Among Monday headlines is the hospitalization of UK prime minister Boris Johnson after what is said to be ten days of high fever and coughing. Johnson was diagnosed with COVID-19 last week. In North America, stock markets opened higher and in Washington, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Friday that 3M would continue to export masks to Canada.
Fearful collateral damage done to shops as City fights virus
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The sacrifices being made to save lives against the COVID-19 pandemic are essential but a terrible price is being paid by small businesses. Self-isolation and quarantine are destroying — at least for now — the lives of these entrepreneurs. Shops and restaurants have closed by the dozens and many more are likely to fail in the days to come.
Lovely weather for staying at home with Monday high of 12
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Pleasant early April weather has arrived in the quiet neighborhoods of Midtown Toronto during the COVID-19 lockdown. The high Monday is forecast to be 12º Celsius.
Victory over COVID-19 will belong to all of us says Queen
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Sunday COVID-19 count 408, test backlog falls below 1,000
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The Ontario Ministry of Health says its Sunday count of new COVID-19 cases is 408. It also confirmed an additional 25 deaths, many related to nursing home outbreaks. Four residents of St. Clair O’Connor Community long-term care home have died of the virus. Some 14 others are ill with it. Total fatalities in Ontario attributed to the virus now stand at 119. Ontario reported 375 new cases Saturday and 462 on Friday. As seen at the ministry’s website, the testing backlog is now down to a promising 981 after coming close to 11,000 less than two weeks ago.
Vaccine chase on in Toronto, Quebec, Saskatoon, Vancouver
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The furious search for a vaccine to knock out the COVID-19 threat is underway in several centres across Canada as well around the world. The best guess is that with necessary testing, it might be 18 months before a vaccine could arrive in doctors’ offices. Media reports say a key moment in research came January 10, when researchers in China released the genomic sequence for SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Since then, no fewer than 60 vaccine projects have been launched around the world, by some estimates.
Sunnybrook HSC, U of T and McMaster isolate the virus
Another key moment came in early March when researchers at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, the University of Toronto and McMaster University managed to isolate and culture the virus from two patients. This meant that lab-grown copies of the virus would be available for researchers around the world who are looking for a vaccine or treatment. In the past few months, more than half a dozen projects have sprouted up across Canada in pursuit of a vaccine and using various different approaches to the problem.
Eerie echoes from past emerge at vacant Sunnybrook Plaza
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Echoes of the past at empty Sunnybrook Plaza/Virginia Lennox Kelly Facebook
John and Chris Interiors in September
Here’s an eerie echo of the past posted to Leaside Community Facebook page by member Virginia Lennox Kelly. John and Chris Interiors was among the oldest tenant at the 1951 plaza. They had been in business since 1971 at this location. But behind their sign was this even older retail memory of Marion’s Smoke Shop, Gifts and Barber Shop. Talk about a multi-purpose store. Other such Sunnybrook memories have come to the surface as seen in this 2017 post about the mall’s original Canadian Bank of Commerce sign.
Pearson airport a ghost town as travel brought to standstill
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Normally crowded arrivals road is empty
Pictures posted to Twitter by Living by YYZ show Toronto International Airport a ghost town.
Aircraft sit silent waiting business another day
Ontario reports 375 new cases of infection, 94 total deaths
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The Ministry of Health announced an additional confirmed 375 cases of COVID-19 infection Saturday The total comes in under Friday’s total of 462 cases, a high. A previous high of 426 cases was reported Wednesday. Total fatalities from the infection have risen to 94, many related to the awful outbreaks in some nursing and care homes. This appears to be a death rate of about 2.5 percent. The COVID-19 death rate is higher, possibly over three percent, in countries where people may be in generally poorer health than those in Canada. North American death rates for the annual influenza are said to be slightly under one percent. Government website with more information.
Best guess now is 1,600 deaths by end of April says province
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The Ontario government has revealed projected numbers for the province to sustain just under 1,600 COVID-19 deaths and 80,000 cases by the end of April if the current measures in place are upheld. President and CEO of Public Health Ontario Dr. Peter Donnelly alongside President and CEO of Ontario Health Matthew Anderson revealed the projected numbers at Queen’s Park on Friday. The data also indicated that Ontario would have seen 300,000 cases of COVID-19 and 6,000 deaths by the end of the month if there was no government action or intervention — Global News News Leads
US captain hailed as hero by crew after Navy virus rebuke
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A cheering and applauding crowd of sailors from the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt chanted a hero’s farewell to Captain Brett Crozier Friday. Crozier sent a letter to his superiors raising concerns about the spreading coronavirus on his ship. The letter was leaked to the media and Crozier was removed from his job for not being more discrete. Later, however, as many came to Crozier’s defense, the navy said he had merely been reassigned. Hundreds are seen in the gathering in the ship’s hangar deck at the US base at Guam. “Captain Crozier, Captain Crozier,” is the shout. Another video shows the career naval officer walk to the brow of the ship. He waves to the crowd, salutes and waves again before turning and walking down the gangway — alone — to the pier. Stars and Stripes
Premier to offer best guess on just how lethal virus might be
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Premier Ford is scheduled to make public at noon Friday what can only be called a best-guess estimate of just how many people may succumb to the COVID-19 virus. Having seen the appalling actual death tolls reported elsewhere it’s hard to imagine how clear-headed Ontarians will find the estimate unexpected. Critically, the largest unknown in any calculation is how conscientious people are in social distancing and isolation.
462 new COVID-19 in Ontario reported Friday
The Ministry of Health has reported 462 new COVID-19 cases, and 14 new deaths Friday morning taking the provincial total including recovered patients up to 3,255. Ontario reported 401 new cases on Thursday. This informative government website says that some 1245 cases remain under investigation.
Real estate sales slow
Elsewhere, an expected slowdown in the real estate market has been reported by the Toronto Real Estate Board in March. It is yet another of the countless aspects of business that have been crippled as people simply stay home.