The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world on Sunday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
7:30 am: The reduced capacity limits are now in effect in certain locations in Ontario where proof of vaccination is required, including arenas, stadiums, concert halls and theaters.
Dr. Kieran Moore, chief medical officer for health, says the change is due to key public health measures stabilizing in recent days.
The province says capacity limits at outdoor events where people stand will increase to 75 percent of capacity or 15,000 people, whichever is less.
Indoor cinemas, concert halls, sporting events, banquet halls, convention centers, race venues, and movie studios will have a capacity limit of up to 50 percent or 10,000 people, whichever be less.
That means more game fans for the Toronto Blue Jays when they take on the New York Yankees in a crucial three-game game next week as they chase a berth in the playoffs.
More fans will also be allowed at the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs games as the NHL preseason begins soon.
6:35 am: Israel is pushing ahead with its aggressive campaign to offer coronavirus boosters to almost anyone over the age of 12 and says its approach was further justified by the United States’ decision to administer the injections to older patients or those at higher risk.
Israeli officials credit the booster vaccine, which has already been given to about a third of the population, with helping to suppress the latest wave of COVID-19 infections in the country. They say the different approaches are based on the same understanding that reinforcement is the right way to go, and they expect the US and other countries to expand their campaigns in the coming months.
“The decision reinforced our results that the third dose is safe,” said Dr. Nadav Davidovitch, director of the school of public health at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University and president of the country’s public health physicians association. “The main issue now is prioritization.”
The World Health Organization has called for a moratorium on boosters until at least the end of the year so that more people in poor countries can get their first two doses, but Israeli officials say the booster vaccine is just as important in preventing infections. .
“We know for a fact that the current system of vaccine nationalism is hurting us all and creating variants,” said Davidovitch, who is also a member of an Israeli government expert panel. But he added that the problem is “much broader than Israel.”
6 am: People who choose not to receive the COVID-19 vaccine due to personal preferences or “unique beliefs” are not entitled to accommodations under Ontario human rights law, the province’s rights watchdog says.
The decision to get vaccinated is voluntary, and a “person who chooses not to get vaccinated based on personal preferences is not entitled to accommodation under the (Human Rights Code),” the Ontario Human Rights Commission said this week in a document. Politics. discuss vaccine mandate limits and proof of vaccination requirements.
While human rights law prohibits discrimination based on creeds: someone’s religion or a non-religious belief system that shapes their identity, worldview and way of life – Personal preferences or unique beliefs do not amount to a creed, the commission said, adding that “it is not aware of any court or judicial decision that determines that a unique belief against vaccines or masks equates to a creed in the sense Of code”.
Furthermore, even if someone can show that they have been denied service or employment because of their creed, “the duty to adapt does not necessarily require that you be exempt from the COVID vaccination, certification or testing requirements,” the commission said. “The duty to adapt may be limited if it significantly compromises health and safety amounting to undue hardship, such as during a pandemic.”
Read more from Jim Rankin from Star.
05:30 am: When Wongalwethu Mbanjwa tried to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and found that his local center was closed, a friend told him there was another option: to get one on the train.
So did Prisoner.
Not just any train, but the South African vaccine train, which has now headed to the small town of Swartkops on the southern coast of the country. With doctors, nurses and most importantly vaccine doses, it is on a mission to bring vaccines closer to people in small towns and poorer parts of South Africa, which has the highest number of coronavirus infections on the continent with more than 2.8 million.
The train is parked at Swartkops railway station, the first stop on a three-month journey through the poor Eastern Cape province. It will spend approximately two consecutive weeks in seven stations in the province to vaccinate as many people as possible.
The state railway company Transnet launched the program to help the government roll out. The initiative aims to tackle two of the government’s biggest challenges: taking doses beyond big cities to areas where healthcare facilities are limited, and trying to convince people who doubt in those areas to get vaccinated.
The train, called Transvaco, can hold up to 108,000 doses of vaccines in ultra-cold refrigerators. It has nine coaches, among which are accommodation coaches and a kitchen and dining area for staff, a vaccination area and doctor’s offices.
5 am: British Columbia has reached the 80 percent mark with the number of eligible residents who have received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The province says it compares to nearly 88 percent of people who have been vaccinated with their starting dose.
It says BC registered 743 new cases on Friday and that three-quarters of those diagnosed between Sept. 16-22 were not fully vaccinated.
Seven more people have died from the infection, with a total of 1,922 deaths since the pandemic began.
The province says that after factoring in age, people who are not vaccinated are nearly 26 times more likely to be hospitalized than those who are fully vaccinated.
Reference-www.thestar.com