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Ontario closes all non-essential businesses, as the province confirms 78 new COVID-19 cases
This comes as the province confirmed 78 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday morning, raising the province's total to 503.
The tally also includes the death of a man in his 80s in the City of Kawartha Lakes — marking Ontario's sixth COVID-19-related death — and eight cases that are considered resolved.
At least six of the new cases are hospitalized, including a woman in her 30s, a man in his 40s, two people in their 50s and two people in their 70s.
On Monday, Barbara Yaffe, the province's associate chief medical officer, said a total of 39 people have been hospitalized for COVID-19, including those who are no longer in hospital. A total of 12 patients have been or still are in the intensive care unit, she said.
In total, 26 of the confirmed cases were health-care workers, Yaffe said, adding they are a "priority group for testing" and will often jump the line.
The number of people getting tested continues to climb every day. Yaffe said yesterday 3,100 people were tested, up from about 2,000 last week. Yaffe said they hope to be up to 5,000 by the end of the week.
Some 8,417 people are still awaiting test results, while more than 28,500 tests have been completed. The government says Ontario has 58 dedicated COVID-19 assessment centres running, well up from the 38 Premier Doug Ford said were open just a few days ago.
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Hong Kong appeared to have the coronavirus under control, then it let its guard down
This seemed like a reasonable measure at the time. Even as cases were on the rise in Italy and elsewhere, there were then only 100 confirmed in Hong Kong, and in mainland China the number of new infections was beginning to stabilize.
It was natural therefore that people began to relax somewhat, not only going to work instead of staying home, but also having dinner together, going to the park, and attending weddings and other large social gatherings. While face masks were still common, some people could be spotted going uncovered, particularly for short trips, and there was a general sense of slowly getting back to normal.
In the week that followed the March 2 return to work, there were only five new cases in Hong Kong, most of which were imported. Numbers remained low until around March 16, when dozens of new cases were confirmed. It soon became clear that while the majority were coming from overseas, quarantine measures in place were not sufficient, and local transmission had resumed.
Since then, the city has been racing to get back on top of the outbreak, with draconian new controls put in place, including electronic tagging of all new arrivals, who must undergo a strict 14-day home quarantine, and could face criminal prosecution if they are found in breach of it. Over the weekend, police could be seen patrolling nightlife districts looking for those violating quarantine, arresting at least five people, two of whom had cut their wristbands off in order to go out.
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NEW ZEALAND GOES ON LOCKDOWN FOR 'FIGHTING CHANCE' AGAINST VIRUS
Ardern said the South Pacific nation was fortunate its infection numbers remained relatively low, with 102 cases and no fatalities in the population of about five million.
But she said the latest data showed COVID-19 was now being transmitted between New Zealanders, rather than just being brought in by overseas arrivals, meaning radical action was needed.
Otherwise, she warned the number of cases would double every five days.
"If that happens unchecked, our health system will be inundated and tens of thousands of New Zealanders will die," Ardern told reporters.
"The worst-case scenario is simply intolerable," she said. "It would represent the greatest loss of New Zealand lives in our history and I will not take that chance."
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Toronto's mayor declares state of emergency amid COVID-19 pandemic
Move allows Mayor John Tory to to make any decision city council could make.
This move comes as public health officials in Ontario have confirmed 78 new cases of COVID-19, raising the province's total to 503.
Declaring a state of emergency gives Tory the power to make decisions without council votes. Tory, who is currently in self-isolation after travelling to England on a business trip, held a news conference Monday afternoon.
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First results of the voluntary screening in Iceland
Iceland health authorities and deCode Genetics have undertaken comprehensive screening for the virus that causes COVID-19 among the Icelandic population. The testing by deCode Genetics started Friday 13 March and the results of the first 5 571 diagnosed tests have yielded 48 positive samples (0.86%) indicating that the prevelance of the virus is modest among the general population. A total of 473 cases have been identified in Iceland since the first case on February 28th. One person with COVID-19 has died. Twelve individuals with COVID-19 are hospitalized.
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254,000 Americans test for COVID-19 as deaths in U.S. surpass 400
WASHINGTON, March 22 (Xinhua) -- At least 254,000 Americans have so far been tested and received results for coronavirus and more than 30,000 have tested positive, said U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday.
Those numbers do not include local hospitals or private labs that have conducted tests, Pence told a White House daily briefing.
He said that commercial labs should be caught up in the backlog of testing by the middle of the week.
Commercial labs should prioritize inpatient testing, and new guidance will be sent on that on Monday, Pence said.
At least eight states in the United States have issued stay-at-home orders, including California, New York, Illinois and Ohio.
The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States has topped 33,276 as of 19:00 Eastern Standard Time Sunday, with 417 deaths, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
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