The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world on Monday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
6 a. M. The World Health Organization is urging countries not to impose flight bans on southern African nations due to concerns about the new omicron variant.
The WHO regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, called on countries to follow international scientific and health standards to avoid the use of travel restrictions.
The WHO commended South Africa for following international health regulations and reporting to WHO as soon as its national laboratory identified the Omicron variant.
Cases of the omicron variant appeared in countries on opposite sides of the world on Sunday and many governments rushed to close their borders.
Many countries, including Canada, have announced plans to ban travel from South Africa and seven other southern African countries.
5:55 am For the past four months, Soji Adesokun’s children have been anxiously asking when they too would get vaccinated against COVID-19.
That wait came to an end Thursday when Ruth, 10, and Philip, 6, were among the first children in Toronto to be hit at a school clinic.
“They know what COVID is, they know it’s dangerous, and they know the vaccine is supposed to help,” Adesokun said, as she picked up her children after school in St. Francis de Sales, near Jane and Finch, a neighborhood that it has been a hot spot for COVID-19 infection rates.
That school was one of three that launched vaccination clinics for children ages 5 to 11. More will be operational in the coming weeks, with a total of 230 school clinics serving 390 schools in 34 priority neighborhoods.
Read more from Star’s Isabel Teotonia: School Vaccination Clinics for Children Start Rolling Out in Toronto, But Not All Parents Are On Board
5:45 am Ontario’s medical director of health is scheduled to speak to the media this morning, after the first two cases of a worrisome new variant of COVID-19 were detected in the province in Canada.
Dr. Kieran Moore is expected to talk about the cases of the Omicron variant, which were found in patients in Ottawa who had recently been to Nigeria.
The World Health Organization warned that the variant could be more contagious than others. It was first detected in South Africa and has been linked to an increase in cases there.
On Friday, the federal government banned visitors from seven southern African countries in an effort to prevent the variant from crossing into Canada, but Nigeria was not among them.
The province has asked Ottawa to implement COVID-19 testing at the point of arrival for all people entering Canada, regardless of their origin, rather than simply requiring them to be tested before leaving for Canada.
5:40 am British Columbia children ages five to 11 can start getting pediatric COVID-19 vaccine shots today.
Provincial health official Dr. Bonnie Henry said last week that some 350,000 children are eligible to receive the modified dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine approved by Health Canada.
Health Canada approved the pediatric injection for use in Canada after an independent scientific review confirmed that the first vaccine formulated for younger children is safe and effective.
5:35 am Nova Scotia has established what is believed to be Canada’s first 24-hour helpline exclusively for men in response to an urgent need that arose as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.
Shortly after the province was closed in March 2020, officials noted that a growing number of men were calling the province’s 211 service, which offers information on government and community services.
“Service providers were saying, ‘Something is happening here,'” says Nancy MacDonald, executive director of Family Service of Eastern Nova Scotia.
It soon became clear that more men were actively seeking help as they struggled with job losses, relationship breakdowns, loneliness, anger, and the added stress and anxiety caused by the pandemic.
“We all hear the same thing: men are vulnerable, men suffer, men are socially isolated, men are dramatically affected by job losses and the shutdown of informal social media,” says MacDonald.
05:30 am Dutch military police arrested a husband and wife on Sunday who had left a hotel where they were in quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19 and boarded a plane.
Local media reported that the couple were trying to fly home to Spain.
A spokeswoman for the local security authority covering Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport said on Monday that it was being investigated whether the couple had committed a crime and should be prosecuted.
“Quarantine is not mandatory, but we assume that people will act responsibly,” said spokeswoman Petra Faber. “But there was a couple who wanted to go home and they tried to fly home.”
5:15 am Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says Canada supports the development of a new global convention on pandemic preparedness and response to be discussed today at a special meeting of the World Health Assembly.
It is only the second time in its history that the group has held such an emergency summit.
If member countries agree, the assembly will go to work developing what would essentially serve as an international treaty on pandemic preparedness.
The idea is to prevent another global crisis like the one posed by COVID-19 and its new, more transmissible variants.
Duclos, who would serve as the federal government’s chief delegate, says the convention would help countries collaborate and allow Canada to more easily share its experience on the world stage.
5 am Portuguese health authorities said Monday they have identified 13 cases of Omicron, the new variant of the coronavirus believed to be most contagious, among team members of a professional soccer club.
The Ricardo Jorge National Institute of Health said Monday that one of those who tested positive at the Lisbon-based Belenenses soccer club had recently traveled to South Africa, where the Omicron variant was first identified.
The others, however, had not traveled to South Africa, indicating that this may be one of the first cases of local transmission of the virus outside of southern Africa.
Those who have been in contact with the positive cases have been ordered to isolate themselves, regardless of their vaccination status or exposure to possible contagion, and will be regularly tested for COVID-19, the institute said.
4:45 am As cases of a new variant of the coronavirus are confirmed around the world, Japan announced Monday that it will suspend entry for all foreign visitors, joining an increasing number of countries that are tightening their borders as they move. spreads the fear of a new extent of pandemic suffering.
Japan, which has yet to detect any cases of the recently identified omicron variant, reimposed border controls that it eased earlier this month for business visitors, foreign students and short-term workers.
However, despite global concern, scientists cautioned that it is not yet clear whether Omicron is more dangerous than other versions of a virus that has killed more than 5 million people. Some countries continue with previous plans to relax restrictions, with signs of reopening in Malaysia, Singapore and New Zealand.
“We are taking the step as an emergency precaution to avoid the worst case scenario in Japan,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said of the move that begins Tuesday. Japan has kept its border closed to foreign tourists from all nations.
4:30 am The World Health Organization is opening a special session of long-planned member states to discuss ways to strengthen the global fight against pandemics like the coronavirus, just as the worrying new variant of Omicron has sparked immediate concerns around the world. .
In the wake of diplomatic disputes, a draft resolution at the special World Health Assembly falls short of calling for work to specifically establish a “pandemic treaty” or a “legally binding instrument” sought by some, which could reinforce the international response when – no if – a new pandemic breaks out.
Member states of the European Union and others had sought language asking to work toward a treaty, but the United States and some other countries responded that the essence of any agreement must be resolved first before such a document is given a name. A “treaty” would suggest a legally binding agreement that would require ratification, and would likely engage in internal political bargaining in some countries.
4:20 am The Scottish government has announced the discovery of six new cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus, bringing the UK total to nine.
He said Monday that he asked public health authorities to conduct better contact tracing in all cases.
Scottish Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said authorities must be “cautious” until more is known about the variant.
Over the weekend, health authorities found three cases of the variant, prompting the British government to tighten the rules on the use of masks and testing of arrivals to the country.
4:10 am French authorities await laboratory confirmation of eight suspected cases of the new variant of the coronavirus on Monday, involving people who recently traveled to southern Africa.
The tests already carried out determined that the travelers were positive for the virus, but not for one of its previous variants. Follow-up genetic testing was being done to see if they were infected with the new omicron variant.
The Health Ministry said late Sunday that the results could take several days.
If confirmed, they would be France’s first known cases of the omicron variant.
Reference-www.thestar.com