The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world on Saturday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
8:46 am: Goodbye, eggnog, shrimp cocktail, and pet-shaped sugar cookies.
This year has been a less joyous Christmas scene at the White House in the shadow of COVID-19. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden have replaced the crowded parties and overflowing buffet tables of the past with food-free open houses, face masks and tests for the unvaccinated.
Beyond the impact on Biden’s first Christmas in office, the virus and its variants caused a stir across the White House social scene by 2021, beginning with an inauguration that placed flags instead of people on the National Mall.
“I think it’s been really tough for them,” said Philip Dufour, who was Vice President Al Gore’s social secretary. He noted that many events did not take place while the president and the first lady did others about Zoom.
Major social events removed from the calendar included the White House Ball for the nation’s governors and the Easter Egg Roll, the second year in a row the spring ritual has been canceled.
The Democratic president also has to toast a foreign counterpart at a glitzy state dinner at the White House because he has yet to invite a world leader for a state visit. In fact, it took months before Biden was able to welcome a foreign leader to the Oval Office for even more low-key conversations.
Still, the White House managed to hold some events despite the pandemic, such as the signing of bills and the Medal of Honor ceremonies. The Bidens also hosted large receptions for Hanukkah and for artists recognized by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
But the pandemic’s biggest hit to the calendar came at Christmas, forcing the White House to review its Christmas entertainment and cut the guest list.
8:45 am: Christmas Day for many Canadians this year means fewer people gathered around a sparkling tree opening presents, but others say COVID-19 hasn’t changed their vacation plans.
Several provinces have reported record daily infection counts and health officials have urged people to cut back on gatherings.
They say the fast-spreading Omicron variant is driving the rise.
Quebec reported a record of just over 10,000 cases on Christmas Eve, and Ontario broke its highest count with nearly 9,571.
British Columbia announced a new record of 2,144 infections and Manitoba broke its record with 742.
Nunavut, with eight infections in various communities, ordered a total closure in the territory.
8:45 am: Airlines ruled out more than 1,600 US flights for one of the busiest travel weekends of the year, stranding passengers over the Christmas holidays as rising COVID infections led to a crippling crew shortage.
The global count of abandoned flights exceeded 5,400 trips from Friday to Sunday, according to data tracker FlightAware.com. China Eastern had the most cancellations, with the most affected airport in the Chinese city of Xi’an, where the Beijing government cracked down on its COVID Zero policy after an outbreak.
Delta Air Lines Inc.’s 479 cancellations for the holiday weekend led the US industry, data from FlightAware showed, followed closely by United Airlines Holdings Inc., with 474 flights removed from their vacation itineraries. JetBlue Airways Corp. cut 50 flights on Friday, or 7% of its schedule, and plans at least 120 cancellations on Saturday, according to FlightAware.
For Christmas Day specifically, about 820 US flights have been canceled so far.
The travel grunts underscored the scope of the omicron COVID variant that is driving the U.S. case count higher, increasing nearly sixfold in just one week to become the dominant domestic strain. United said in an email Thursday that an omicron jump was limiting the availability of flight crews and ground personnel. Delta attributed its outages to a combination of reasons, including COVID.
8:45 am: Australia’s two most populous states reported an increase in COVID-19 infections, with New South Wales registering the most new cases within a 24-hour period from the start of the pandemic.
8:45 am: Hundreds of thousands of people in the Philippines, Asia’s largest Roman Catholic nation, celebrated Christmas on Saturday without homes, adequate food and water, electricity and phone connections after a powerful typhoon killed at least 375 people last week and devastated most of the central island provinces.
Elsewhere, New Zealanders celebrate Christmas in the heat of midsummer with few restrictions, in one of the few countries in the world largely unaffected by the omicron variant of COVID-19.
Australia is celebrating the holiday amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, worse than at any stage of the pandemic, which has forced states to reinstate mandates for masks and other measures.
And to add more pain to travelers, airlines around the world canceled hundreds of flights due to the omicron variant mixing up schedules and reducing staffing levels.
According to FlightAware, there are more than 3,900 flights canceled on Fridays and Saturdays, with about half of the cancellations by Chinese airlines. About 30% of the affected flights, more than 1,100, were to, from or within the US This is still a small fraction of global flights. FlightAware says it has tracked more than 100,000 arrivals in the last 24 hours.
8: 45 am: Pope Francis prayed Saturday for an end to the coronavirus pandemic, using his Christmas Day address to urge health care for all, vaccinations for the poor and for dialogue to prevail to resolve the world’s conflicts.
Amid a record surge in COVID-19 cases in Italy this week, only a few thousand people flocked to a rain-soaked St. Peter’s Square for Francisco’s annual “Urbi et Orbi” (“For the city and the world “). Christmas address. Normally, the square would be packed with tens of thousands of partygoers.
At least they could meet this year. The blockade of the 2020 holidays in Italy forced Francis to deliver a televised address from inside the Apostolic Palace to prevent crowds from forming in the square. Although Italy this week counted more than 50,000 cases in a single day for the first time, the government has not ordered another shutdown.
The Pope’s speech on Christmas Day gives him the opportunity to draw the attention of a global audience to conflicts large and small. This year was no different. Francis lamented the ongoing conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Iraq, the new tensions in Ukraine and Ethiopia and an “unprecedented crisis” in Lebanon.
“We have become so used to them (the conflicts) that now immense tragedies are being silently overlooked; we run the risk of not hearing the cry of pain and anguish from so many of our brothers and sisters, “he said from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica as the Swiss guards stood firm in the square below.
Francis warned of the pandemic’s tendency to retreat and isolate itself, urging instead dialogue to try to resolve global conflicts. He prayed in particular for those most affected by the virus, including women and children who have suffered an increase in abuse during the confinements.
Reference-www.thestar.com