The latest novel coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Thursday (this file will be updated throughout the day). Web links to longer stories if available:

6:15 p.m. There have been two more COVID-19 deaths in British Columbia for a total of 50, The Canadian Press reports.

Provincial medical health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says a virus outbreak in one long-term care facility has been declared over, but there are still outbreaks in 20 other such facilities.

Henry says most of the deaths in the province have taken place in those care homes for the elderly.

There have been 34 new positive cases for the virus in the last day for a total of 1,370, although 858 people have fully recovered.

5:45 p.m. Alberta is reporting 28 new cases of COVID-19.

That brings the total number of cases in the province to 1,451.

There have also been three new deaths.

That means 32 people in Alberta have so far died from COVID-19 complications.

5 p.m. Ontario’s regional health units are reporting their largest 24-hour increase in COVID-19 cases, according to the Star’s latest tally.

The province’s 34 regional health units report a total of 6,664 confirmed and probable cases of the disease, an increase of 604 cases or 10 per cent from the same time Wednesday evening.

Another 19 Ontario residents have been reported dead over the same 24-hour period, according to the Star’s count of the health units’ public tallies and statements.

According to the province, 2,305 patients have recovered after testing positive for COVID-19. The province also says 632 patients are hospitalized, including 264, who are in intensive care. In recent days, the number of patients in intensive care has grown slowly, a sign that public health measures may be having an effect, although experts say it’s too early to tell.

In recent days, Ontario had reported its tests were returning a very high rate of positive results, of nearly 17 per cent Wednesday. That fell to 11.8 per cent on Thursday.

The province says its data is accurate to 4 p.m. the previous day. The province also cautions its latest count of deaths, which stands at 200, may be incomplete or out of date due to delays in its reporting system.

The Star’s count includes some patients reported as “probable” COVID-19 cases. This means they have symptoms and contacts or travel history that indicate they very likely have the disease, but have not yet received a positive lab test.

5 p.m. A third inmate has tested positive for COVID-19 in a Toronto jail.

The Ministry of the Solicitor General says the inmate in the Toronto South Detention Centre was isolated before the tests were confirmed.

The ministry says an inmate at the Monteith Correctional Complex near Timmins, Ont., has also contracted the virus.

4:47 p.m. Ontario’s top doctor has issued new COVID-19 testing guidelines aimed at front-line health workers and long-term care residents.

They stop short of a call by the premier to test all these people.

Dr. David Williams, chief medical officer of health, said in a memo that new residents admitted to long-term care should be tested, as should roommates of any symptomatic residents, and any asymptomatic residents, staff or visitors that have come in contact with a confirmed case.

4:05 p.m. Eileen de Villa, medical officer of health for the City of Toronto, reports 1,769 cases of COVID-19 in Toronto, 250 of which are probable. There are 174 people in hospital. Seventy-six are in intensive care. There have been 54 deaths in the city.

Mayor John Tory noted that COVID-19 has taken the lives of more Torontonians than SARS did in 2003. “Please stay home whenever you can in order to save lives,” said Tory as Easter weekend approaches.

Asked by the Toronto Star’s David Rider whether data shows Toronto is “flattening the curve,” de Villa says that the testing limitations reported by the Star and others make it challenging to know exactly where the city is at in the epidemic.

“We are not quite there yet,” said de Villa of the outbreak’s peak. More testing helps inform the city’s response and the public health agency on where we are on the curve, she added.

Tory acknowledged the toll the pandemic is taking on members of the public.

“This emergency will take time to recover from” and we all have to take care of each other but also ourselves, the mayor said.

“It’s okay to ask for help,” said Tory, who added that residents can call 211 to access mental support services.

Tory said he felt Torontonians can band together and beat the virus.

“As we celebrate the battle of Vimy Ridge (in The First World War), we know we are all in this together.”

Tory talked about the City’s enforcement blitz to ensure people distance themselves, one from another. The vast majority of people are following the rules, he said, but some are breaking them at parks, including Sunnybrook and Sherwood parks, Humber Bay and Riverdale parks east and west.

De Villa addressed the severe impact the virus is having on long-term homes. Deadly impact of COVID-19 is apparent, she said. Many residents are sick and many have died. The virus was only discovered three months ago. Physical distancing is key to stopping its spread. Preventing family and friends from visiting residents is difficult for many, but essential, de Villa said.

Fire Chief Matthew Pegg, who is leading Toronto’s emergency response to COVID-19, said the city now has a supply of surgical masks to last six to eight weeks.

