The latest:
- Gathering limits loosened for most New Brunswick residents.
- Quebec premier to announce changes to restrictions.
- Ontario says 112 tickets issued this month in inspection blitz.
- EU vaccine export rules won’t affect shipments to Canada, says minister.
- Novavax vaccine applies for Health Canada approval.
- Moderna to cut deliveries to Canada in new blow to vaccination campaign.
Canada’s chief public health officer is highlighting the mental health impact that the pandemic has on front-line workers and stressed the importance of following public health measures to lessen that burden and to continue driving COVID-19 cases down.
“From health workers and public safety personnel, to teachers and workers in the food sector … the pandemic has shone a light on their dedication, teamwork and resilience in the face of adversity,” Dr. Theresa Tam said in a statement on Saturday.
“However, essential workers — who are themselves mothers and fathers, sons and daughters — are at risk of psychological distress, burnout and other challenges to their mental health and well-being, as they serve their communities while balancing the same complex challenges as all Canadians,” she added.
Tam noted that these reactions are normal considering the unprecedented circumstances, and she urged Canadians to support front-line workers by continuing to follow public health guidelines.
2/3 While surveillance data and modelling forecasts indicate community-based measures are having an effect, it is crucial that strong measures are kept in place in order to maintain a steady downward trend. YOU + <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/PublicHealth?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#PublicHealth</a>: <a href=”https://t.co/w27G7rHASE”>https://t.co/w27G7rHASE</a>
—@CPHO_Canada
“One of the most powerful ways we can continue to honour and support essential workers is by following local public health advice to the very best of our ability,” she said.
Tam also noted that “community-based measures are having an effect,” and nationwide data is showing a downward trend in new COVID-19 cases.
Meanwhile, International Trade Minister Mary Ng received assurances from the European Union that the bloc’s new, tighter rules on COVID-19 vaccine exports won’t affect Canada.
The EU unveiled its plans to tighten rules on exports of coronavirus vaccines produced inside the bloc amid fears some of the doses it secured from AstraZeneca could be diverted elsewhere. The measure could be used to block shipments to many non-EU countries and ensure that any exporting company based in the EU will first have to submit their plans to national authorities.
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Ng spoke to the EU’s executive vice-president in a phone call and emphasized “the importance of ensuring critical health and medical supply chains” to Canada, the minister’s press secretary told CBC News in an email.
“Minister Ng expressed continued expectations that the European Commission’s proposed export transparency mechanism will not affect vaccine shipments to Canada and again received repeated assurances that it will not.”
Separately, Novavax submitted an application to Health Canada for its COVID-19 vaccine.
The company said Thursday that its vaccine appears 89 per cent effective based on early findings from a British study and that it also seems to work — though not quite as well — against new mutated strains of the virus circulating in that country and South Africa.
What’s happening in Canada
As of 6 p.m. ET on Saturday, Canada had reported 775,048 cases of COVID-19, with 54,186 cases considered active. A CBC News tally of deaths stood at 19,942.
In British Columbia, some Whistler residents are calling for a ban on out-of-town visitors to the ski town amid a surge in cases, while others fear that doing so would adversely affect the community’s economy.
Alberta reported 383 new COVID-19 cases and 11 new deaths on Saturday. On Friday, Premier Jason Kenney said the province will begin loosening up its health measures on Feb. 8.
Saskatchewan saw 258 new cases and eight new deaths. The new figures come as the province said it will extend COVID-19 restrictions for three more weeks and its premier said no additional measures are needed.
Manitoba registered 166 new cases and two more deaths.
Ontario reported 2,063 new cases and 73 additional deaths.
Also on Saturday, the province announced that 112 tickets have been issued to businesses and individuals in its COVID-19 inspection blitz so far this year.
Quebec announced 1,367 new cases and 46 more deaths.
Meanwhile, Premier François Legault said on social media on Saturday that he plans to announce changes to Quebec’s COVID-19 restrictions on Tuesday, adding that he hopes to be able to relax some restrictions, particularly those around retail stores, if the situation permits.
New Brunswick registered 12 new cases and an additional death on Saturday.
Meanwhile, most residents can now expand their number of close contacts as the government loosened rules for parts of the province under orange-phase restrictions. However, the Moncton region and the Edmundston and Grand Falls region remain in the red phase and are in full lockdown.
Nova Scotia reported three new cases. Officials say all three are related to travel outside of Atlantic Canada and are currently self-isolating.
Newfoundland and Labrador saw no new cases. Meanwhile, health officials say it is postponing its plans to vaccinate people 75 years and older because of the reduced supply of the Moderna vaccine.
Nunavut added a new case, but its caseload remained the same after also reporting one new recovery.
What’s happening around the world
As of Saturday, more than 102.2 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, with 56.5 million of those considered recovered or resolved, according to a tracking tool maintained by Johns Hopkins University. The global death toll stood at just over 2.2 million.
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In Europe, France on Sunday will close its borders to all but essential travel to and from countries outside the European Union, while arrivals from within the bloc will have to show a negative COVID-19 test. Large shopping malls will be shut and police patrols increased to enforce a 6 p.m. curfew.
But President Emmanuel Macron has stopped short of ordering a new daytime lockdown, saying he wants to see first if other measures will be enough to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
In Asia, members of a World Health Organization team in China investigating the origins of the coronavirus pandemic have visited another Wuhan hospital that treated early coronavirus patients.
The facility was one of the city’s first to deal with patients suffering from a then-unknown virus and is a key part of the epidemiological history of the disease.
In the Americas, Cuban authorities said they will tighten measures against the spread of COVID-19, requiring tourists and others who visit the island to isolate at their own expense for several days until tests for the novel coronavirus come back negative.
Cuba had eased restrictions in November, opening airports to tourists and others, but the number of infections detected has risen sharply so far this month.
In Africa, Algeria launched its COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Saturday in the town where the country’s first case of infection with the coronavirus was confirmed last March.
A 65-year-old retiree got the first shot of Russia’s Sputnik-V vaccine at a hospital in the town of Blida. Vaccines will start being administered in all regions of the country on Sunday. The campaign is set to start with health-care workers, the elderly and other vulnerable populations.
