Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
As Canada’s two most populous provinces grapple with a surge in COVID-19 cases, concerns are swirling over whether new restrictions could be imposed before the holidays.
On Saturday, 1,512 new COVID-19 cases were detected in Quebec, marking the highest single-day tally in the province since April.
A total of 1,234 new cases were reportedin the provinceon Tuesday.
Meanwhile, in Ontario, 1,184 new cases were detected on Sunday, marking the province’s highest daily increase in six months.
On Tuesday, Ont.officials said 928 more people had tested positive for the virus.
Dr. Doug Manuel is a senior scientist in the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute's clinical epidemiology program.
He told CTV’s Your Morning that in some places, the increase in case counts has already resulted in additional restrictions.
“You’re already seeing it in say Windsor-Essex – they’ve reduced their capacity in restaurants by 50 per cent,” Manuel said Tuesday.
He said in Ontario, a lot of the places hardest-hit are rural communities outside of the greater Toronto area.
“In many places across Canada, we’re getting cases above 100 cases per million per day,” Manuel said. “That’s often when public health can’t keep up anymore with contact tracing and starts to think about more restrictions.”
To date, 76 per cent of the Canadian population are vaccinated against the virus.
Asked whether the vaccination rate means Canada could see less extreme measures, should they be reintroduced, Manuel said it “helps tremendously.”
“We’re following Europe,” he said. “Europe has about the same vaccination rate as us and many countries, they opened up quite quickly later in the summer or in the fall, and their cases went up quickly, and now they’re imposing restrictions and some of those countries are imposing more severe restrictions than we have in Canada.”
Manuel said he “hasn’t seen” a country or jurisdiction “successfully make that transition with current vaccination rates.”
“But that doesn’t mean that we have to have full restriction like we’ve seen in the past,” he said.
Ultimately, Manuel said things are dependent on what happens with the Omicron variant.
The variant -- first detected in South Africa -- has caused global panic. Several countries, including Canada, have imposed more stringent travel restrictions in a bid to keep the disease outside of their borders.
However, by Monday, at least 23 cases of the Omicron variant had already been detected in Canada.
Manuel said he expects Omicron will “take over as the dominant strain worldwide, sooner than later.”
He said researchers are waiting for more data from South Africa, to determine whether those who have been infected with the Omicron variant experience more severe symptoms.
“The hospitalization rates are starting to go up there quite quickly,” he said. “But we’re still hearing that people in hospital are less severe than they’ve seen in the past.”
He said “for sure it’s more transmissible.”
“It will likely take over very quickly, and the only question is as it comes in quickly, will that result in increase hospitalizations and deaths?” he continued. “That will dictate what we do moving forward.”
Health officials in both Ontario and Quebec have suggested new restrictions are not in the immediate plans.
Last week, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore said he doesn’t expect the province will re-impose restrictions due to the Omicron variant.
“If we see widespread presence of Omicron across Ontario, which is not the case at present, then we could review any measures that we need to take at a provincial level.”
He said, though that he doesn’t have a “crystal ball.”
Moore said if it’s a “less lethal virus,” has less impact on the province’s hospital sector and vaccines continue to work against it, “we will continue our current strategy and not have to have any further public health restrictions.”
However, on Tuesday, officials in Ontario did announce the pause on moving to the next step of reopening plans would continue indefinitely.
Next week, capacity limits were supposed to be lifted in some high-risk settings where proof of COVID-19 vaccination is required.
However, that was delayed last month due to a surge in cases.
In new modelling released by the Science Table COVID-19 advisory for Ontario on Tuesday, researchers said cases are rising in “most public health units” across the province due to the Delta variant.
“Testing has not increased, but positivity is rising,” the updated projection document reads. “This is a real rise in cases.”
The scientists said modelling shows that, even without the Omicron variant, occupancy in intensive care units at hospitals in Ontario is expected to climb to between 250 and 400 by January, putting hospitals under strain once again.
“We can’t predict Omicron precisely, but it will almost certainly hit us hard and fast,” the scientists said in a series of tweets on Tuesday. “Cases are rising, even without much Omicron yet. Our hospitals and ICUs are feeling pressure again. We need to increase vaccination and we can’t let up on public health measures.”
Meanwhile in Quebec, officials announced Tuesday that gatherings of up to 20 vaccinated people will be allowed in private homes beginning on Dec. 23.
Currently only 10 people from no more than three households are allowed to gather in homes.
Premier Francois Legault said last week that the province was not planning to add additional public health measures.
“I know Quebecers well enough to know that there are many people fed up with the current measures,” he said. “We don’t like the trend, but it’s under control.”
Legault said as long as hospitalizations “stay at low levels, it remains under control.”
With files from CTV's Katharine DeClerq and Sean Davidson, and The Canadian Press
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Rainfall warnings of up to 90 millimetres and other alerts have been issued for six Canadian provinces, according to the latest forecasts.
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
A bus carrying worshippers headed to an Easter festival plunged off a bridge on a mountain pass and burst into flames in South Africa on Thursday, killing at least 45 people, authorities said.
Calgary police have shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers deal with a distraught individual.
B.C. conservation officers recently seized a nine-foot-long Burmese python from a home in Chilliwack.
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
The Ontario government is introducing changes to auto-insurance, but some experts say the move is ill-advised.
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.
Newfoundland’s unique version of the Pine Marten has grown out of its threatened designation.
A Toronto man is out $12,000 after falling victim to a deepfake cryptocurrency scam that appeared to involve Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
It started small with a little pop tab collection to simply raise some money for charity and help someone — but it didn’t take long for word to get out that 10-year-old Jace Weber from Mildmay, Ont. was quickly building up a large supply of aluminum pop tabs.
There’s a group of people in Saskatoon that proudly call themselves dumpster divers, and they’re turning the city’s trash into treasure.
Ontario is facing a larger than anticipated deficit but the Doug Ford government still plans to balance its books before the next provincial election.