The latest:
Quebec has ordered new restrictions on bars and restaurants in coronavirus hot spots, while Ontario’s premier warned of a “more complex” second wave, as Canada’s two most-populous provinces saw big increases in COVID-19 cases.
Quebec, the province hit hardest by the novel coronavirus, will curb social gatherings in homes and limit bar and restaurant service to takeout for 28 days in Montreal and two other regions, Premier Francois Legault said. The province reported 750 new coronavirus cases on Monday.
“It’s time to take action,” Legault told reporters in Montreal. “The situation is at the limit.”
The restrictions, which start on Thursday in the three regions, will not close businesses or schools.
WATCH | Legault announces red alert level for Montreal, Quebec City and Chaudière-Appalaches:
Further restrictions in these regions start October 1. 2:55
But Legault introduced restrictions such as allowing only people living at the same address to be at the home at the same time. Libraries, movie theatres and museums will close and protesters will have to wear masks during demonstrations, he said.
Earlier on Monday, Ontario reported a record daily high of 700 cases, with a bit more than a day’s worth of samples still pending at labs. The number of patients in hospital was also rising steadily, reaching 128, data showed.
On Tuesday, the province reported 554 new infections, with Toronto leading case numbers at 251.
“We know that this wave will be more complicated, more complex. It will be worse than the first wave we faced earlier this year,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford told reporters in Toronto.
WATCH | Workplace, private gatherings source of many new COVID-19 cases, says specialist:
Targeting businesses to reduce transmission of the coronavirus may not be effective enough, says Dr. Michael Gardam, an infectious disease specialist at Women’s College Hospital. ‘A lot of the spread is in private gatherings,’ he said. 1:56
The Ontario Hospital Association called on the province to bring back restrictions in some regions on indoor dining and bars, places of worship, weddings, gyms and other non-essential businesses.
Canada garnered praise earlier this month after it reported zero coronavirus deaths for the first time since March. But health officials are now warning that some local authorities could be overwhelmed unless the wave of infections is curbed.
In Alberta, where cases have also been rising, the provincial government postponed dozens of surgeries and imposed visiting restrictions at a Calgary hospital because of an outbreak. Twenty-six patients and 27 staff have confirmed infections and more than 100 staffers are in isolation. Four patients have died.
WATCH | ‘We’re in the second wave,’ Ford says of COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario:
Ontario is now in the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Premier Doug Ford and health officials said Monday. 1:21
As of 11 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Canada had 155,856 confirmed or presumptive coronavirus cases. Provinces and territories listed 132,921 of those as recovered or resolved. A CBC News tally of deaths based on provincial reports, regional health information and CBC’s reporting stood at 9,318.
Cases of COVID-19 will likely continue to climb in Canada’s most populous provinces for a while even if people start to hunker down, experts say, because of the nature of the infection.
The effective reproductive number of COVID-19 in Canada continues to hover at 1.4, the Public Health Agency of Canada reported on Friday. That means for every 10 people who test positive for COVID-19, they’ll likely infect 14 others who then pass it on to 20 others and so on.
Christopher Labos, a physician in Montreal with an epidemiology degree, said the effective reproductive number also varies depending on the population in which a virus is spreading.
“If nothing changes, certainly it’ll keep rising and may even surpass a number of cases we had before,” Labos said.
What’s happening in the rest of Canada
Waiting for the public to develop “herd immunity” to COVID-19 is not a practical strategy to fight the pandemic, would put many lives at risk and possibly overload the health-care system, Alberta’s top doctor says.
Herd immunity, when a certain percentage of the public develops resistance to an illness, has been touted in some circles, including by a top adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, as a possible solution to the pandemic.
For COVID-19, estimates of that percentage range from 50 to 70 per cent of the population, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, said Monday at a news conference. Studies in Canada, she said, have estimated that only about one per cent or less of the population has been infected.
Hinshaw said she has heard suggestions that, because younger people are generally at low risk of severe outcomes, Alberta should protect older people but otherwise let the virus spread as quickly as possible to build up a collective immunity.
Amid a surge of coronavirus transmission in Ontario, some physicians warn the province’s plan to ramp up efforts to prevent new infections will fall short unless further measures are taken to clamp down on community spread.
WATCH | COVID-19: Are targeted restrictions enough to keep cases down?
