Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world Tuesday
CBC News | Posted: October 27, 2020 12:05 PM | Last Updated: October 28, 2020
Canada reaches 10,000 COVID-19 related deaths
The latest:
- Canada reaches 10,000 reported COVID-19 related deaths.
- Manitoba continues to see steady rise in COVID-19 related deaths linked to hospital outbreak.
- Ontario reports 827 new COVID-19 cases, testing levels drop to about half of capacity.
- Quebec's Premier remains hopeful for Christmas despite 963 new COVID-19 cases.
- New cases dip in Alberta.
- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calls pandemic a 'horrific national tragedy.'
- Germany's health-care system could reach 'breaking point,' Angela Merkel says.
- Greece's education minister tests positive for coronavirus.
- Have a coronavirus question or news tip for CBC News? Email us at COVID@cbc.c
Canada reached a grim milestone on Tuesday with 10,000 reported deaths from COVID-19.
Statistics Canada says the number of deaths due to COVID-19 could be under-reported especially at the start of the pandemic when some individuals died before they were tested. Indirect effects such as missed medical interventions or more substance use could also contribute to the true toll of lives lost.
While 10,000 deaths is a significant milestone, per capita that amounts to about one death for every 3,800 Canadians. Over 70 per cent of deaths from COVID-19 occurred in those aged over 80 — about twice the average of rates from other developed countries.
Statistics Canada also noted that death estimates are provisional because of provincial and territorial reporting delays.
Regional disparities also need to be taken into account when examining the total number of deaths from COVID-19 in Canada, as almost 80 per cent of cases and more than 90 per cent of deaths have been reported by Ontario and Quebec.
While 10,000 deaths is a significant milestone, per capita that amounts to about one death for every 3,800 Canadians. Over 70 per cent of deaths from COVID-19 occurred in those aged over 80 — about twice the average of rates from other developed countries.
Statistics Canada also noted that death estimates are provisional because of provincial and territorial reporting delays.
Regional disparities also need to be taken into account when examining the total number of deaths from COVID-19 in Canada, as almost 80 per cent of cases and more than 90 per cent of deaths have been reported by Ontario and Quebec.
In Manitoba, three more people have died as the province recorded 184 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, setting a new record for the most cases in a single day, according to public health officials. Two of the people who died, a man in his 80s and a woman in her 80s, are connected to the outbreak at St. Boniface Hospital, while the third, a woman in her 60s, is connected to the Parkview Place care home outbreak.
There are now 83 people in hospital — three more than on Monday — and 15 people are in intensive care.
The latest numbers come the day after Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin and Chief Nursing Officer Lanette Siragusa warned that rapidly rising COVID-19 cases are straining the province's health system.
WATCH | Immediate changes needed at Winnipeg's long-term care home:
Alberta's Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Monday that while she has often spoken about the need to "balance between minimizing the risk of COVID-19 and minimizing the risk of harms of restrictions," the province is now "losing the balance we have been seeking."
The temporary measure, which caps attendance at 15 for events where people will be "mixing and mingling" like parties and baby showers, applies in the Calgary and Edmonton areas.
The province saw a dip in new cases with a total of 422 reported on Tuesday, down 82 from the day before.
The death toll now sits at 309, up two from Monday. The two most recent people to die were a woman in her 70s from Edmonton and a man in his 90s from the Edith Cavell Care Centre.
Alberta has reported 25,733 cases since the pandemic began, with 4,738 of those listed as active cases. As of Sunday, health officials reported 118 people were being treated in Alberta hospitals, with 16 of those in ICU.
WATCH | Hinshaw explains Alberta's new cohort recommendations:
No new deaths were reported in British Columbia on Tuesday though officials announced 217 more cases of COVID-19, bringing the total active cases to 2,322.
There are currently 84 people in B.C. hospitals, with 27 in intensive care. Hospitalizations, which typically lag behind spikes and dips in new cases, are up by nine from last Friday, when 75 people were in hospital.
