Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world on Tuesday - CBC.ca

The latest:

More than 20 heads of government and global agencies in a commentary published Tuesday called for an international treaty for pandemic preparedness that they say will protect future generations in the wake of COVID-19.

But there were few details to explain how such an agreement might actually compel countries to act more co-operatively.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and leaders including Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain, Premier Mario Draghi of Italy and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda proposed "a renewed collective commitment" to reinforce preparedness and response systems by leveraging the UN health agency's constitution.

"We are convinced that it is our responsibility, as leaders of nations and international institutions, to ensure that the world learns the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic," the authors wrote. Although the document calls for "solidarity," and greater "societal commitment," there was no indication any country would soon change its own approach to responding to the pandemic.

Speaking at a briefing Tuesday, Tedros said the time to act is now. "The world cannot afford to wait until the pandemic is over to start planning for the next one."

President of the European Council Charles Michel, who also spoke on Tuesday, said that it's not a question of if the world will see another pandemic, but when.

"COVID-19 has been a harsh reminder — no one is safe until everyone is safe," Michel said, noting that leaders need to take responsibility to ensure that pandemic preparedness and global health systems are fit for the 21st century.

International regulations governing health and implemented by WHO already exist — and can be disregarded by countries with few consequences.

Despite an obligation for nations to share critical epidemic data and materials quickly with WHO, for example, China declined to do so when the coronavirus first broke out. And with no enforcement powers, WHO officials had little means of compelling them to share details, an AP investigation last year found.

Steven Solomon, WHO's principal legal officer, said the proposed pandemic treaty would be shaped in future talks and needs to be ratified by lawmakers in the participating countries. The engagement of governments in the work of negotiating and approving a treaty is a way of promoting implementation, Solomon said.

"Specifics about enforcement will be up to member states to decide on," the WHO legal officer said.

Canada, U.S., Russia, China not listed

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is not listed among the signatories to the letter, nor are the leaders of China, Russia or the United States. 

When asked about China, Russia and the U.S., Tedros said signatories to the letter mainly joined through an opt-in process in which countries signalled their wish to join, though he noted that in some instances the WHO invited regional representation. 

"The comment from member states, including U.S. and China, was actually positive," Tedros said. "And we hope the future engagements will bring all countries."

Hospital staff from St Thomas' Hospital watch from the top of the wall as members of bereaved families paint red hearts on the COVID-19 Memorial Wall opposite the Houses of Parliament in London on Monday. Hearts are being painted onto the wall in memory of the many thousands of people who have died in the U.K. from coronavirus. (Kirsty Wigglesworth/The Associated Press)

Last week, Tedros pleaded with rich countries to immediately donate 10 million COVID-19 vaccines so that immunization campaigns could start in all countries within the first 100 days of the year.

Not a single country has yet publicly offered to share its vaccines immediately, but Tedros said Tuesday that the WHO is in discussions with some countries. 

-From The Associated Press, CBC News and Reuters, last updated at 7 a.m. ET

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What's happening in Canada

WATCH | Change in advice renews apprehension around AstraZeneca vaccine:

A change in advice has renewed apprehension around the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has been compounded by contradictory messages in Ontario. There’s also concern the confusion will add to vaccine hesitancy. 3:14

As of early Tuesday morning, Canada had reported 971,723 cases of COVID-19, with 45,211 cases considered active. A CBC News tally of deaths stood at 22,900.

Health officials in New Brunswick reported 11 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday — the only new cases across the Atlantic Canada region. All of the cases were in the Edmundston region, in the northwest of the province.

There were no new cases reported in Nova Scotia, but health officials did report that three previously identified cases had been confirmed to be B117 variant cases.

Health officials in Prince Edward Island on Monday moved to suspend all use of the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine because of safety concerns. The province's Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Heather Morrison, said the vaccine had been administered to 1,680 Islanders between the ages of 18 and 29. 

Morrison said anyone who has received the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine should watch for symptoms including shortness of breath, chest pain, leg swelling, persistent abdominal pain, sudden onset of severe or persistent headache or blurred vision, and skin bruising other than the site of vaccination. However, she also said those people should know that the risk of a serious side effect such as blood clots is very low and there have been no such cases in Canada.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, there were no new cases of COVID-19 reported on Monday.

In Quebec, health officials reported 891 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday and five additional deaths. Hospitalizations in the province stood at 477, with 120 people in intensive care.

Ontario health officials reported 2,094 new cases of COVID-19 and 10 additional deaths on Monday. A provincial dashboard put the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations at 841, with 382 people listed as being in Ontario's intensive care units.

In the Prairie provinces, there were no new COVID-19-related deaths reported on Monday. 

Manitoba reported 53 new cases of COVID-19 and no new deaths. Health officials in Saskatchewan reported 202 new cases and no additional deaths. In Alberta, meanwhile, health officials reported 545 new cases of COVID-19 and no additional deaths.

British Columbia has taken a step backward in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing the province to impose circuit-breaker measures for the next three weeks to slow the rapid spread of the virus, the provincial health officer said Monday.

