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Good evening, here are the COVID-19 updates you need to know tonight.
Top headlines:
Federal public servants, including the RCMP, who aren’t fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 29 will be forced to take unpaid leave, the government says Repeat patients: New data out of Alberta show roughly 80 per cent of COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized visited an emergency department within a month of being discharged Thinking of jet-setting soon? A pandemic-era trip may come with some sticker shock In the past seven days, 27,021 cases were reported, down 12 per cent from the previous seven days. There were 297 deaths announced, up 7 per cent over the same period. At least 2,500 people are being treated in hospitals and 1,577,463 others are considered recovered.
Canada’s inoculation rate is 13th among countries with a population of one million or more people.
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Sources: Canada data is compiled from government websites, Johns Hopkins and COVID-19 Canada Open Data Working Group; international data is from Johns Hopkins University.
Coronavirus explainers: Coronavirus in maps and charts ？ Tracking vaccine doses ？ Lockdown rules and reopening
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Demonstrators dance in an alley adorned with pinwheels that represent people who have died of COVID-19 during a memorial event in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021. Infection rates and death counts are down in the country, but Brazil will hit 600,000 pandemic deaths in the coming days.
Andre Penner/The Associated Press
Coronavirus in Canada Alberta hospitals are being burdened by COVID-19 patient readmissions as new cases continue to spike. Alberta Health Services said July statistics show an increasing number of recovered COVID-19 patients discharged from hospital went on to require additional treatment. The province’s dire health situation has also had reverberations in the North. Meanwhile, after insisting for weeks that the measures in schools were adequate, the government reversed course on Tuesday, and brought back contact tracing and exposure notification. Manitoba will offer a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine for all health care workers who have direct contact with patients in areas including hospitals, care homes, pharmacies and addictions-treatment centres. The province will also allow anyone who has received viral-vector vaccines, such as Oxford-AstraZeneca, to get a third dose with an mRNA vaccine such as Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech. Newfoundland and Labrador health officials are asking residents to limit indoor private gatherings to 20 people for the next two weeks. The province has 132 active reported COVID-19 cases and 14 people in hospital. The federal government announced travellers boarding flights at Canadian airports and VIA Rail passengers must be fully vaccinated by Nov. 30.
The timing of the implementation was announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alongside the government’s suite of new vaccine mandates that will also apply to federal civil servants and to employees in federally regulated industries. New vaccine mandates: Federal civil servants who refuse to be vaccinated will be put on unpaid leave, the government says.
Canada’s health care crisis: The president of the Canadian Medical Association says provincial governments are “gaslighting” health care workers over the toll that COVID-19 is taking on the health care system.
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Coronavirus and business Where do major central banks stand on the path out of pandemic-era stimulus?
New Zealand’s central bank hiked interest rates on Wednesday for the first time in seven years, becoming the second major developed economy to raise rates and one of several to dial back hefty stimulus unleashed in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem believes the economy is moving closer to the point where the central bank will no longer need to continue adding stimulus via quantitative easing. Also today: The International Monetary Fund sees inflation receding to pre-pandemic levels by mid-2022, but supply risks may keep it elevated.
And: U.S. private payrolls top expectations in September as COVID-19 cases begin to subside
Globe opinion The Editorial Board: Vaccines for children are almost here. Does Canada have a plan? Robyn Urback: Jason Kenney may still be Premier, but his life in politics is coming to a close More reporting Watch: B.C. public workers, long-term care employees must get vaccinated Looking to travel? Get ready to pay more for things like insurance and COVID tests Watch: Federal workers, air and rail travellers must get COVID-19 vaccine, Trudeau says Information centre Everything you need to know about Canada’s travel restrictions for vaccinated and unvaccinated people Waiting for a second dose? We answer your COVID-19 vaccine questions What is and isn’t ‘paid sick leave’ in Canada? A short primer Got a vaccine ‘hangover’? Here’s why Sources: Canada data are compiled from government websites, Johns Hopkins University and COVID-19 Canada Open Data Working Group; international data are from Johns Hopkins.
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