What's happening across Canada
As of 9:13 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Canada had 222,887 confirmed or presumptive coronavirus cases. Provinces and territories listed 186,464 of those as recovered or resolved. A CBC News tally of deaths based on provincial reports, regional health information and CBC's reporting stood at 10,001.
As the country reached 10,000 deaths due to COVID-19 on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the pandemic a "horrific national tragedy," and warned that Canadians should brace for more.
"Families have lost loved ones, been devastated by these tragedies, and we need to know that there are more tragedies to come," he told a briefing in Ottawa.
WATCH | Trudeau urges Canadians to download COVID notification app:
Saskatchewan reported 58 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing the total number of reported cases in the province to 2,841, with 652 of those considered active cases.
The province's health authority is also notifying the public of a potential coronavirus exposure at multiple businesses located in North Battleford, Regina, Saskatoon, Weyburn and Yorkton.
In Ontario, a region west of Toronto is waiting for word on whether tougher measures will be imposed by the province as part of the effort to fight COVID-19. Dr. David Williams, the province's chief medical officer, said while neither he nor Halton Region's local medical officer are ready to make a decision on tighter measures for the area, they will be watching case counts and other metrics closely in the coming days.
Ontario reported 827 new cases on Tuesday, with four new deaths. As of 10:30 a.m. ET, health officials said there were 312 people hospitalized in the province, with 75 in ICU.
WATCH | Uncertainty around Ontario's rising cases:
A day after Quebec Premier François Legault extended restrictions for those living in so-called red zones until Nov. 23, Legault said there could be some allowances, however slight, for the holiday season if the coronavirus is contained.
"For Christmas, I really hope and I'm confident that in 28 days, we'll be able to maybe not have big parties for Christmas, but to be able to see our families," he said.
According to provincial data, there were 527 people in hospital and 91 in ICU. In the past 24 hours, the province reported 963 new cases, bringing the total number of people infected to 101,885.
In Atlantic Canada, Nova Scotia reported one new case of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the total active cases in the province to six.
P.E.I. reported no new cases and one active case Tuesday. Dr. Heather Morrison, P.E.I.'s chief public health officer, said the province has so far been spared the "devastating impacts" of COVID-19, but she noted that one super-spreader event could "tax our capacity to conduct contact tracing and provide the necessary critical care for Islanders with COVID-19 and those with non-COVID related critical care needs."
WATCH | How health authorities are trying to balance restrictions and COVID-19 caseloads:
New Brunswick reported three new cases and eight recoveries on Tuesday. The province has seen 334 confirmed cases since the pandemic began and 273 recoveries.
Newfoundland and Labrador reported no new cases and one recovery on Tuesday, breaking a streak of three days in which it reported one new coronavirus case on each day.
There were two new cases reported in Yukon on Monday, and a mine in Nunavut reported that two workers who had been reported as presumptive cases were confirmed as positive for COVID-19. The workers were flown to their home province of Quebec and instructed to self-isolate.
What's happening around the world
A case count maintained by Johns Hopkins University put the number of COVID-19 cases around the world at over 43.6 million as of Tuesday morning with over 29.2 million cases considered recovered. The Baltimore, Md.-based institution's count of deaths stood at more than 1.1 million.
The United Nations cancelled all in-person meetings on Tuesday after a UN member nation reported five coronavirus cases among its staff.
General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir sent a letter to the 193 UN members announcing the cancellation on the advice of the UN Medical Unit.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in recent weeks, between 1,300 and 1,400 people swiped their passes every day to enter the UN building in New York.
In the Americas, the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the United States is at a two-month high, straining health-care systems in some states.
Nearly a million people in the U.S. have contracted the novel coronavirus in the last seven days, according to a Reuters tally, as cases and hospitalizations set fresh records in hot spots in the Midwest.
A Reuters analysis showed that more than 5,600 people died from the virus nationwide in the last week, with hospitalizations shooting up 13 per cent.
