Here are the latest local, regional and national headlines on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) for Thursday, July 16, 2020:
- There have been 37,052 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across Ontario, an increase of 102 (or 0.3 per cent) from the previous day. There are 32,920 people recovered from the virus while 2,732 people have died. The number of Ontario people tested is 1,752,828 of which 22,029 have pending results.
- Canada’s coronavirus case total is 108,829. The country has 8,810 deaths from the virus – 189 in British Columbia, 163 in Alberta, 15 in Saskatchewan, seven in Manitoba, 2,732 in Ontario, 5,636 in Quebec, two in New Brunswick, three in Newfoundland & Labrador and 63 in Nova Scotia.
- The Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit region is now down to a single active case of coronavirus. The lone person is in the area of Lanark East. There were no changes in the case count Wednesday with 355 cases and 52 deaths. There were two more recoveries to bring the number of resolved to 302. One of those was in the United Counties of Leeds-Grenville.
- The Eastern Ontario Health Unit region had no changes Wednesday other than the number of tests performed in the region. The regional total of confirmed cases is 167 with 151 resolved. Two people are in hospital. There have been 11 deaths to date. Testing increased by 809 to 22,035.
- Premier Doug Ford announced the government will put $1.75 billion into creating long term care homes over the next five years. It will also change the funding model for building. There will be four regional categories, each with a specific home size, as well as development grants between 10 and 17 per cent to help developers cover up front costs like land and development charges. Effective immediately, there will be an update to design standards to include air conditioning for any new or renovated homes. The provincial wait list for nursing home space is more than 38,000.
- With the extremely uncertain outlook for the economy, the Bank of Canada is leaving its key interest rate at 0.25 per cent and Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem has suggested it will remain low for a long time.
- With the end of the partnership between Ottawa and WE Charity and an ethics investigation underway, charities across Canada are wondering what the fate of the $912 million Canada Student Service Grant will be. Those charities don’t know if the payments will be covered for student volunteers.
- Nunavut – the only territory in Canada with no confirmed case of the virus – is expecting test results next week on two presumptive cases from two miners in northern Baffin Island. An earlier presumptive positive turned out to be negative.
- In the U.S., Senate Republicans will roll out their $1 trillion COVID-19 aid package as a counteroffer to the Democrats’ $3 trillion package. The government is trying to figure out a national strategy to ease the economic fallout from the pandemic.
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