Today's coronavirus news: Ontario reports 170 cases of COVID-19, 3 deaths and more than 19100 tests completed; Thousands in Sydney, other Australian cities protest lockdown restrictions - Toronto Star

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

12:23 p.m.: Several states scaled back their reporting of COVID-19 statistics this month just as cases across the country started to skyrocket, depriving the public of real-time information on outbreaks, cases, hospitalizations and deaths in their communities.

The shift to weekly instead of daily reporting in Florida, Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota marked a notable shift during a pandemic in which coronavirus dashboards have become a staple for Americans closely tracking case counts and trends to navigate a crisis that has killed more than 600,000 people in the U.S.

In Nebraska, the state actually stopped reporting on the virus altogether for two weeks after Gov. Pete Ricketts declared an end to the official virus emergency, forcing news reporters to file public records requests or turn to national websites that track state data to learn about COVID statistics. The state backtracked two weeks later and came up with a weekly site that provides some basic numbers.

Other governments have gone the other direction and released more information, with Washington, D.C., this week adding a dashboard on breakthrough cases to show the number of residents who contracted the virus after getting vaccines. Many states have recently gone to reporting virus numbers only on weekdays.

12:22 p.m.: Concerns around mixing COVID-19 vaccine doses have started to arise locally after various jurisdictions have begun to label mixed-dose recipients as not fully immunized.

“In Canada, combining vaccines is allowed. However, in certain other jurisdictions, it's not,” said Dr. Ian Arra, medical officer of health for the Grey Bruce Health Unit (GBHU). “So, if people don't have two matching doses of Pfizer or two doses of Moderna, they will not be considered by that jurisdiction as fully immunized.”

Despite the varied responses to mixed doses, Arra suggested it is best to refer back to the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI), which states that two doses of the same brand of vaccine is ideal, but two different brand doses are acceptable.

In the current circumstances, Arra said it is better to mix brands than it is to prolong receiving your second shot.

“At the level of managing a pandemic, I would encourage people to get the first vaccine they can,” Arra said during a Grey County council meeting held on Thursday.

“However, in our area, we have enough vaccines that we're providing both Moderna and Pfizer in every clinic that we deploy. That started a few days ago and that will ensure that people will have a choice,” he added.

Moving forward, Arra suggested that there may be a third dose provided to those who have received mixed doses. However, at this time, a booster or third dose is not being offered or recommended.

10:27 a.m.: Ontario is reporting another 170 COVID-19 cases and three more deaths, according to its latest report released Saturday morning.

Ontario has administered 124,261 vaccine doses since its last daily update, with 18,848,661 vaccines given in total as of 8 p.m. the previous night.

According to the Star’s vaccine tracker, 10,367,900 people in Ontario have received at least one shot. That works out to approximately 79.5 per cent of the eligible population 12 years and older, and the equivalent of 70.4 per cent of the total population, including those not yet eligible for the vaccine.

The province says 8,480,761 people have completed their vaccinations, which means they’ve had both doses. That works out to approximately 65.1 per cent of the eligible population 12 years and older, and the equivalent of 57.6 per cent of the total population, including those not yet eligible for the vaccine.

Read more: Ontario is reporting another 170 COVID-19cases and three more deaths.

9:56 a.m.: Tanzania on Saturday received its first batch of 1 million Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccines donated by the U.S. government.

Tanzania had been among the few countries in Africa yet to receive vaccines or start inoculating its population against the COVID-19 pandemic, mainly because its former leader had denied claimed prayer had defeated COVID-19 in the country.

The vaccines were received by Foreign Affairs Minister Liberata Mulamula and the U.S. ambassador to Tanzania, Donald Wright, at the Julius Nyerere International Airport in the country's commercial capital, Dar es Salaam.

Former Tanzanian President John Magufuli, who died in March, had refused to accept vaccines after he claimed three days of prayer had healed the country of the coronavirus in June 2020.

Magufuli, 61, was among the world's most prominent skeptics of COVID-19. Though his official cause of death was reported to be cardiac arrest, Magufuli's critics believe he died of COVID-19.

9:55 a.m.: Far-right activists and members of France’s yellow vest movement are holding protests Saturday against a bill requiring everyone to have a special virus pass to enter restaurants and other venues and mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for all health care workers.

