Today’s coronavirus news: Pfizer announces its vaccine is safe for kids aged 12-15 years old; Millions of additional doses expected to arrive from 3 different suppliers before Canada Day - Toronto Star

The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Wednesday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.

7:45 a.m. With COVID-19 infections surging, and younger adults filling up intensive care units, the Toronto area is almost certainly heading back into tight lockdown, predicts a member of Ontario’s science advisory table.

“I’d be shocked if we were not in lockdown shortly before or after this weekend,” said Dr. Nathan Stall, a researcher and geriatrician at Mount Sinai Hospital.

“There are many things in jeopardy — not just people’s lives and health-care capacity. The school year is in jeopardy, businesses are in jeopardy if they’re facing a prolonged lockdown. Everyone is going to suffer. Even the summer is in jeopardy now — day camps and overnight camps for kids.”

Stall says the Ontario government has been too quick to lift restrictions after past lockdowns and the stay-at-home order imposed in January, quickly erasing gains and setting the stage for inevitable longer, harder closures when cases spike again.

Read the full story from the Star’s David Rider

7:30 a.m. Premier Doug Ford is warning of another lockdown as the number of COVID-19 patients surges at the end of a month that has seen cases almost double, creating a third wave.

“Folks, be prepared. Don’t make plans for Easter,” he said Tuesday as Ontario reported 2,336 new infections and hospitals reported their largest one-day influx of intensive-care patients of the pandemic, fuelled by more contagious variants that cause more serious illness.

“I won’t hesitate to lock things down if we have to,” added Ford. “Everything’s on the table.”

The premier’s acknowledgment that he is “extremely concerned” about case levels and the rising number of younger adults requiring hospital care comes less than two weeks after his government eased restrictions.

Read the full story from the Star’s Rob Ferguson

7:23 a.m. The federal and Ontario governments on Wednesday are expected to announce significant funding to help boost Canada’s future vaccine manufacturing capacity, the Star has learned.

Sanofi S.A., a multinational French pharmaceutical company with a manufacturing location in North York, will receive funding from both levels of government towards a nearly $1-billion production and distribution facility that will substantially boost its current vaccine production capacity, a source close to the matter told the Star.

The funding will help Sanofi build a new facility that will expand its influenza vaccine production capacity, while giving it the tools to fill-and-finish other vaccines on a mass scale.

Read the full story from the Star’s Nadine Yousif

7:06 a.m.: The cost of travel will slowly rebound from historic lows as more people receive COVID-19 vaccinations and book long-deferred trips, according to industry experts.

This time last year, air traffic in the U.S. plummeted, with 95 per cent fewer travellers passing through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints in April 2020 compared with April 2019. This reduced demand led to a corresponding decrease in airfare prices.

The average cost of a domestic round-trip ticket in the second quarter of 2020 dropped 28 per cent from the same period in 2019, down to $259, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Few travellers were monitoring these prices at the time since so few were booking flights. But now, with COVID-19 vaccinations opening the possibility of travel to millions more Americans each week , prices are once again set to change.

If you’re one of those would-be travellers, experts cautiously advise booking your travel soon. Much remains uncertain, but prices are unlikely to return to 2020 levels.

6:58 a.m.: Pfizer announced Wednesday that its COVID-19 vaccine is safe and strongly protective in kids as young as 12, a step toward possibly beginning shots in this age group before they head back to school in the fall.

Most COVID-19 vaccines being rolled out worldwide are for adults, who are at higher risk from the coronavirus. Pfizer’s vaccine is authorized for ages 16 and older. But vaccinating children of all ages will be critical to stopping the pandemic — and helping schools, at least the upper grades, start to look a little more normal after months of disruption.

In a study of 2,260 U.S. volunteers ages 12 to 15, preliminary data showed there were no cases of COVID-19 among fully vaccinated adolescents compared to 18 among those given dummy shots, Pfizer reported.

It's a small study, that hasn't yet been published, so another important piece of evidence is how well the shots revved up the kids’ immune systems. Researchers reported high levels of virus-fighting antibodies, somewhat higher than were seen in studies of young adults.

