Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reports 1,033 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest count since March 6; Leaders of Australia and New Zealand meet to discuss reopening borders - Toronto Star

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.

11:20 a.m.: Health Minister Christine Elliott said the Ontario government would introduce a motion in the legislature on Monday to give the position of chief medical officer of health to Dr. Kieren Moore, effective June 26.

“Dr. Moore’s years of experience working in public health will be crucial as we begin to gradually lift public health measures,” Elliott said Sunday. “I would like to thank Dr. (David) Williams for his dedication to safeguarding the health and safety of Ontarians during his many years of service.”

Elliott expressed her gratitude for Williams’ “experienced leadership” heading the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Moore would be working alongside Williams for a few weeks, starting June 7, to ensure a smooth transition, she said.

Moore, who has a long record in public health and emergency medicine, has been medical officer of health for Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox and Addington Public Health since July 1, 2017.

In his own statement, he said being considered for the new role was a “great honour.”

“I would remain steadfast in my commitment to fight COVID-19,” Moore said. “I would provide all necessary advice to the government to ensure the health and safety of all Ontarians.”

Williams has been chief medical officer since February 2016. Williams, who is to retire June 25, had previously postponed the move. The province reappointed him in November, and he was slated to remain in the role until Sept. 1.

Read story by the Star’s Bruce Arthur.

11:15 a.m.: Ontario is reporting another 1,033 COVID-19 cases and 18 more deaths, according to its latest report released Sunday morning.

This is the lowest case count since 990 cases were reported on March 6.

Ontario has administered 144,833 vaccine doses since its last daily update, with 8,984,278 vaccines given in total as of 8 p.m. the previous night.

According to the Star’s vaccine tracker, 8,296,384 people in Ontario have received at least one shot. That works out to approximately 56.3 per cent of the total population and the equivalent of 69.7 per cent of the adult population.

The province says 687,894 people have completed their vaccinations, which means they’ve had both doses. That works out to approximately 4.7 per cent of the total population and the equivalent of 5.8 per cent of the adult population.

The number of people vaccinated in Ontario includes a relatively small number of 12-17 year olds.

The province is reporting 26,565 tests were completed the previous day, and a 4.2 per cent positivity rate.

There are 749 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in the province, including 614 patients in intensive care. There are 417 people on ventilators.

Locally, Health Minister Christine Elliott says 237 cases are in Toronto, 214 in Peel Region, 80 in York Region.

There are 125,035 confirmed cases in Ontario of the highly contagious variant first detected in the United Kingdom, an increase of 863 from the previous day.

There are 947 cases in Ontario of the variant first detected in South Africa, with two more reported than the previous day.

There are 2,814 cases of the variant first found in Brazil, an increase of 20 from the previous day.

11:01 a.m.: A pair of military vets navigate the hilly, meandering paths in a historic cemetery in Boston, searching out soldiers’ graves and planting American flags in front of them.

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About 10 miles away, scores of other vets and volunteers do the same, placing more than 37,000 small flags on the downtown Boston Common — a sea of red, white and blue meant to symbolize all the Massachusetts soldiers killed in battle since the Revolutionary War. It’s an annual tradition that returns in full this year after being significantly scaled back in 2020 because of the pandemic.

In Boston and elsewhere, this holiday weekend will feel something closer to Memorial Days of old, as COVID-19 restrictions are fully lifted in many places.

“This Memorial Day almost has a different, better feeling to it,” said Craig DeOld, a 50-year-old retired captain in the Army Reserve, as he took a breather from his flag duties at the Fairview Cemetery earlier this week. “We’re breathing a sigh of relief that we’ve overcome another struggle, but we’re also now able to return to what this holiday is all about — remembering our fallen comrades.”

Around the nation, Americans will be able to pay tribute to fallen troops in ways that were impossible last year, when virus restrictions were in effect in many places. It will also be a time to remember the tens of thousands of veterans who died from COVID-19 and recommit to vaccinating those who remain reluctant.

9:14 a.m.: As of May 21, the first round of inmate vaccinations had been completed at 25 provincial correctional institutions where 6,794 inmates are incarcerated, according to a Solicitor General briefing memo obtained by the Star. The average vaccine uptake rate was approximately 50 per cent.

Yet only 400, or 29 per cent, of the TSDC’s roughly 1,370 inmates were vaccinated in April and just 13 per cent at Toronto East Detention Centre, where just 50 of approximately 400 inmates were vaccinated, according to separate ministry figures. The numbers don’t reflect the current number of vaccinated inmates, as provincial jail turnover is high...

Vaccine conspiracy theories are “running rampant” inside the jails — just as they are in the outside world — but a key difference is people who are locked up don’t have access to information sources that could help dispel bogus notions, says Michael Amichand, who now works for the John Howard Society helping discharged inmates find places to live...

Joining Amichand at the jail was his John Howard Society colleague, Julia Laine, along with defence lawyers Daniel Brown, Frank Addario, and Dr. Gary Bloch, a family physician at St. Michael’s Hospital in downtown Toronto.

They and others appear in a COVID education video produced by the Criminal Lawyers Association — of which Brown is a vice-president — that the Ministry of the Solicitor General has agreed to play inside provincial correctional facilities.

Read Betsy Powell’s full story here.

7:47 a.m.: As Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis struggled to contain the coronavirus pandemic, Democrats readied to pounce. The state’s economy was in tatters, infections and deaths were on the rise and there were doubts about the Republican’s plan to lead Florida out of crisis.

Now that the pandemic appears to be waning and DeSantis is heading into his reelection campaign next year, he has emerged from the political uncertainty as one of the most prominent Republican governors and an early White House front-runner in 2024 among Donald Trump’s acolytes, if the former president doesn’t run again.

7:44 a.m.: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his fiancée Carrie Symonds married Saturday in a small private ceremony in London, his Downing Street office said Sunday.

Johnson’s office confirmed reports in the Mail on Sunday and the Sun that the couple wed at the Roman Catholic Westminster Cathedral in front of a small group of friends and family.

“The Prime Minister and Ms. Symonds were married yesterday afternoon in a small ceremony at Westminster Cathedral,’’ Downing Street said. “The couple will celebrate their wedding with family and friends next summer.”

The couple have reportedly sent save-the-date cards to family and friends for a celebration on July 30, 2022.

Under current coronavirus restrictions in England, no more than 30 people can attend a wedding.

7:41 a.m. Sunday: Growing friction with China and how to reopen borders after the pandemic will likely be among the topics discussed by the leaders of Australia and New Zealand in their first face-to-face meeting since the coronavirus outbreak prompted both countries to close their borders.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison arrived in the tourist resort of Queenstown for an overnight visit Sunday. He greeted his New Zealand counterpart Jacinda Ardern with a traditional Maori hongi, in which the pair pressed noses together.

Morrison is the first major world leader to visit New Zealand since both countries shut their borders last year to contain the virus. The neighbours opened a quarantine-free travel bubble last month, although a recent outbreak of the virus in Melbourne has prompted New Zealand to suspend the arrangement with Victoria state.

Read Saturday’s coronavirus news.

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Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reports 1,033 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest count since March 6; Leaders of Australia and New Zealand meet to discuss reopening borders - Toronto Star
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