Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world on Monday

 

   

• The lastest:
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• The provinces are reimposing restrictions as officials worry about an increase in hospitalizations and deaths.
• Montreal, Quebec City under new restrictions as Quebec tries to fend off the second wave of COVID-19.
• Another student tests positive on the Waterloo Region District School Board.
• People of color account for 66% of Ottawa's COVID-19 cases.
• All remaining virus restrictions will be lifted in much of New Zealand.
• More than 200 asylum seekers test positive for coronavirus in Greece.

The provinces are re-imposing restrictions on meetings as health officials worry that further increases in COVID-19 cases could lead to an equivalent increase in hospital patients or deaths in the coming weeks.

At 11:30 a.m. ET on Monday, Canada had 144,662 confirmed or suspected cases of coronavirus. The provinces and territories numbered 125,204 of those that recovered or resolved. A CBC News death count based on provincial reports, regional health information, and CBC reports stood at 9,258.

During the past week, when Prime Minister Doug Ford and his government imposed new restrictions on private gatherings, Ontario reported an average of 335 new confirmed COVID-19 infections per day. That's triple the rate of the last week of August.

So far, the increase in hospitalizations is not so pronounced. There were 63 patients with confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ontario hospitals as of Sunday. The hospitalization rate reached its lowest point in the third week of August, with a daily average of 38 patients in beds throughout the province.

Ontario reported 425 additional cases of COVID-19 on Monday, the most in a single day in three and a half months.

In keeping with recent trends, most of the new infections were concentrated in three public health units. Toronto saw 175, while Peel confirmed 84 and Ottawa 60.

However, hospitalizations and deaths are what epidemiologists call "lagging indicators" of the impact of a pandemic: those numbers are not seen to increase until long after the infections are transmitted.

"Unfortunately, it's just a matter of time," said Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease physician at Toronto General Hospital.

This comes as Ontario pediatricians say their requests for financial and logistical support needed to carry out more flu shots during the pandemic have so far been neglected and they fear an "imminent crisis" is looming.

"Right now, Public Health seems to look forward to the status quo of years past, when individual medical offices and scattered flu clinics administered the flu vaccine," said an online petition launched on Change.org Saturday by the pediatric section. from the Ontario Medical Association.

Public health officials and healthcare experts have stressed the importance of getting a flu shot this year to avoid further burdening the healthcare system during the pandemic.

After Ontario imposed renewed restrictions, residents of Montreal and Quebec City are urged to reduce their social activities to a minimum and face a series of new restrictions as the provincial government tries to stem a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases. 

The two largest cities in Quebec, and the Chaudière-Appalaches region, which lies south of Quebec City, are under "moderate alert" as of midnight Sunday.

That's the orange alert level, or the second-highest, under the province's regional system for categorizing the danger posed by the coronavirus.