Legislators in France’s Senate are debating the bill Saturday after the lower house of parliament approved it Friday.

French virus infections are spiking and hospitalizations are rising anew. The government is trying to speed up vaccination to protect vulnerable populations and hospitals and avoid new lockdowns.

Most French adults are fully vaccinated and polls indicate a majority of French people support the new measures.

But not everyone. Protesters chanting “Liberty! Liberty!” marched through Paris in one of multiple demonstrations planned Saturday.

Last weekend, more than 100,000 people protested around France against the measures. They included far-right politicians and activists as well as some others angry at President Emmanuel Macron for various reasons.

8:05 a.m.: It’s no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has been tough on restaurants — both their owners and their workers, many of whom have been in and out of work for a year and a half.

For some in the industry, it has also been a wake-up call.

Adam Colquhoun, owner of Oyster Boy in Toronto, said the pandemic only sped up his plans to change how he compensates his workers.

Though his pre-pandemic wages were already above average, Colquhoun said he boosted pay for all positions at his restaurant, and has even given some workers a share in the company.

With restaurants now welcoming back indoor diners, it’s been hard to get front-of-house staff, said Colquhoun, so he offered a $1,000 retention bonus to servers who could commit to a minimum of three months. He also pays potential employees for both an observational shift and a training shift.

“We’re establishing a baseline for what people should be paid,” he said.

As Ontario moves into Step 3 of its reopening plan, restaurants are scrambling to fill positions that were lost when COVID-19 decimated the industry. The catch? They’re all looking at the same time — leading to what some are calling a labour shortage, and others, a short-term bottleneck.

Read more: Higher wages, signing bonuses, benefits on the menu as restaurants struggle to bring back workers.

8:01 a.m.: Vietnam announced a 15-day lockdown in the capital Hanoi starting Saturday as a coronavirus surge spread from the southern Mekong Delta region.

The lockdown order, issued late Friday night, bans the gathering of more than two people in public. Only government offices, hospitals and essential businesses are allowed to stay open.

Earlier in the week, the city had suspended all outdoor activities and ordered non-essential businesses to close following an increase in cases. On Friday, Hanoi reported 70 confirmed infections, the city’s highest, part of a record 7,295 cases in the country in the last 24 hours.

Nearly 5,000 of them are from Vietnam’s largest metropolis, southern Ho Chi Minh City, which has also extended its lockdown until Aug. 1.

8 a.m.: Everyone in a county in China’s southwest near Myanmar will be tested for the coronavirus following a spike in infections, the government announced Saturday.

Businesses, schools and markets in Jiangcheng County in Yunnan province will close Monday and Tuesday while nucleic acid testing is carried out, the government said. Travel into and out of the county will be prohibited.

Yunnan has reported a spike in infections traced to nearby Myanmar, where a military government that seized power in February is struggling to contain a surge in cases. Beijing has tightened border controls.

Jiangcheng County, southeast of the city of Pu’er, is on China’s border with Vietnam and Laos. It doesn’t directly border Myanmar.

On Saturday, the Yunnan health agency reported five new infections, all in people it said lived recently in Myanmar.

Saturday 7:59 a.m.: Thousands of people took to the streets of Sydney and other Australian cities on Saturday to protest lockdown restrictions amid another surge in cases, and police made several arrests after crowds broke through barriers and threw plastic bottles and plants.

The unmasked participants marched from Sydney’s Victoria Park to Town Hall in the central business district, carrying signs calling for “freedom” and “the truth.”

There was a heavy police presence in Sydney, including mounted police and riot officers in response to what authorities said was unauthorized protest activity. Police confirmed a number of arrests had been made.

New South Wales Police said it recognized and supported the rights of free speech and peaceful assembly, but the protest was a breach of public health orders.

“The priority for NSW Police is always the safety of the wider community,” a police statement said.

The protest comes as COVID-19 case numbers in the state reached another record with 163 new infections in the last 24 hours.

Read Friday’s coronavirus news.

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Today's coronavirus news: Ontario reports 170 cases of COVID-19, 3 deaths and more than 19100 tests completed; Thousands in Sydney, other Australian cities protest lockdown restrictions - Toronto Star
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