COVID-19 live updates: Quebec reports 800 cases, 14 deaths as vaccinations ramp up

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Updated throughout the day on Friday, Feb. 19. Questions/comments: ariga@postmedia.com

Top updates

12:45 p.m.

Many Indigenous communities seeing success during vaccine rollout despite unique challenges

If Canada’s Indigenous population was its own nation, it would rank five spots ahead of Canada on Bloomberg’s world vaccine tracker, which compares countries based on how many doses of a COVID-19 vaccine have been administered per 100 people.

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Read our full story.

1:55 a.m.

Loosening restrictions could lead to alarming COVID-19 spike, Ottawa warns

The federal government warned Friday that if provinces don’t maintain or increase public health measures, the new COVID-19 variants detected in Canada could lead to an alarming spike in cases.

At the same time, newly released public health recommendations suggest Quebec is considering further loosening restrictions in the coming weeks.

Read our full story, by Jesse Feith.

11:45 a.m.

Trudeau provides update

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11:35 a.m.

Quebec provides update on variants

Quebec has 16 confirmed cases involving variants, as well as 236 presumptive cases, according to an update from the Insitute national de santé publique du Québec.

That’s up from 173 presumptive cases as of yesterday.

11:25 a.m.

Plunging revenues and sky-high deficits could turn catastrophic for Canadian governments, report warns

Plunging revenues and unsustainable large deficits will leave Canadian governments in a deep fiscal hole for years to come, a new report says, underscoring the need for provincial and federal leaders to considerably alter their fiscal plans.

Read our full story.

11:25 a.m.

Two women in their 40s wore bonnets and ‘dressed up as grannies’ to get COVID-19 shots in Florida

The coronavirus vaccine is so coveted that two women in Florida went to extremes Wednesday to get inoculated: They dressed as if they were elderly, health officials said.

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Read our full story.

11:25 a.m.

Coroner’s inquiry into Herron CHSLD deaths now set for September

The recently postponed hearings into the deaths at the Résidence Herron CHSLD last spring will now take place in September.

Read our full story.

11:20 a.m.

Update on Quebec’s vaccination campaign

11:20 a.m.

Updated charts: Quebec cases, deaths

11:05 a.m.

Quebec reports 800 cases, 14 deaths as vaccinations ramp up

Quebec has recorded 800 new cases of COVID-19, the provincial government announced this morning.

That’s 100 fewer than yesterday.

The province said it administered 9,202 additional vaccine doses, bringing the total to 311,651.

That’s the biggest one-day jump in vaccinations since Jan. 22.

In addition, 14 new deaths were reported, including one over the previous 24 hours.

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Among the other deaths, 12 occurred between Feb. 12 and 17, and one occurred before Feb. 12.

Some other key statistics from Quebec’s latest COVID-19 update, published this morning:

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Quebec has reported 280,687 cases and 10,278 deaths linked to COVID-19. A total of 261,429 people who have contracted the disease have since recovered.

10:45 a.m.

After months of pressure from opposition parties, Legault government publishes public-health documents

Under pressure from opposition parties to be more transparent about pandemic restrictions, the Coalition Avenir Québec government this morning published a series of documents from the public health department.

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“These documents are presentations made by public health to authorities in order to support certain decisions regarding the application of health measures,” the government said. “The recommendations presented are evolving and are the subject of discussions between the parties to make them operational in the field.”

It added that “several recommendations were presented verbally during meetings of the (government’s) crisis unit, particularly during the first wave.”

You can read the documents here.

10:30 a.m.

Situation in Canada is improving, but variants are looming threat, public health officials say

The Public Health Agency of Canada this morning published an Update on COVID-19 in Canada: Epidemiology and Modelling.

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It shows the situation has improved considerably in recent weeks. However, the document notes, a longer-range projection “that includes variants of concern indicates a strong resurgence unless we have stringent measures and strict adherence.”

I have posted a few of the charts below, followed by the full document and the presentation by Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer.

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10:25 a.m.

COVID-19 variants could fuel surge of 20K daily cases if restrictions eased: feds

New federal forecasts project that COVID-19 variants could fuel a surge of 20,000 new cases per day by mid-March if public health restrictions are relaxed further, The Canadian Press reports.

The Public Health Agency of Canada released modelling today suggesting that while infections continue to decline nationally, the spread of virus mutations threatens to reverse that progress.

Canada’s chief public health officer says there are currently fewer than 33,000 active cases in Canada, a 60-per-cent drop compared to a month ago.

But with COVID-19 variants detected in 10 provinces, Dr. Theresa Tam says Canada may not be able to avoid a rapid acceleration of the epidemic without continued vigilance.

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Even with current restrictions, the spread of the variants could push Canada’s caseload to more than 10,000 new diagnoses per day by April, according to the projections.

But the forecasts suggest that Canada could control the outbreak with enhanced public health measures.

9:30 a.m.

Ahead of mandatory hotel quarantine, questions raised about Montreal facility

As Canada gears up to send returning travellers to quarantine in hotels, practices at an existing facility in a hotel near the Montreal airport are raising questions about safety at the site.

A source who preferred to remain anonymous for privacy reasons described security guards falling asleep on the job, a lack of safety training and adequate personal protective equipment, and hotel guests who are completely unaware part of the building is being used to quarantine travellers, some of whom have tested positive for COVID-19.

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Read our full story, by Katelyn Thomas.

9:25 a.m.

Pfizer submits data showing COVID-19 vaccine’s stability in refrigerators

Pfizer and partner BioNTech said today they have submitted new data to the U.S. health regulator showing the stability of their COVID-19 vaccine at temperatures commonly found in pharmaceutical freezers and refrigerators.

If approved, the less onerous storage requirements would provide a big logistical relief because the vaccine, for now, has to be stored at minus 70 degrees Celsius for longer periods, a challenge particularly in lower-income countries that don’t have the ultra-cold-storage infrastructure.

Read our full story.

9:20 a.m.

Going to the movies

Quebec is allowing movie theatres to reopen Feb. 26; popcorn and other snacks will not be allowed, but cinema chains can apply for compensation for the loss of revenue from food sales.

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Controversy over the measure has spawned the hashtag #popcorngate.

We have two columns on the issue:

Opinion: Bon Cop, Bad Cop playing out over pandemic March break

Either Premier François Legault is a huge film buff or Vincenzo Guzzo should be the new negotiator for beleaguered business groups in Quebec, Allison Hanes writes in her latest colum.

Opinion: I know what I won’t be doing for March break 

As much as I used to enjoy going to the movies as a family or with friends, such gatherings still do not make sense to me, Fariha Naqvi-Mohamed says.

9:20 a.m.

Montreal church welcomed more than 100 people last weekend: report

A Montreal church whose members had previously protested against pandemic restrictions held a service on Sunday with 100 members in attendance, the weekly Suburban newspaper reports.

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Under Quebec’s rules, places of worship are allowed to be open but with a “maximum of 10 people, except for funerals which are limited to a maximum of 25 people.”

In early February, a Quebec Superior Court judge ruled the provincial government’s order that a maximum of 10 people is allowed inside a place of worship applies “to each room in a building that has independent access to the street without sharing a common space with the other rooms.”

9:15 a.m.

Here’s where Montrealers can get tested today

Montrealers can be screened at test centres across the island.

You can check screening clinic wait times here.

8:45 a.m.

The situation across Canada

This was the situation across Canada as of last night, according to the Canada COVID-19 Situationacanl Awareness Dashboard.

8:30 a.m.

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ariga@postmedia.com

Read my previous live blogs here.