4 p.m. Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain was moved out of intensive care on Thursday, a ray of hope for a country that faces several more weeks under lockdown as its death toll from the coronavirus approached 8,000, The New York Times reports.

Johnson was hospitalized on Sunday evening after a 10-day bout with the virus and transferred to the intensive care unit on Monday after his condition deteriorated.

On Thursday, Downing Street said the prime minister, 55, had been moved back to a ward at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London and was in “extremely good spirits.”

2:40 p.m.: The company building the Eglinton Crosstown line donated 600 N95 masks to Sunnybrook hospital Thursday in recognition of the urgent medical need.

Although construction continues on the line, Crosslinx Transit Solutions switched to re-usable half mask respirators which use replaceable cartridges and can be cleaned to free up the N95s for hospital use. Crosslinx said it has asked its various construction sites to donate any supplies of N95s to nearby hospitals.

2:35 p.m.: Prime Minister Boris Johnson spent a third night in intensive care being treated for coronavirus and is in stable condition and “improving,” his office said. He is still on oxygen.

Johnson is being cared for in St Thomas’ Hospital in central London. He was diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 26 and still had a cough and fever 10 days later. He was admitted to the hospital on Sunday, and to its ICU on Monday.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is standing for Johnson while he is hospitalized.

Read the full story here.

2:30 p.m.: Another resident at Pinecrest Nursing Home has died, bringing the total number of COVID-19 related deaths at the long-term care home in Bobcaygeon, Ont. to 29.

“Pinecrest staff are working hard each and every day to fulfill the physical and emotional needs of our residents as their care and safety continues to be our number one priority,” said the news release.

2:20 p.m.: Manitoba is reporting three new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total to 207 confirmed cases and 17 probable.

Health officials say 76 people have recovered and the number of deaths remains at three. They say there are 11 people in hospital with COVID-19, five of whom are in intensive care.

2:17 p.m.: Peterborough locals say cottagers are putting an added COVID-19 strain on rural areas and using up local residents’ resources.

Trent Lakes Mayor Janet Clarkson said she thinks cottagers are endangering local residents.

“People are flocking to the country and they’re not self-isolating. They’re visiting the drug store, the food store and the liquor store,” she said. “We don’t have the infrastructure to handle them if this thing goes sideways.”

Read the full story Marissa Lentz of the Peterborough Examiner here.

2:15 p.m. The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame is posting its 2020 induction ceremony until futher notice because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Former Toronto Blue Jays first baseman and two-time World Series champion John Olerud, 2006 American League MVP Justin Morneau of New Westminster, B.C., former Blue Jays pitcher Duane Ward and Montreal sportscaster Jacques Doucet were scheduled to be enshrined in a ceremony in St. Marys on June 20.

Read the full story here.

2:00 p.m. (updated): Premier Doug Ford announced he is launching a new Ontario jobs and recovery committee to help get the economy back on track after the COVID-19 pandemic. “It might be hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Ford also said Ontario is facing an “unthinkable” economic crisis. “Things could get worse before they get better.”

1:55 p.m.: The Manitoba government is instituting fines for people who don’t follow public safety orders during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Premier Brian Pallister says people who break rules such as the 10-person limit on gatherings will face fines of $486, and businesses that don’t ensure proper distance between customers will be fined $2,542.

Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman says the city will have its own fines of up to $1,000 or up to six months in jail for city-owned property such as municipal parks.

1:45 p.m.: A health care worker at Brampton Civic Hospital has died after contracting COVID-19.

An investigation revealed the Brampton man in his 50s likely acquired the virus in the community and not at work.

The William Osler Health System says it is “deeply saddened” and he was a “long-time environmental services associate.”

“Every loss of life to COVID-19 is tragic. On behalf of the Region of Peel, I extend our deepest condolences to his family both at home and at work,” said Dr. Lawrence Loh, Interim Medical Officer of Health for the Region of Peel. “He played an important role in keeping the health care system working and we mourn his loss.”

1:40 p.m.: New Brunswick is reporting three new cases of COVID-19, bringing the provincial total to 111. Chief public health officer Dr. Jennifer Russell says the total continues to climb, but slowly.

She says that’s the result of the public’s co-operation with measures such as self-isolating and social distancing.

1:35 p.m.: Quebec is reporting 41 new deaths today linked to COVID-19, bringing the total to 216 in the province.

Provincial health authorities say they have identified 10,912 confirmed cases of the virus, with 679 hospitalizations and 196 in intensive care.

Legault cautioned that not all long-term care facilities in the province have been impacted by COVID-19, identifying six facilities in particular that account for the lions share of deaths.

