The latest on the coronavirus outbreak for August 30
- Coronavirus tracker: Follow the pace of COVID-19 cases, vaccinations in Canada.
- Hospitals see patient transfers, service cuts as number of COVID-19 patients rises again in parts of Canada.
- Alberta feed stores inundated with calls for ivermectin over false claims livestock dewormer treats COVID-19.
- World roundup: Australian state braces for more COVID-19 hospitalizations, Singapore has fully vaccinated 80% of population.
- Explore: How Quebec's vaccine passport will work, and where it will apply.... Saskatchewan Roughriders mandate COVID-19 vaccination or negative test for fans…. Alberta Human Rights Commission dismisses Edmonton mask complaints…. Experts urge focus on children's back-to-class mental health.... Opinion: COVID has affected Inuit communities differently. History and experience help explain why.
Hospitals see patient transfers, cuts to services as number of COVID-19 patients rises again in parts of Canada
As the CBC's Adam Miller noted in the Aug. 28 Second Opinion newsletter, Canada continues to see a troubling rise in COVID-19 levels across much of the country. The rise in patients suffering from the illness is forcing some hospitals to take action to alleviate the pressure, from patient transfers to cuts in health-care services.
As of Friday, new COVID-19 cases had risen to an average of 2,848 per day over the past week — an increase of 29 per cent over the previous seven days. Daily hospitalizations had also climbed 39 per cent week-over-week to an average of 917 across the country, while ICU admissions were also up by an average of 29 per cent per day to 340 over the past week.
The vast majority of cases and hospitalizations have been among the unvaccinated, according to the latest available data from the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Alberta has been hit especially hard by the uptick in infections. Over the last two weeks, hospitalizations around the province have nearly doubled, with a similar rate of growth in intensive care units.
A group of ER doctors last week accused Alberta Health Services (AHS) of downplaying problems with bed closures. On Friday afternoon, it was announced that AHS would be postponing some non-urgent surgeries "to create more acute-care and intensive-care unit capacity."
And on Sunday, AHS announced it is transferring six patients out of Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Grande Prairie to neighbouring health-care centres. The move is to make room for an increase of COVID-19 patients requiring acute care and intensive care unit spaces at the facility.
Meanwhile, some regions in the Northwest Territories are seeing a cut in some health-care services, as the territory works to rein in a recent COVID outbreak.
A notice from the territorial government last week said health centres in the Sahtu and Dehcho regions will be running on emergency services until further notice. Emergency services are still available, but regular appointments and non-urgent medical issues may be delayed.
Services in Yellowknife are also being further reduced due to "staffing redeployment," according to a notice from the territorial government.
From The National
IN BRIEF
Alberta feed stores inundated with calls for ivermectin over false claims livestock dewormer treats COVID-19
Alberta feed stores say they're receiving a deluge of callers asking to buy ivermectin due to misinformation that suggests the livestock dewormer can be used to treat COVID-19 in humans.
Lance Olson, manager of Lone Star Tack & Feed Inc., located just outside Calgary, said false claims circulating about the animal medication have brought the wrong kind of attention to his business, which has taken the product off its shelves.
"It's obviously not intended for human use in any way, shape or form. It's meant to get rid of worms in horses' guts … so, these people see that ivermectin liquid, they search it, our website comes up and they give us a call thinking that we can just sell it to them," Olson said.
Different forms of ivermectin are used to treat parasites, such as intestinal worms or lice, in both animals and humans. But the livestock form of the drug should never be used on humans, and parasites are not the same as viruses. COVID-19 is caused by a virus.
The largest study in favour of ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment was retracted after concerns about data fabrication, plagiarism and ethical breaches.
No clinical studies have proven whether ivermectin can slow or stop the novel coronavirus from growing in human cells — but that hasn't stopped some conservative media personalities and politicians from touting it as a possible treatment or cure for COVID-19.
Alberta Health Services says its scientific advisory group has conducted a review to explore using ivermectin; the drug is not approved to treat COVID-19 in the province.
Dr. Michael Chatenay, a general surgeon at Grey Nuns Community Hospital in Edmonton, said last week he treated a COVID-positive patient who asked for ivermectin.
"I was, to be honest, shocked but not surprised because the conspiracy theory websites and social media have been abuzz with this crazy theory," Chatenay said. "We just tell them that there's no proven benefit."
World roundup: Australian state braces for more COVID-19 hospitalizations, Singapore has fully vaccinated 80% of population
Intensive care cases in Australia's New South Wales will hit a peak in October as COVID-19 infections accumulate, said the premier of the country's most-populous state, which reported a record 1,290 new cases on Monday.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the state was preparing for additional hospitalizations as infections pile up before increased vaccination coverage starts to ease the pressure. Slightly more than 33 per cent of Australians aged 16 and older have received two vaccine doses, according to government data.
In comparison, Singapore has fully vaccinated 80 per cent of its population, reaching a milestone that would make the country "more resilient to COVID-19," according to a top government official. Singapore's 80 per cent vaccination rate among its 5.7 million population ranks it among the most vaccinated countries in the world.
"It is the result of the collective effort of many people working behind the scenes, and the people of Singapore coming forward to take care of themselves and the people around them," Singapore's Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said in a Facebook post Sunday.
Meanwhile, the African Union and France announced in a statement on Monday a "new partnership" allowing Paris to deliver some 10 million doses of AstraZeneca-Oxford and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines to the continent.
Finally, the European Union recommended Monday that its 27 countries reinstate restrictions on tourists from the U.S. because of rising coronavirus infections there.
The decision by the European Council to remove the U.S. from a safe list of countries for non-essential travel reverses advice it gave in June, when the bloc recommended lifting restrictions on U.S. travellers before the summer tourism season.
The guidance is nonbinding, however, and U.S. travellers should expect a patchwork of travel rules across the continent.
For more world coronavirus developments, you can follow here.
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With files from Reuters, The Canadian Press, The Associated Press