Today’s coronavirus news: Ottawa girds for another day of gridlock as truckers’ park-in protest rolls on

The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Sunday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.

8:19 am: Russia’s daily count of new coronavirus infections surged to more than 121,000 on Sunday, an eightfold increase compared to the beginning of the month as the highly contagious omicron variant spreads through the country.

The state coronavirus task force reported 121,288 new infections over the past 24 hours – an all-time high and 8,000 more than a day earlier. The country’s infection numbers have rocketed since early January, when only about 15,000 new cases per day were tallied.

The task force said 668 people died of COVID-19 in the past day, bringing Russia’s total fatality count for the pandemic to 330,728, by far the largest in Europe.

Despite the surging infections, authorities have avoided imposing any major restrictions to stem the surge, saying the health system has been coping with the influx of patients.

8:01 am: Concern about the mental health challenges of young Canadians has been growing during the nearly two years of disruptions and repeated isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But experts say we do not have the tools to properly assess the toll that the pandemic has taken on the mental health of Canadian kids. Creating standards for how mental health is measured could help grasp the scale of the problem.

Children’s Healthcare Canada, a national organization representing kids’ health-care providers, said children’s hospitals are reporting higher numbers of kids being admitted for suicide attempts, substance abuse and complex eating disorders.

Young Canadians reached out to Kids Help Phone about 4.6 million times in 2020, up from the 1.9 million connections in 2019, according to a report from the health service for youth.

Keith Dobson, professor of clinical psychology at the University of Calgary, said while certain metrics like hospitalizations and physician contacts are well-recorded, there are no standardized screening tools for mental health assessment in the country.

Dobson, who is also a researcher at the Mental Health Commission of Canada, said different groups and organizations, even within the same health-care system, will use different tools.

“That makes it really difficult to know what the rates are and how to compare them from place to place,” he said.

8 am: Residents of the national capital are again being told to avoid traveling downtown as a convoy of trucks and cars snarl traffic protesting government-imposed vaccine mandates and COVID-19 restrictions.

The truck traffic in the city’s core by Parliament Hill has made many streets downtown impassable to vehicles, police say.

Other streets have been closed and local police say they are working to mitigate the impacts of the gridlock on residents and businesses downtown.

It’s not clear when the convoy of vehicles plans end their park-in protest as some protesters have vowed not to move until all their demands are met.

Sitting in his truck, Scott Ocelak said he was warned he was locked into his spot until Sunday, but planned to stay until Tuesday at the latest.

The demonstration was initially aimed at denouncing vaccine mandates for truck drivers crossing the Canada-US border, but the movement has morphed into a protest against a variety of COVID-19 restrictions and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government.

Sunday 7:57 am: Across Southern California, Asian Americans are celebrating a second pandemic Lunar New Year, with the Year of the Tiger set to begin Tuesday – and that means adjusting long-held traditions.

Instead of dressing up for visits to vulnerable elders, young people are sharing wishes for good health on FaceTime. Some are sketching artwork or recording videos to send to grandparents they will not be seeing in person.

At the sprawling Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights, the crowds of worshipers who normally come to make new year’s wishes are absent, with only a few allowed to pray by appointment.

Others are taking calculated risks, attending outdoor festivals or feasting with a small group of family members.

Read Saturday’s coronavirus news.