1:20 p.m.: B.C. Finance Minister Carole James says the province lost 132,000 jobs last month, but it’s going to get worse before it gets better due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

She says the latest Statistics Canada Labour Force numbers indicate B.C.’s jobless rate rose to 7.2 per cent from five per cent in March, and that she expects the jobless numbers to increase over the coming weeks.

She says the province has introduced a $5 billion action plan to help workers, families and businesses endure the pandemic.

12:50 p.m.: The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Prince Edward Island remains unchanged at 25. Heather Morrison, the province’s chief public health officer, says 17 people have recovered from the viral infection.

She says provincial officials are making more than 1,000 telephone calls every day to make sure that people required to self isolate are doing so.

12:45 p.m.: Deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland says there is no way to know how long the border closure with the U.S. will last.

The prime minister had said earlier today that much of Canada’s return to normal will depend on a vaccine that could be months away.

Freeland says making predictions on what that means for the border is foolhardy in the extreme.

12:40 p.m.: There are four more confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Newfoundland and Labrador, bringing the total to 236.

Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, chief medical officer of health in the province, says six patients are in hospital with two in intensive care, and 96 people have recovered. The province has tested 4,390 people.

Data released Wednesday indicated the province is slowing the spread of COVID-19 so far, but Fitzgerald says the system could become overburdened quickly if people do not follow public health measures.

Read the full story here.

12:40 p.m.: The Saskatchewan government is promising one-time emergency bursaries to post-secondary students struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ministry of Advanced Education says it will dole out up to $1.5 million in emergency financial aid to students whose studies and jobs have been affected as the province tries to contain the spread of the virus.

12:25 p.m.: The head of Ontario’s public health agency is stepping aside temporarily for personal medical reasons in the midst of the fight against COVID-19, the Star has learned.

Dr. Peter Donnelly, the president and chief executive of Public Health Ontario, won plaudits last Friday for his calm and detailed presentation on the number of cases and deaths that could be coming to the province according to computer models.

Read the story from the Star’s Rob Ferguson.

11:57 a.m.: The TTC is reporting nine of its employees have tested positive for COVID-19.

The agency released details on eight cases: one bus mechanic, one subway operator, one Wheel-Trans driver, one bus technician, one station collector, one streetcar operator, and two bus drivers.

In addition to the nine positive cases, 240 TTC employees are in self-isolation.

11:55 a.m. (updated): Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says it will take months of a continued and determined effort to avoid a COVID-19 worst-case scenario.

Trudeau is commenting on models released this morning forecasting how the continued spread of the pandemic will pan out based on how aggressively Canadians follow physical distancing protocols.

He says Canada is at a crossroad and the outcome will depend on how people behave, given there could be ongoing waves of the coronavirus.

He says this means physical distancing is and will be Canada’s new reality until a vaccine is found.

11:25 a.m.: A total of 42 inmates of federal prisons have tested positive for coronavirus — a jump of about 30 per cent over the past day.

Correctional Services Canada says that’s out of 208 prisoners tested.

Quebec, with 19 inmate infections, has been hardest hit. British Columbia has reported 15. Dozens of guards have also been infected.

Read this story on Canadian lawyers and advocates calling for the release of inmates.

11:20 a.m. (updated): According to the Star’s latest count, Ontario has seen another 475 COVID-19 cases and 21 deaths in the last 24 hours.

As of 11 a.m. Thursday, with most of the province’s 34 regional health units yet to report their daily tally, the Star is counting 6,244 confirmed and probable cases of the disease, including 222 deaths.

Those numbers are up 8.2 and 10.4 per cent, respectively, from the same time Wednesday.

The Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit reported a sharp increase in its local death toll on Thursday morning, an overnight rise to 11 dead from six. The region south of Hamilton has seen several deaths at the Anson Place long-term care home in Hagersville, Ont.

According to the province, 632 patients are now hospitalized with COVID-19, including 264 in an intensive care unit. In recent days, the number of patients in intensive care has grown steadily, but slowly — a sign that social distancing and other measures may be having an effect, although experts say it’s too early to tell.

The province says its data is accurate to 4 p.m. the previous day. The province also cautions its latest count of deaths — 200 — may be incomplete or out of date due to delays in its reporting system.

The province’s latest data also reported an increase in the number of COVID-19 tests completed Wednesday, to 4,097 patients from around 3,200 the day prior. Premier Doug Ford has called current low testing rates “absolutely unacceptable” given the province has the built up the capacity to complete around 13,000 tests a day.

