8 a.m. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee says schools in the much of the state should strongly consider online-only learning for students this fall due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Inslee also urged Wednesday that they cancel or postpone sports and all other in-person extracurricular activities.
Health experts say the virus is still spreading too extensively in the state, which saw the nation’s first confirmed virus case in late January. Since then, Washington has recorded more than 59,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 1,600 deaths.
8 a.m. Vermont officials say nearly 150 Vermont inmates housed in a Mississippi prison have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Vermont houses 219 inmates at the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in Tutwiler, Mississippi, because of a lack of capacity in its own prisons.
Late in July, six inmates who were returned to Vermont from the private Mississippi prison tested positive when they arrived at the Rutland correctional facility. That prompted Vermont’s Corrections Department to order that the remaining Vermont inmates in Mississippi be tested.
Interim Vermont Corrections Commissioner James Baker says there were 147 positive tests, 62 negative ones, two tests that are pending and eight inmates refused to be tested.
8 a.m. The United States and seven European countries are calling on Russia to withdraw its forces from the Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions in Georgia and allow medical evacuations and aid deliveries during the coronavirus pandemic.
The eight countries said after a closed U.N. Security Council session Wednesday that Russia’s presence further divides communities and puts at risk “the health and lives of the conflict-affected population” during the pandemic.
Deputy Russian Ambassador U.N. ambassador Dmitry Polyansky tweeted that the statement is “only a fiction.”
Georgia made a botched attempt to regain control of its breakaway province of South Ossetia in 2008, setting off a short war with Russia. Moscow then recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and set up military bases there.
7:45 a.m. Bombardier Inc. says its net loss surged to $223 million (U.S.) in the second quarter on a big drop in revenues due to pandemic related disruptions.
The Montreal-based transportation company, which reports in U.S. dollars, says it lost 13 cents per diluted share, compared with a loss of four cents per share or $36 million a year earlier.
The company, which will focus on business aircraft after the sale of its railway operations to Alstom are completed, says early trends are encouraging from new interest in private air travel.
“Bombardier continues to take the right actions to manage the impact of the ongoing public health crisis while protecting the business for the long-term,” stated CEO Eric Martel.
6:44 a.m. The Bank of England predicted Thursday that the economic downturn in the U.K. economy might be less severe than it thought at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic — even as it warned it would take a longer time to heal the scars.
The central bank opened the door to providing more monetary stimulus as Britain reopens after the pandemic lockdowns and said the economy probably won’t return to pre-pandemic levels until the end of 2021 as spending by consumers and businesses remains weak.
It also expressed concern about rising rates of unemployment — particularly at a time in which no one knows what will happen next.
“The outlook for the U.K. and global economies remains unusually uncertain, the bank said in a statement. “It will depend critically on the evolution of the pandemic, measures taken to protect public health, and how governments, households and businesses respond to these.’
6 a.m. The NHL says the laboratories hired to conduct daily COVID-19 tests on players in Edmonton and Toronto keep their supply chains separate from the public’s to ensure never the twain shall meet.
Roughly 1,500 samples are collected and analysed daily in each city not only from players, team and NHL personnel, but from restaurant and hotel workers supporting the post-season tournament in each hub.
Prior to the NHL’s restart this summer, deputy commissioner Bill Daly estimated between 25,000 and 30,000 tests will be administered through the end of the Stanley Cup final.
Aware that even a perceived conflict with public testing could sour each city’s population on hosting a dozen NHL teams, the league and labs insist there isn’t one.
The chief executive officer of DynaLife in Edmonton says the lab sources chemicals and machinery from manufacturers that don’t supply Alberta Health Services.
“A very simple analogy would be public health has chosen to run a fleet of Chevrolets and Fords as their vehicles,” Jason Pincock told The Canadian Press.
5:52 a.m. Germany will require people arriving from countries considered high-risk to take coronavirus tests starting this weekend, the health minister said Thursday, as the country recorded its highest daily tally of new infections in three months.
German officials have voiced alarm over a steady upward creep in the number of new infections over recent weeks. The national disease control centre, the Robert Koch Institute, said 1,045 cases were recorded on Wednesday — the first time since May 7 that it has counted more than 1,000 cases in a day.
Daily figures can be volatile or distorted by delays in reporting, and the number is still far short of the peak of more than 6,000 reached in early April.
“What we are seeing is a lot of small outbreaks,” Health Minister Jens Spahn told reporters. “People are getting infected at family parties, at their place of work or at community facilities.”
On top of that, school holidays — the dates of which are staggered across Germany’s 16 states — are ending in some regions, increasing concerns that vacationers could bring home the virus.
4 a.m. Opposition parties are hoping the imminent release of government documents related to the WE Charity affair will shed some light on how an organization with close ties to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was awarded a deal to administer a federal student grant program.
The government has until Saturday to table with the House of Commons finance committee all memos, briefing notes, correspondence and other documents related to the now-cancelled agreement.