Kids had side effects similar to young adults, the company said. The main side effects are pain, fever, chills and fatigue, particularly after the second dose. The study will continue to track participants for two years for more information about long-term protection and safety.

Read more on this news here.

6:57 a.m.: More than two dozen Hungarian media outlets on Wednesday sent an open letter to the government demanding greater transparency and access to hospitals for journalists covering the COVID-19 pandemic.

Only Hungary's state media have been allowed inside COVID wards, and journalists have complained that a government order prohibiting medical staff from speaking to reporters has made it impossible to report on worsening conditions inside hospitals, creating a false picture of the situation's severity.

“Doctors and nurses are not permitted to speak publicly while members of the press are not allowed into hospitals, so we are unable to report on what happens there,” the letter reads.

The outlets — 28 in all - demanded that journalists be granted access to report on conditions in COVID-19 wards, and that medical staff, who are prohibited by ministerial decree from speaking to the media, be permitted to give interviews.

“Since people are cut off from this information ... many are still downplaying the dangers of the pandemic, and are not observing protective measures which is leading to more illness and thus an exacerbation of the pandemic," the letter reads.

6:16 a.m.: Belgium has an extra unexpected hurdle to overcome in its fight against the coronavirus: a bout of gorgeous weather.

Temperatures in Belgium have never been so high so early in the year — reaching 24.5 degrees Celsius (76 Fahrenheit) — and the warm weather is bringing thousands of people to coastal beaches and parks amid a worrying surge of COVID-19 cases.

The good weather was expected to continue until Friday and the start of the Easter weekend. Good news for the 11.5 million Belgians craving sun after a gloomy winter, but a real worry for the government struggling to deal with a third wave of infections.

In response to the number of passengers on its trains, Belgium's national rail company, SNCB, was forced to activate a “stop-and-go” system to prevent travellers from boarding in several train stations packed to the rafters on Tuesday.

Under the COVID-19 restrictions imposed in Belgium, residents are banned from travelling abroad but can move freely across the country. Many did not resist the appeal of a grand day out to the North Sea beaches, especially after the government decided last week to shut down schools for an extra week before the Easter school break in a bid to slow infections.

That move could ultimately backfire.

“It's too crowded. And you don’t have to be a great scientist to predict that. The weather is good, and the Belgian (train pass) with free rides is still valid until the end of the month. It was bound to go wrong," Western Flanders Governor Carl Decaluwe told Het Niewsblad newspaper. “I’m holding my breath for the Easter holidays."

Both Decaluwe and the SNCB are now advising against trips to the coast, but the situation in big cities is also a source of worry. In Brussels, for instance, residents late Tuesday gathered en masse in one of the city’s largest parks to enjoy al fresco drinks and outdoor games. Despite restrictions limiting outside gatherings to four people, large groups were spotted sitting on the grass.

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Although mandatory mask-wearing outdoors is in force, many did not bother with the rule.

5:50 a.m.: Millions of additional doses of COVID-19 vaccine are expected to arrive from three different suppliers before Canada Day as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked people to “stay strong, a little longer.”

“We’re entering the final stretch of this crisis,” Trudeau said at a news conference on Tuesday in Ottawa.

Trudeau said Pfizer and BioNTech will send another five million doses of their vaccine to Canada in June, bringing total shipments from the company in the spring to 17.8 million. Pfizer is expected to ship more than one million doses a week in April and May, and more than two million every week in June.

Procurement Minister Anita Anand said Canada now expects 4.4 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine by June 30, and the first shipments of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine are set to arrive at the end of April. She doesn’t know yet how many doses will be in that first shipment.

Even without J&J, and barring any unexpected interruptions in production or export of vaccines, Canada is in line to get more than 44 million doses before Canada Day.

That should mean all adults over 18 will be offered a vaccine faster, and that the wait for a second dose may not be as long as the current four months.

5:49 a.m.: It’s hard for Prentice Scott to choose a highlight from a day spent vaccinating seniors against COVID-19 in the lobby of their Windsor, Ont., apartment building.