The Star’s count includes some patients reported as “probable” COVID-19 cases, meaning they have symptoms and contacts or travel history that indicate they very likely have the disease, but have not yet received a positive lab test.

11:15 a.m.: Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer says his party isn’t deliberately holding up a new financial aid package for COVID-19 relief.

Scheer says constructive conversations are ongoing between his party and the Liberal government over the legislation to implement a massive wage-subsidy program.

Read the full story here.

11:10 a.m.: Nova Scotia has recorded its second death related to COVID-19.

Health officials say a woman in her 90s with underlying medical conditions died in the Cape Breton Regional Hospital on Wednesday.

10:40 a.m. (updated): The coronavirus could infect up to 1.8 million people in Canada and cause 44,000 deaths, according to federal projections released Thursday.

That is a worst-case scenario, with very weak or no controls.

But if Canadians follow physical distancing and cough shielding guidelines, a more moderate possible scenario could see numbers shift dramatically.

By April 16, the short-term trajectory could be in range of 22,580 to 31,850 cases, with anywhere from 500 to 700 deaths.

The mid-range projection would see 27,215 cases and a lower fatality rate.

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Read the story from the Star’s Tonda MacCharles and Alex Ballingall.

10:30 a.m.: Ontario’s chief medical officer of health says in a new memo that all health-care workers and first responders should be tested for COVID-19 as soon as they develop any symptoms, even atypical ones.

Dr. David Williams also says that anyone newly admitted to a long-term care home should be tested, as well as residents — even asymptomatic ones — who have had contact with a confirmed case.

The expanded guidance stops short of a call Premier Doug Ford issued Wednesday for every long-term care resident, front-line health-care worker and first responder to be tested.

10:05 a.m.: A First Nation in southwestern Ontario says one of its members has died of COVID-19.

Six Nations of the Grand River’s elected Chief Mark Hill says the community is grieving the death. The First Nation says there are eight cases of COVID-19 on the reserve.

9:50 a.m.: Eleven members of the Toronto Police Service have tested positive for COVID-19 — four in one downtown detachment, others spread out at divisions across the city.

Toronto police spokesperson Meaghan Gray has said that with each positive COVID-19 case, police are working with public health authorities who conduct “an in-depth investigation related to each member and their contacts.”

Read the story from the Star’s Wendy Gillis.

8:35 a.m.: Statistics Canada reports the economy lost 1,011,000 jobs in March as the COVID-19 crisis began to take hold, which lifts the unemployment rate up to 7.8 per cent.

The 2.2 per cent increase in the national unemployment rate marks the worst single-month change over the last 40-plus years of comparable data and economists warn the numbers are likely to be even worse in April.

8:10 a.m.: Canada Goose Holdings Inc. is moving to increase its domestic production of personal protective equipment for health-care workers across Canada.

The company, best known for its luxury winter parkas, announced plans last month to start production of medical gear at two Canadian factories. It now says it will begin to reopen its other Canadian facilities over the next two weeks to bring all eight of its locations — and up to 900 employees — into production.

8:00 a.m.: The Canadian Public Health Association is issuing a call for more federal power to direct national spending on public health.

Ian Culbert, executive director of the Canadian Public Health Association, is scheduled to speak to the Commons health committee Thursday, and says he will outline the association’s concerns, which he says are not a criticism of the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Read the #StarExclusive from Tonda MacCharles.

7:50 a.m.: WestJet says it plans to bring back nearly 6,400 employees on to its payroll with the help of Ottawa’s emergency wage subsidy program.

WestJet chief executive Ed Sims said in an announcement on Twitter that employees will be back on the company payroll once the federal government has approved the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy program.

6:42 a.m.: Oxfam is warning that half a billion people in the developing world could be pushed into poverty as a result of the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

In a report based on research at King’s College London and the Australian National University, Oxfam is calling on world leaders to agree an ‘Economic Rescue Package for All’ to keep poor countries and poor communities afloat. Among the measures it is recommending is the immediate cancellation of $1 trillion worth of developing country debt payments in 2020.

Jose Maria Vera, Oxfam International Interim Executive Director said “for poor people in poor countries who are already struggling to survive there are almost no safety nets to stop them falling into poverty.”

4:47 a.m.: Thailand’s capital, Bangkok, banned alcohol sales for a week and a half to help prevent social gatherings that could spread the virus that causes Covid-19.

The ban applies from April 10 to April 20 and is the metropolitan region’s latest effort to contain a surge in infections since early March.

