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Saskatchewan reported 601 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, the highest single-day jump the province has seen since the start of the pandemic.
Its hospitals remain under great pressure, with a record 72 people with COVID-19 in intensive care. The province has also reported 10 more deaths from the disease.
In a briefing on Wednesday, Saskatchewan’s chief medical officer of health said it was a “tragedy of our time” that elective and urgent surgeries were delayed as resources and staff were redeployed to hospital wards COVID -19.
“We have a billion dollar health care system, one of the best… in the world that is unable to do what it is designed to do because it faces a… preventable problem. vaccination, â€said Dr Saqib. Chahab.
The province’s proof of vaccination program begins on Friday. The government has pledged to carry out more testing in the hopes that it will help reduce the number of cases and serious illnesses caused by the virus.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick is again reporting a single-day record of new COVID-19 cases, with 99 infections and two more deaths.
Public health officials confirmed Thursday that a person in their 60s in the Edmundston area and a person in their 40s in the Fredericton area died after contracting the new coronavirus. This brings the total number of deaths in the province since the start of the pandemic to 59.
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs said he was sticking to his decision to drop all COVID-19 restrictions earlier this summer despite the current spate of COVID-19 cases in the province, frustrating many people who have lost loved ones to the virus. 2:02
Of the new cases, about 72% are in patients not fully vaccinated, the province said.
A total of 40 people are hospitalized with the disease, including 16 in intensive care.
Horizon Health’s interim president and CEO said this week the pressure on the province’s healthcare workers and the healthcare system is at one of its highest levels in the pandemic.
Dr John Dornan said that before this wave epidemics tended to occur in one community at a time. Now every regional hospital has cases.
– From CBC News and The Canadian Press, last updated at 5:45 p.m. ET
What is happening in Canada
There are fears that cold and flu viruses will no longer spread easily this fall as public health measures in the event of a pandemic continue to ease around the world. In Quebec, there has already been a sharp increase in cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in children. 2:07
What is happening in the world
As of Thursday evening, more than 233.6 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Tracker. The death toll worldwide was over 4.7 million.
In the Americas, United Airlines officials say nearly half of employees threatened with dismissal for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19 have been vaccinated. This reduces the number of airline workers threatened with dismissal from 593 to 320.
Airline spokeswoman Leslie Scott said the drop in the number of potential layoffs shows that the company’s policy of requiring vaccinations for all U.S.-based employees is working. “In less than 48 hours, the number of unvaccinated employees who began the process of separating the company was almost halved,” she said.
United announced the vaccine requirement in August. The airline says about 99% of its employees have been vaccinated or have requested a medical or religious exemption.
In the Asia Pacific region, Malaysia is making COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for all federal government employees by the end of October, unless they are medically exempt. The Civil Service Department says nearly 98% of federal government employees have been vaccinated.
Singapore’s health ministry on Thursday reported 2,478 new cases, the highest since the start of the pandemic.
Vietnam’s trade hub Ho Chi Minh City will begin to ease its coronavirus restrictions, officials said, allowing more business and social activity.
In Europe, Romania recorded 12,032 cases of the coronavirus on Thursday, its highest number of daily infections since the start of the pandemic. The country has the second-lowest vaccination rate in the European Union, with just 34% of all adults fully vaccinated.
The number of new daily infections in Ukraine rose to nearly 12,000 in the past 24 hours for the first time since April, according to data from the Ministry of Health.
From October 4, students will no longer have to wear protective masks in French primary schools in areas with low COVID-19 infection rates, according to a government decree.
In Africa, health officials in South Africa – which has recorded the highest number of cases and deaths of any country on the continent – are predicting a mass vaccination event in the coming days. The government said vaccination centers and pop-up sites will be opened in “every corner” of the country on Friday and Saturday as health officials work to increase the number of people who have received a COVID vaccine. -19.
Somalia’s first public oxygen plant opened on Thursday, a beacon of hope for a country where life-saving treatment for the coronavirus has been largely unavailable to patients during the pandemic.
A Somali charitable foundation has purchased a new oxygen plant, which it will also maintain, to produce free oxygen for public hospitals in the capital Mogadishu. (Feisal Omar / Reuters) 0:54
The World Health Organization says only 15 of 54 African countries have reached the global target of fully immunizing 10% of their population by the end of this month. In contrast, nearly 90 percent of high-income countries have reached the 10 percent target set by the World Health Assembly this year, according to the WHO.
In the Middle EastJordan on Wednesday fully reopened its main border post with Syria in a bid to boost the countries’ struggling economies. The Jaber terminal reopened in 2018 after the Syrian government ousted rebels from the south, but the pandemic has led to measures being imposed to curb transmission.
– From Reuters, The Associated Press and CBC News, latest update 6:15 p.m. ET