“Everybody that comes into that room that sits down at my table to get the vaccination is extremely pleased,” the community paramedic said in a recent interview.

Scott’s team with Essex-Windsor EMS is one of several across Ontario bringing vaccinations to homebound seniors who can’t get to immunization clinics.

The program in Windsor started earlier this month, bringing pop-up clinics to apartment buildings with a high number of eligible seniors. A similar project is underway in Sudbury, Ont., while paramedics and other care providers in Toronto are also taking vaccines to homebound seniors.

Scott said the job has brought hope to the paramedics and as well as their patients.

“It feels good trying to lick this virus, to get rid of it,” he said. “I think what we’re doing right now, getting to the nitty gritty, the corners where people can’t get the vaccination is, is paramount.”

Programs like the one offered by Scott’s team and other paramedics offer a solution to the growing vaccination gap among the oldest Ontarians.

5:48 a.m.: As warm spring weather begins to envelop the Canadian provinces, experts here say it’s time to embrace similar rhetoric about moving outdoors.

While they stress that no gathering is without risk entirely when it comes to COVID-19, dangers of transmission decrease considerably in outdoor environments.

Nice weekend weather tends to precipitate the same type of posts on social media from people sharing photos — mostly of younger populations — seemingly crowding parks, beaches and boardwalks, with captions and comments lambasting them for doing so.

Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng, a critical care and palliative physician in Ottawa, says online shaming is not only unhelpful, but dangerous.

“What’s the repercussions for a 21-year-old that’s being shamed for being outside with friends and abiding by public health recommendations?” he said. “I would way rather see that than them (gathering) inside to avoid being shamed and ridiculed.”

Kyerementang says public health guidance could benefit from shifting to a “harm reduction” focus that promotes safe alternatives to risky behaviour. That, he says, would allow people to “still be human beings,” and maintain social connections that can improve mental health.

5:45 a.m.: French President Emmanuel Macron scheduled a televised address to the nation for Wednesday night, a possible harbinger of tighter restrictions to combat surging coronavirus hospitalizations.

Previous nationwide lockdowns in March and October of 2020 were announced by Macron in televised speeches. His office said Wednesday that Macron will address the nation at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT), without saying what he will announce.

Ahead of his weekly coronavirus strategy meeting Wednesday with ministers and aides, Macron was under intensifying pressure to close schools and further restrict people’s movements to ease growing pressure on hospitals.

The total number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care in France surged past 5,000 on Tuesday, the first time in 11 months that the figure has been that high

Short of a full lockdown, Macron is running out of alternatives to make a major dent in the renewed surge of infections that has led to growing questions about his government’s virus strategies. With presidential elections scheduled for 2022, Macron is having to weigh both political and health considerations.

5:44 a.m.: Official figures show that the British economy ended 2020 on a stronger footing than previously thought but that it suffered a bigger than anticipated fall in output in the immediate aftermath of the first coronavirus lockdown.

In its latest revisions for 2020 data, the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday that the British economy contracted by 19.5 per cent during the second quarter, the first full quarter of lockdown. That was worse that the 19 per cent initial estimate. However, it said, the economy rebounded by 16.9 per cent and 1.3 per cent in the third and fourth quarters, better than the previous estimates of 16.1 per cent and 1 per cent.

Overall, the agency said, the British economy ended 2020 9.8 per cent smaller, slightly better than the previous estimate of 9.9 per cent. Despite the modest revision, the contraction last year was the deepest in over 300 years.

Wednesday 5:42 a.m.: At least nine people have tested positive for COVID-19 in a Chinese city on the border with Myanmar, health officials said Wednesday.

Five are Chinese citizens are four are Myanmar nationals, the Yunnan Province Health Commission said in a report posted online.

The city of Ruili, with a population of about 210,000 people, said all residents would be tested for COVID-19 and would have to home quarantine for one week. The residential compound where the infections were found has been locked down.

Read Tuesday’s coronavirus news.

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2021-03-31 11:37:30Z
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