Original author: Star staff and wire services
Published: April 3, 2022
Source: The Record
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.
11:45 a.m.: Ontario reported 10 more deaths due to COVID-19 and 3,077 new cases on Sunday, a decrease of 4.8 per cent in new infections from the previous day.
Given new provincial regulations around testing that came into effect on Dec. 31, 2021, case counts aren’t considered an accurate assessment of how widespread COVID-19 is right now.
Due to “server maintenance,” the province didn’t update data on vaccinations and COVID-19 in hospitals on Sunday.
Meanwhile, one more resident in a long-term care has died for a total of 4,420 since the pandemic began.
10 a.m.: Ontario is entering a sixth wave of COVID-19 with few remaining public health measures and experts say now is the time for a renewed vaccination strategy aimed at boosting third-dose uptake, shots for kids and preparing for wider fourth doses.
When first and second doses became available, Ontario — and Canada at large — was the envy of the world in how quickly the population got vaccinated, said Dr. Fahad Razak, an internist and member of the province’s science advisory table.
But while 91 per cent of Ontarians 12 and older have received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, only about 60 per cent have received three.
9 a.m.: A 60-year-old man allegedly had himself vaccinated against COVID-19 dozens of times in Germany in order to sell forged vaccination cards with real vaccine batch numbers to people not wanting to get vaccinated themselves.
The man from the eastern Germany city of Magdeburg, whose name was not released in line with German privacy rules, is said to have received up to 90 shots against COVID-19 at vaccination centers in the eastern state of Saxony for months until criminal police caught him earlier this month, the German news agency dpa reported Sunday.
7:57 a.m.: COVID-19 cases in China’s largest city of Shanghai are still rising as millions remain isolated at home under a sweeping lockdown.
Health officials on Sunday reported 438 confirmed cases detected over the previous 24 hours, along with 7,788 asymptomatic cases. Both figures were up slightly from the day before.
While small by the standards of some countries, the daily case numbers are some of the largest since the virus was first detected in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019.
Shanghai with its 26 million people last week began a two-stage lockdown, with residents of the eastern Pudong section supposed to be allowed to leave their homes Friday, while their neighbours in the western Puxi section underwent their own four-day isolation period.
Despite that assurance, millions in Pudong continue to be confined to their homes amid complaints over food deliveries and the availability of medications and health services.
Notices delivered to residents said they were required to self-test for COVID-19 daily and take precautions including wearing masks at home and avoiding contact with family members — measures not widely enforced since the early days of the pandemic.