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Good evening, here are the COVID-19 updates you need to know tonight.
Top headlines:
- The Public Health Agency of Canada has presented data on the effectiveness of mixed doses to the U.S. and other countries that only recognize travellers with two identical doses of an approved vaccine as being fully vaccinated
- Business and labour leaders are calling on the federal government to extend emergency COVID-19 benefits before they expire
- The Canadian government could make it mandatory for all workers nationwide to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, internal documents say
In the past seven days, 28,256 cases were reported, down 7 per cent from the previous seven days. There were 302 deaths announced, up 14 per cent over the same period. At least 2,305 people are being treated in hospitals and 1,568,353 others are considered recovered.
Canada’s inoculation rate is 13th among countries with a population of one million or more people.
Sources: Canada data is compiled from government websites, Johns Hopkins and COVID-19 Canada Open Data Working Group; international data is from Johns Hopkins University.
Coronavirus explainers: Coronavirus in maps and charts • Tracking vaccine doses • Lockdown rules and reopening
Photo of the day
Healthcare workers take part in a strike to protest working conditions in hospitals amid the COVID-19 pandemic at Mercy Hospital in Buffalo, New York, U.S., on Oct. 4, 2021.LINDSAY DEDARIO/Reuters
Coronavirus in Canada
- Ontario remains committed to “the most cautious reopening in Canada” to avoid future COVID-19 lockdowns, the provincial government said in its Throne Speech on Monday. The speech was almost entirely devoted to the pandemic, most of it outlining actions the government has already taken or pledged. The province reported 511 new cases of COVID-19, and two new deaths, on Monday.
- Quebec is reporting 402 new COVID-19 cases and six more deaths. There were 88 people in intensive care – unchanged since Sunday.
- In New Brunswick, more than a dozen schools were forced to close as COVID-19 cases continue to rise. Meanwhile, the province is also reporting a rising number of hospitalizations, with 45 people in hospital with COVID-19 and 20 in intensive care.
The federal government is facing calls from business and labour leaders to extend emergency COVID-19 benefits before they expire on Oct. 23.
- The most popular pandemic-relief programs for business – the government’s wage and rent subsidies – are scheduled to end Oct. 23, along with a suite of programs for individuals who lost work because of COVID-19, including the Canada Recovery Benefit, the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit and the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit.
Vaccine mandates: Ottawa could push provinces on COVID-19 vaccine mandate for workers, internal document says.
Mixed doses: Canada’s Public Health Agency says it’s working with other countries who don’t accept mixed-dose travellers by sharing COVID-19 vaccine data.
Coronavirus around the world
- New Zealand was one of only a handful of countries to successfully eliminate its coronavirus cases last year. Now its government says that strategy is no longer possible.
- The World Trade Organization is warning of a two-track recovery leaving poor countries behind and cautioned that the COVID-19 pandemic could cause future supply-chain problems.
Coronavirus and business
Companies across the country are now starting to push return-to-work plans to early 2022 amid concerns over the Delta variant.
- Toronto-Dominion Bank is among those delaying a broad return, telling employees in a mid-September internal memo to look to next year, further putting off previous plans to reopen in the spring and summer of 2021.
- Laurentian Bank of Canada and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce are also deferring a reopening until the new year, and Manulife Financial Corp. is limiting in-office staff to essential workers for the remainder of 2021.
Also today: How a Canadian animation studio worked to make more children’s TV as viewer demand exploded during the pandemic
And: Despite lingering pandemic, the economic outlook for commercial property brightens
Globe opinion
- André Picard: Every health care worker needs to be vaccinated without exception – or find another job
- Cathal Kelly: Duncan Keith unwittingly proves perfect advocate for vaccination
More reporting
- If you don’t comply with a vaccine mandate, are you owed severance?
Information centre
- Everything you need to know about Canada’s travel restrictions for vaccinated and unvaccinated people
- Waiting for a second dose? We answer your COVID-19 vaccine questions
- What is and isn’t ‘paid sick leave’ in Canada? A short primer
- Got a vaccine ‘hangover’? Here’s why
Sources: Canada data are compiled from government websites, Johns Hopkins University and COVID-19 Canada Open Data Working Group; international data are from Johns Hopkins.
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