Good evening, here are the COVID-19 updates you need to know tonight.
Top headlines:
- Paxlovid, an oral antiviral treatment for COVID-19, is now available in Canada, but several factors are keeping it out of the hands of those who need it the most.
- If you are feeling ready to head out on the town again after a while, be prepared – prices have risen. A lot.
- In opinion: There’s a lot of discussion around making COVID-19 endemic. There are far fewer conversations around who will be responsible for caregiving in that scenario.
There were 280 deaths announced, up 4 per cent over the same period. At least 4,793 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
Diners fill the seats at a restaurant on Queen Street West in Toronto, April 1. As people return to pre-pandemic activities, they're finding the prices have gone up.Galit Rodan/The Globe and Mail
Coronavirus in Canada
- There’s a slight increase in hospitalizations and ICU patients in Ontario from Thursday, as well as six deaths from the virus.
- Quebec saw more hospitalizations, and said the province expects the current wave to last two more weeks, with Dr. Boileau saying the mask mandate could likely be lifted at the end of the month.
- B.C. has ended its vaccine card requirements, but some doctors believe this happened too soon, comparing the decision to England where restrictions were lifted too early and people were reinfected with COVID-19.
As provinces and territories dropped health protections, one of the reasons cited was the availability of COVID-19 antiviral medications like Paxlovid. But it looks like the treatment is being used sparingly, if at all, due to several factors.
- Narrow criteria for who can be given the drug and an often complex process for seeking a prescription and getting it dispensed means that more than 90 per cent of the oral antiviral treatment is sitting unused as a sixth wave sweeps the country.
- “I would say it’s critical at this point in time to increase access for the public,” Jen Belcher, vice-president of strategic initiatives and member relations at the Ontario Pharmacists Association told health reporter Carly Weeks.
Health: Health care practitioners are warning of another concern on the horizon, as STI rates have increased significantly across the country over the course of the pandemic. Syphilis is multiplying aggressively across much of the country, while in Newfoundland and Labrador, more gonorrhea cases were reported in the first three months of this year than for all of 2019.
Coronavirus around the world
- A growing number of cities in China are requiring truck drivers to take daily COVID-19 PCR tests before allowing them to cross borders, stymying an already clogged supply chain from factories to ports.
- Moderna recalled 764,900 doses of its COVID-19 vaccine in Europe out of “an abundance of caution” after a vial was found contaminated by a foreign body.
- About 1 in 13 people had a COVID-19 infection in England, Scotland and Wales last week, the Office for National Statistics estimates.
- Canada is donating another $220-million to the COVAX global vaccine sharing alliance, bring the country’s total monetary donation to COVAX to about $700 million.
Coronavirus and business
If springtime and lifted health restrictions have you feeling like hitting the town for the first time in about two years, just make sure you’re ready for the price tag.
- As Erica Alini writes, across a wide variety of sectors – from restaurants to concert venues – prices are significantly higher than they were in 2020, and consumers are reeling from the surprise.
- Some are taking these cost increases in stride, pointing to how much they’ve saved by not going out over the past two years, while others are continuing the pandemic trend of rethinking how they spend their time, and yes, their money.
Also today: Recreational cannabis sales boomed in Canada during the pandemic. From March 2020 to February 2021, sales totalled $2.5-billion, double the $1.25-billion of the previous 12 months.
And: Businesses across Canada are struggling to cope with an apparent sixth wave of COVID-19, as staffing shortages hamper sectors from health care to hospitality and manufacturing.
Globe opinion
- Emily Bass: “If COVID-19 becomes endemic, women will bear the burden”
- Niall Ferguson: “Why disasters – from wars to plagues – seem to happen all at once”
Information centre
- Everything you need to know about Canada’s travel rules 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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