Good evening, here are the COVID-19 updates you need to know tonight.
Top headlines:
- When will the federal government lift vaccine mandates? It’s complicated, says health minister
- Canadian-bred biopharma companies spar over key tech in COVID vaccines
- Schools use play as tool to help students recover from pandemic learning loss
Due to changes in the prevalence of testing, case counts alone are no longer a reliable indicator of the spread of COVID-19. Going forward, we will only be including the weekly death rates and hospitalizations in the newsletter. For a snapshot of COVID-19 data in Canada, go to the coronavirus tracker.
In the past seven days, there were 255 deaths announced, down 19 per cent over the same period. At least 3,496 people are being treated in hospitals.
Canada’s inoculation rate is 15th 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
Community health workers in Beijing wear protective suits as they ride a scooter near in an area where authorities set up a pop-up testing site for COVID-19, on March 21.Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
Coronavirus in Canada
- Masks are no longer required in most Ontario public spaces as of today, including schools, retail settings and other spaces. Hospitals, long-term care homes, public transit and some other areas will keep masks until the end of April, when the province aims to roll back all remaining public-health rules. The province is reporting 551 people in hospital with COVID-19 and 181 people in intensive care.
- British Columbia is expanding eligibility for rapid tests. People in their 30s and older can now pick up packs of free COVID-19 tests at pharmacies across the province. As of Monday, there were 271 people hospitalized with COVID-19, including 49 in intensive care.
- With the recent lifting of all COVID-19 health orders in New Brunswick, fully vaccinated temporary foreign workers can now work on farms without having to isolate for 14 days, as was the case last year. About 200 temporary foreign workers arrive each year to fill the labour-intensive jobs on New Brunswick farms – jobs farmers are not able to fill locally.
What will it take for the federal government to lift COVID-19 vaccine mandates? Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says it’s complicated.
- Conservative and NDP members of the House of Commons health committee hammered the minister with questions about a timeline, a benchmark, or a set of conditions that would trigger an end to vaccine requirements for travellers and federal employees.
- Duclos said the decision will be based on everything from the vaccination rate, hospital capacity, and domestic and international epidemiology to the impact of long-COVID, the economy, and other social impacts.
Catching up in class: After two years of pandemic disruptions that saw students learning in front of a computer instead of in class with their peers, teachers are embracing the guided play learning philosophy to help students recover.
AstraZeneca COVID-19 drug: AstraZeneca said its antibody-based cocktail to prevent and treat COVID-19 was shown to retain neutralizing activity against Omicron coronavirus variants, including the highly contagious BA.2 sub-variant, in an independent lab study.
Vaccine donations: Canada hasn’t donated half of the vaccine doses it already promised to make available from its own supplies, but International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan said it’s not the availability of doses getting in the way.
Coronavirus around the world
- Hong Kong is relaxing restrictions on international travellers as its COVID-19 outbreak appears to wane. Starting April 1, visitors will only have to quarantine for seven days, down from as long as three weeks. A ban on travel from nine countries – including Canada – will also be lifted.
- France reported an average of close to 90,000 new coronavirus infections over the last seven days, marking a 36 per cent rise from one week ago when most COVID-19 health protocol measures were lifted by the government.
- U.S. Justice Clarence Thomas does not have COVID-19, the Supreme Court said today. The court provided no additional information about the infection that put Thomas in the hospital on Friday, other than to say he is responding to intravenous antibiotics.
Coronavirus and business
A multi-sided legal showdown is currently under way over key technology in COVID vaccines, and three Canadian companies are embroiled in the disputes.
- A pile of recent legal filings pit Arbutus BioPharma Corp. and Genevant Sciences GmbH, both of which originated in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland, against Moderna Inc. And on Friday, a Vancouver-based Pfizer Inc. partner called Acuitas Therapeutics Inc. filed a lawsuit in Manhattan to ward off a separate legal challenge that Arbutus and Genevant had threatened against Pfizer.
Also today: A growing list of Calgary startups have tapped outside capital during the pandemic, turning the traditional oil and gas centre into one of Canada’s most promising technology hubs as well. The latest is Reach Ltd., a Calgary company that makes it easier for e-commerce companies to sell globally.
Globe opinion
- André Picard: With public restrictions all but gone, we’re left to fight COVID-19 on our own
- Linda Nazareth: The return to the office is under way, but it shouldn’t mean returning to life as we knew it before COVID-19
Information centre
- Everything you need to know about Canada’s travel restrictions for vaccinated and unvaccinated people
- Where do I book a COVID-19 booster or a vaccine appointment for my kids? Latest rules by province
- 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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