In the meantime, however, the committee’s efforts to delve deeper into the controversy could be stymied due to the unavailability of key witnesses.
The committee, which heard last week from Trudeau and WE Charity founders Craig and Marc Kielburger, is scheduled to hold another video conference meeting Thursday.
But committee chair Wayne Easter says it could be cancelled because, as of late Wednesday, none of the invited witnesses had yet confirmed their appearance.
Thursday 5 a.m. Newfoundland and Labrador’s chief medical officer of health is set to take the stand Thursday in a legal challenge of a travel ban limiting entry to the province she ordered in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald will appear as a witness at the case being heard in provincial supreme court in St. John’s this week.
The special measures order from Fitzgerald came into effect in May, banning anyone but permanent residents and workers deemed essential from entering the province.
Halifax resident Kim Taylor and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association filed a claim in May alleging the restrictions violate the charter and fall outside the province’s jurisdiction.
Taylor’s request to travel to Newfoundland after her mother died was initially denied and though the decision was later reversed and she was granted an exemption, she said it came too late.
Dr. Proton Rahman, who is leading the team preparing models on COVID-19 in the province, will also appear as a witness Thursday.
Thursday 2:11 a.m. A court in Myanmar on Thursday sentenced the Canadian pastor of an evangelical church to three months imprisonment after finding him guilty of violating a law intended to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
Myanmar-born David Lah was charged with flouting a ban on large gatherings by holding a religious meeting in Yangon on April 7.
Lah’s lawyer, Aung Kyi Win, said the court had found his client guilty of violating an article in the Natural Disaster Management Law because he failed to comply with a directive against gatherings.
The judge credited Lah with time served since he was jailed in May, so it appears he may be released within a couple of weeks.
A Myanmar colleague of Lah, Wai Tun, received the same sentence.
Thursday 12:06 a.m. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he’d support an extension of payroll support for airlines as the coronavirus pandemic continues to eat away at their business.
Trump’s support comes after 16 senators signed a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., asking for the extension to spare potentially tens of thousands of airline jobs that are at risk after current funding is exhausted at the end of September.
“We don’t want to lose our airlines,” Trump told reporters at a White House briefing on Wednesday. “If they’re looking at that, whether they’re Republican or Democrat, I’d certainly be in favor.”
Unions representing airline employees and more than 200 members of the House of Representatives have supported an extension of CARES Act funding for airlines, which received $25 billion from Congress when it passed the law in March.
10:30 p.m. Wednesday At least four people have died after swallowing hand sanitizer during the coronavirus pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.
In a report, the CDC said more than a dozen adults have landed in hospitals in Arizona and New Mexico since May 1 after drinking disinfectants.
“Alcohol-based hand sanitizer products should never be ingested,” the CDC said in the report.
In addition to the four fatalities, which included a trio of people in their 30s, another three patients suffered visual impairment after swallowing sanitizer, according to health authorities.
The cases involved methanol, a toxic substance, the CDC said. The Federal Drug Administration has issued warnings about sanitizers containing methanol and has piled up a list of more than 100 types of cleaners that it advises Americans to avoid.
Wednesday 8:15 p.m.: As COVID-19 remains in the community, B.C. health officials say so does the anxiety and stress that comes with the uncertainly and increased isolation.
A joint statement from Health Minister Adrian Dix and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says younger people may not understand why activities they enjoyed have been restricted, and they urged family members and friends to offer mental health support.
The government announced 47 new positive tests of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the total number of cases to 3,834.
There are 351 active cases of COVID-19, with nine people hospitalized and six of those are in intensive care.
There have been no new deaths since the province’s last update and the toll stands at 195.
Dix and Henry asked B.C. residents to treat the summer of 2020 as a time of consideration and care for others.
Wednesday 6:05 p.m.: As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, Ontario’s regional health units are reporting a total of 41,760 confirmed or probable cases of COVID-19, including 2,821 deaths, up 78 new infections in 24 hours.
The province continues to be at its lowest rate of new infections since well before the pandemic first peaked in Ontario in the spring. Ontario has averaged 96 cases per day over the last seven days, down from a peak of nearly 600 daily, seen in mid-April.
On Wednesday, 20 of Ontario 34 health units reported no new cases; none reported more than 20 cases.
Meanwhile, one fatal case was reported Wednesday in the province, in Chatham-Kent. The southwestern Ontario health unit is the only area of the province that’s currently experiencing its worst rate of infection since the beginning of the pandemic — a still-relatively low 8.3 cases per day over the last week.
Earlier Wednesday, the province reported that 66 Ontarians are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, including 30 in intensive care, of whom 15 are on a ventilator.
The Star’s count includes some patients reported as “probable” COVID-19 cases, meaning they have symptoms and contacts or travel history that indicate they very likely have the disease, but have not yet received a positive lab test.
The province cautions its separate data, published daily at 10:30 a.m., may be incomplete or out of date due to delays in the reporting system, saying that in the event of a discrepancy, “data reported by (the health units) should be considered the most up to date.”
Read Wednesday rolling file