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.
8:17 am: The first signs of a COVID-19 resurgence are emerging in the northeastern US, with cases increasing in seven of the region’s nine states, including New York.
8:17 am: The Netherlands is about to return to a partial lockdown, the national broadcaster NOS News reported.
8:16 am: Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday called on all unvaccinated Germans to get vaccinated as quickly as possible as the country’s coronavirus infection rate hit the latest in a series of new highs and the death toll was growing.
“If we stick together, if we think about protecting ourselves and taking care of each other, we can save our country a lot this winter,” Merkel said on her weekly podcast.
Even so, the chancellor warned that “we have some very difficult weeks ahead of us.”
Germany’s disease control center said the country’s infection rate rose to 277.4 new cases per 100,000 residents over seven days, up from 263.7 the day before.
The Robert Koch Institute reported 45,081 new infections, two days after the daily total surpassed 50,000 for the first time.
Another 228 deaths from COVID-19 brought Germany’s total in the pandemic so far to 97,617.
While the infection rate is still not as high as in other European countries, its relentless rise in Germany has sounded the alarm bells. Outgoing Chancellor Merkel plans to meet with the country’s 16 state governors to coordinate measures at the national level next week, and Parliament is mulling legislation that would provide a new legal framework for restrictions during the winter.
8:16 am: Russia reports a new high daily number of deaths from COVID-19, while the total number of coronavirus infections during the pandemic in the country has exceeded 9 million.
The rise in daily deaths and infections that began in mid-September appeared to stabilize over the past week, but the national coronavirus task force said Saturday that a record 1,241 people died from the virus in the past day, two more than the previous record reported. On Wednesday.
The task force said 39,256 new infections were recorded, bringing the country’s total cases to 9.03 million.
Russia imposed a “no work” week in early November, shutting down many businesses, with the aim of stemming the rise of the virus.
Two bills describing new restriction measures were presented in Parliament on Friday, with the goal of taking them into effect next year. They would restrict access to many public places, as well as domestic and international trains and flights, to those who have been fully vaccinated, recovered from COVID-19, or are medically exempt from vaccination.
The rise in infections and deaths comes amid low vaccination rates, lax public attitudes toward taking precautions, and the government’s reluctance to tighten restrictions. Less than 40% of Russia’s nearly 146 million people have been fully vaccinated, even though the country approved a nationally developed COVID-19 vaccine months earlier than most of the world.
In all, the coronavirus task force has reported more than 254,000 deaths, by far the highest death toll in Europe. Some experts believe that the true figure is even higher. Reports from Russia’s statistical service Rosstat that the coronavirus-related death count retroactively reveals a much higher mortality: 462,000 people with COVID-19 died between April 2020 and September this year.
8:15 am: British Columbia has reported 992 new COVID-19 cases diagnosed in the past two days and 23 more deaths, bringing the death toll in the province to 2,257.
The Health Ministry says there are 4,265 active infections in BC with 384 people in the hospital, including 124 in intensive care.
Fraser Health has the highest number of active infections with 1,575, followed by Interior Health with 862, Northern Health with 645, Island Health with 614 and 510 in the Vancouver Coastal Health Region.
There are 25 health care centers with active COVID-19 outbreaks, including new outbreaks at Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops.
The ministry says 86.5 percent of eligible British Columbia residents have received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 90.6 percent have received their first dose.
It says unvaccinated people accounted for nearly 62 percent of the 383 hospitalizations between Oct. 28 and Nov. 10, while partially vaccinated people accounted for seven percent and two-dose people 31.1 percent. .
8:15 am: Internal government documents provide the clearest picture yet of the impact emergency aid is having on federal support for seniors and low-income families.
Thousands of benefit recipients have seen a decrease in the value of payments because they received the Canada Emergency Response Benefit or its successor, the Canada Recovery Benefit, last year.
The documents show that low-income families were expected to experience the steepest drops in support through Canada’s child allowance, and federal officials say that around 83,000 low-income seniors have lost the guaranteed income supplement.
Documents obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act provide a window into early warnings about how financial assistance offered by pandemic recovery benefits last year now recovers payments on which millions of households depended. Canadians.
The reason is that the CERB and a trio of other government recovery benefits: the CRB for unemployed workers, a care benefit for anyone who stays home to care for a child or loved one, and a sickness benefit for sick workers are counted as income. for the purposes of calculating benefit amounts. As revenues increased, profit values decreased.
Read the full story from Canadian Press.
Reference-www.thestar.com