WATCH | El Paso judge imposes curfew as ICUs reach 'full capacity':
Health experts believe the virus is surging because of private social gatherings, colder temperatures driving people inside and fatigue with COVID-19 precautions.
"We are seeing all sorts of patients. The narrative historically has been the above-65, those with multiple co-morbidities. But we're seeing 20-year-olds. We're seeing 30-year-olds, 40-year-olds," said Dr. Ogechika Alozie, an infectious disease specialist in El Paso, Texas. "There's that exhaustion, but again, we buckle up and we take care of the patients."
The White House said on Tuesday it saw a potential deal on COVID-19 stimulus funding in "coming weeks," casting doubt on whether a deal could be struck with Congress before the Nov. 3 election.
A spokesperson for Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday that she was hopeful an agreement could be reached ahead of the election, but noted that there were still major issues that needed to be addressed.
In the Asia-Pacific region, China reported the highest number of asymptomatic infections in nearly seven months. China detected 137 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases on Sunday in Kashgar in the northwestern region of Xinjiang after one person was found to have the virus the previous day — the first local new cases in 10 days in mainland China.
Hong Kong announced it would reopen public beaches and increase the number of people allowed to sit together in bars and restaurants starting Friday as the city continues to unwind strict COVID-19 rules put in place in July.
In India, authorities reported 36,470 newly confirmed coronavirus infections. That's the lowest one-day tally in more than three months in a continuing downward trend. In its report Tuesday, the country's health ministry also listed 488 new fatalities from COVID-19 in the previous 24 hours, raising the overall death toll to 119,502.
The case number reported Tuesday is the lowest since India had 35,065 newly confirmed infections on July 17. Last month, the country hit a peak of nearly 100,000 cases in a single day, but daily infections have been decreasing since then.
WATCH | Canada marks 10,000 deaths from COVID-19:
In Europe, nightly curfews have been implemented in French cities and in Spain, and restaurants and bars in Italy must close at 6 p.m. Schools have been closed in Northern Ireland and the Czech Republic. German officials have ordered de-facto lockdowns in some areas near the Austrian border and new mask-wearing requirements are popping up weekly across the continent, including a nationwide requirement in Russia.
Italy braced Tuesday for more protests in cities nationwide against virus-fighting measures like regional curfews, evening shutdowns for restaurants and bars and the closures of gyms, pools and theatres — a sign of the growing discontent across Europe with renewed coronavirus restrictions.
Germany, widely praised for keeping its infection rate well below other regions in the initial phase of the pandemic, is now facing a faster than expected surge in cases.
Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday, warned that Germany's health system could hit a breaking point if infections continue to spiral. She said that the number of new cases is doubling every seven to eight days, while the number of occupied intensive care beds is doubling every 10 days.
"It just needs to double again four more times and the system will be at a breaking point," she said.
In Bulgaria, students at high schools and universities will continue their studies online for two weeks as of Oct. 29. The health ministry also banned public attendance at sporting events and said Tuesday that cinemas and theatres should operate at 30 per cent capacity until Nov. 12, while restaurants should limit the number of people at one table to six.
Meanwhile, Greece's education minister tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday as the country saw a single-day record of 1,259 COVID-19 infections, according to the country's health authorities.
Minister of Education and Religious Affairs Niki Kerameos said she tested positive for the virus, when she and her spouse were tested after he showed symptoms. In a statement posted to Twitter, Kerameos said she had no symptoms and would remain in isolation.
As Greece continues to report a steady increase in cases, nightly curfews from 12:30 a.m. to 5 a.m. were enforced in the capital Athens and the northern city of Thessaloniki last weekend.
Tuesday's data put Greece's total tally of COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic at 32,752, with 593 deaths.
South Africa remained the hardest hit country in Africa, with more than 716,000 recorded COVID-19 cases and more than 19,000 deaths according to the Africa CDC.
People in Iran, the hardest-hit country in the Middle East, faced new daily records of infections and deaths. Authorities have ordered residents in Tehran to wear masks in public, and many public sector workers in the capital have been told to stay home every second day.