An infectious disease specialist answers questions about the COVID-19 pandemic including if targeted restrictions will be enough to keep cases down. 4:04
The ongoing increase throughout September comes as Premier Doug Ford’s government rolls out a plan to boost testing capacity to 50,000 daily tests, while bringing on 1,000 more staff to manage cases and trace their contacts.
“We had an opportunity in the summer when case counts were low to really fine-tune our system around test, trace and isolate,” said Dr. Tara Kiran, a Toronto-based researcher and family physician.
“I think the recent spike in numbers shows we weren’t ready.”
Despite thousands of complaints of people not following COVID-19 restrictions, RCMP and Edmonton police have only handed out 40 tickets since the spring.
Alberta Health Services said it received 5,100 reports of a “concern about a business or public place that is not following restrictions,” between May 23 and Sept. 22.
Kerry Williamson, AHS spokesperson, said concerns are related to COVID-19 public health orders, including the two-metre physical distancing requirement and self-isolation.
RCMP Cpl. Deanna Fontaine, a media relations officer, said officers issued 20 tickets for violations under the Alberta Public Health Act or the Federal Quarantine Act between mid-May and end of September.
What’s happening around the world
According to Johns Hopkins University, the global total of confirmed coronavirus cases stands at more than 33.2 million, while over 22.9 million have recovered.
The worldwide death toll from the coronavirus has eclipsed one million, nine months into a crisis that has devastated the global economy, tested world leaders’ resolve, pitted science against politics and forced multitudes to change the way they live, learn and work.
“It’s not just a number. It’s human beings. It’s people we love,” Dr. Howard Markel, a professor of medical history at the University of Michigan who has advised government officials on containing pandemics and lost his 84-year-old mother to COVID-19 in February, said on Tuesday.
“It’s our brothers, our sisters. It’s people we know,” he said. “And if you don’t have that human factor right in your face, it’s very easy to make it abstract.”
The bleak milestone, recorded on Monday in the U.S. by Johns Hopkins, is greater than the population of Jerusalem or Austin, Texas. It is two-and-a-half times the sea of humanity that was at Woodstock in 1969. It is more than four times the number killed by the 2004 earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean.
South Korea appealed on Tuesday for strict physical distancing, despite a slight fall in the number of new coronavirus cases, with millions of people set to travel for a major holiday.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported 38 new infections by midnight on Monday, for a fifth day of double-digit increases, taking the national tally to 23,699 cases, with 407 deaths.
The numbers came a day after the daily tally fell to its lowest since new virus clusters emerged last month at a church and a major political rally, leading to more than 1,800 infections.
Authorities are concerned by a COVID-19 outbreak aboard a cargo ship off Australia’s northwest coast that has infected most of the crew.
Eight more members of the Filipino crew tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Monday, bringing the number of infections to 17 out of a crew of 21.
Seven of the infected sailors remained aboard the Liberia-flagged bulk carrier Patricia Oldendorff, which is anchored off Port Hedland, a major iron ore export terminal, Western Australia State Health Minister Roger Cook said on Tuesday.
Colombia will extend selective quarantines for the duration of October, President Ivan Duque said in a nightly address on Monday, and urged citizens to avoid meeting in large groups.
The country began more than five months of lockdown in March. It entered a much-looser “selective” quarantine phase — allowing dining at restaurants and international flights — at the start of September.
Colombia has reported 818,203 infections of the novel coronavirus, as well as 25,641 deaths.
Mexico’s confirmed coronavirus cases rose to 733,717 on Monday, according to updated data from the health ministry, along with a total reported death toll of 76,603.
Authorities reported 3,400 new cases along with 173 deaths on Monday, but the true figures are likely significantly higher because of little testing.
The NFL says the Tennessee Titans and Minnesota Vikings are suspending in-person activities after the Titans had three players test positive for the coronavirus, along with five other personnel. The Titans had played the Vikings on Sunday.
The league said Tuesday that both clubs are working closely with the NFL and the players’ union, including their infectious disease experts, on tracing contacts, more testing and monitoring developments.
The Titans first announced Tuesday morning they would be working remotely “out of an abundance of caution” after several test results came back positive. They beat the Vikings in Minnesota 31-30 on Sunday without outside linebackers coach Shane Bowen after a test result Saturday.