Dr. Bonnie Henry said starting Tuesday until April 19, indoor dining at restaurants, bars and pubs, and adult group activity at fitness centres are paused, while the Whistler Blackcomb ski resort will be closed as COVID-19 cases spread in the community. She said the province will also amend its mask-wearing mandate in all schools for children from grades 4 to 12.

WATCH | Dr. Bonnie Henry says B.C. needs a 'circuit-breaker to stop this virus now':

Dr. Bonnie Henry says health officials have agonized over bringing in additional restrictions but the exponential growth in cases has made it necessary. 1:28

Only last week, Henry announced the easing of restrictions on indoor religious services, but that has also been reversed.

"It is with a heavy heart that I have to announce this," she said Monday. "I cannot in all conscience, with the increased numbers of cases that we are having and the risk that we see from indoor services, allow these types of activities to happen right now."

Henry said recent data continues to show that indoor settings are where COVID-19 transmissions are occurring and the case trajectory continues upward.

Across the North, there were no new cases of COVID-19 reported in Yukon or Nunavut. In the Northwest Territories, the Office of the Chief Public Health Officer reported one new case at the Diavik Diamond Mine.

-From The Canadian Press and CBC News, last updated at 7 a.m. ET

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What's happening around the world

A man gets a dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at a sports arena on Tuesday in San Juan, Metro Manila, Philippines. The Philippine government has once again put some 24 million people in Manila and nearby provinces under a strict quarantine as cases of the coronavirus hit daily records. (Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)

As of early Tuesday morning, more than 127.7 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to a tracking tool maintained by Johns Hopkins University. The global death toll stood at more than 2.7 million.

In the Asia-Pacific region, Australia's Queensland state warned that more cases were expected to emerge as authorities scrambled to contain an outbreak linked to the virulent B117 variant, throwing Easter travel plans into disarray.

India reported the highest daily increase in coronavirus cases in five months, with the second wave of the disease driven by surging infections in the country's richest state Maharastra.

In the Americas, U.S. President Joe Biden urged states to pause reopening efforts and a top health official warned of "impending doom," amid a surge in COVID-19 cases that threaten efforts to quash the coronavirus pandemic.

Honduras said it would temporarily restrict arrivals from South America, citing fears about the variant first discovered in travellers from Brazil entering its territory.

In Africa, Ethiopian health authorities on Tuesday received 300,000 doses of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine. The shots arrived a day after the East African country introduced stricter lockdown measures to stem a spike in infections.

Earlier in March, Ethiopia received nearly 2.2 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through the COVAX initiative that ensures vaccine access for low- and middle-income countries.

Sinkameng Moilwa, a professional nurse in a dental department, receives a dose of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine from a health staff member during a vaccination day for health-care workers at a vaccination centre at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa last week. (Themba Hadebe/The Associated Press)

Johnson & Johnson said it's agreed to provide up to 400 million doses of its one-dose COVID-19 vaccine to African countries, starting this summer. The drugmaker said under its agreement with the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust, the company will provide up to 220 million vaccine doses for the African Union's 55 member countries, with delivery beginning in the July-to-September quarter. The trust will be able to order 180 million additional doses from J&J, for a total of up to 400 million shots through 2022.

The company's vaccine still must receive authorization from regulators in the African countries, but the World Health Organization approved it for emergency use on March 12. In late-stage testing, J&J's vaccine prevented about 67 per cent of symptomatic infections with the coronavirus and was 85 per cent effective at preventing severe disease, beginning 28 days after vaccination.

In Europe, the German state of Berlin is again suspending the use of AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine for people under 60 due to reports of blood clots. Berlin's top health official Dilek Kalayci said the decision was taken as a precaution after the country's medical regulator announced 31 cases of rare blood clots in people who had recently received the vaccine. Nine of the people died.

The Paul Ehrlich Institute says all but two of the cases involved women ages 20 to 63. Reports of an unusual form of blood clot known as sinus vein thrombosis prompted several European countries to temporarily halt the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine earlier this month.

Some 2.7 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been administered in Germany so far.

Germany is extending virus-related border controls along its border with the Czech Republic by a further 14 days but ending entry requirements for people coming from the Austrian region of Tyrol.

WATCH | Why the Czech Republic is being hit hard by the 3rd wave:

Experts say poor contact tracing and vaccine hesitancy are among the reasons why the Czech Republic now has some of the highest COVID-19 infection and death rates in the world, despite having low rates earlier in the pandemic. 2:01

Britain will focus on vaccinating the whole of its adult population before it can provide any surplus shots to other countries such as Ireland, British business minister Kwasi Kwarteng said on Tuesday. More than 30 million Britons have received their first shots in the fastest vaccine rollout in Europe, with the aim of offering shots to all adults by the end of July.

However, Britain has found itself involved in a public spat with the European Union, where the vaccination program has been much slower, over the supply of doses.

In the Middle East, Israel has reopened its border crossing with neighbouring Egypt for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Israeli authorities on Tuesday started allowing 300 citizens per day to enter and exit for the purpose of tourism in the Sinai Peninsula, provided they pass coronavirus tests before each crossing and are vaccinated against COVID-19 or recovered from it.

-From The Associated Press, Reuters and CBC News, last updated at 9 a.m. ET 

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2021-03-30 13:10:56Z
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