4:32 a.m.: Turkey’s government will ban layoffs for three months and provide a daily stipend of almost 40 liras ($5.8) to people who aren’t eligible for unemployment benefits and lost their jobs after March 15, NTV reported Wednesday, citing a draft law proposal by the ruling AK Party. The proposal grants President Recep Tayyip Erdogan the right to extend the ban by up to six months, NTV said.

4:19 a.m.: The U.S. and China should work together to show “honest leadership” or risk transforming the pandemic into a bigger crisis, the head of the World Health Organization said in unusually stern comments on the two superpowers.

At the height of the Cold War, the U.S. and the Soviet Union still came together to fight and eradicate smallpox, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. He urged all countries, political parties and the media to stop trying to use the coronavirus issue to divide people.

“If you don’t want many more body bags, then you refrain from politicizing it,” Tedros said at a briefing in Geneva Wednesday. “No using COVID-19 to score political points.”

Tedros said the WHO tries to treat everyone equally, and will later assess successes and failures. The organization officially informed all member states of the outbreak Jan. 5 and gave guidance on how to test for it by Jan. 10.

The WHO plans to update its strategy and give an estimate of the financial needs for the next phase in coming days, Tedros said. Financial resources won’t be a problem as long as countries are united, he added.

“When there are cracks at the national level and global level, that’s when the virus succeeds,” Tedros said.

4:01 a.m. (updated at 1:50 p.m.):

The latest numbers of confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases in Canada according to data compiled by The Canadian Press.

There are 20,696 confirmed and presumptive cases in Canada.

_ Quebec: 10,912 confirmed (including 216 deaths, 1,112 resolved)

_ Ontario: 5,759 confirmed (including 200 deaths, 2,305 resolved)

_ Alberta: 1,423 confirmed (including 29 deaths, 519 resolved)

_ British Columbia: 1,336 confirmed (including 48 deaths, 838 resolved)

_ Nova Scotia: 373 confirmed (including 2 deaths, 82 resolved)

_ Saskatchewan: 271 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 88 resolved)

_ Newfoundland and Labrador: 236 confirmed (including 2 deaths, 96 resolved)

_ Manitoba: 207 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 69 resolved), 17 presumptive

_ New Brunswick: 111 confirmed (including 50 resolved)

_ Prince Edward Island: 25 confirmed (including 17 resolved)

_ Repatriated Canadians: 13 confirmed

_ Yukon: 8 confirmed (including 4 resolved)

_ Northwest Territories: 5 confirmed (including 1 resolved)

_ Nunavut: No confirmed cases

_ Total: 20,696 (17 presumptive, 20,679 confirmed including 503 deaths, 5,181 resolved)

4:00 a.m.: Federal officials are to hold a technical briefing revealing their best and worst-case projections for the number of Canadians who are likely to get infected by the deadly virus, the number who are likely to die and how long it will take to contain it.

4:00 a.m.: Canada’s national statistics agency is set this morning to release a snapshot of the labour force from March as the COVID-19 virus plunged the country into economic uncertainty.

The report will provide a picture of employment for the third week in March just as companies began closing shop and laying off staff to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus disease.

Statistics Canada says it has retooled some of its usual measures to better gauge the effects of COVID-19 on the job market because its traditional definitions of employed, unemployed and not in the labour force “may not fully capture some aspects of the impact” from the pandemic.

The survey, for example, will exclude the more commonly observed reasons for absent workers — such as vacation, weather, parental leave or a strike or lockout — to better isolate the pandemic’s effect.

The government says it received 966,000 applications for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit on Monday alone — the first day a new web portal for applications was open.

That was on top of what the government says were almost 3.7 million Canadians who became eligible for employment insurance since March 15 and whose claims are now being automatically transferred to the CERB.

3:57 a.m.: The World Bank says sub-Saharan Africa is expected to fall into recession for the first time in a quarter-century.

The bank’s new report projects growth across the nearly 50-country region to fall this year from 2.4% to at least minus 2.1% or even up to minus 5%. It says countries that depend heavily on oil production and mining will be hit especially hard. And the largest economies — South Africa, Nigeria and Angola — which already were sluggish, will see even more pain.

Africa has had some of the world’s fastest-growing economies in recent years. The World Bank says African nations will require a “debt service standstill” and other financial assistance. African leaders have been calling for debt relief, warning the pandemic will continue to threaten the world if any region goes without needed support.

3:38 a.m.: Police wearing protective gear boarded a cruise ship to seize evidence and question crew members of the vessel linked to hundreds of coronavirus infections and 15 deaths across Australia.

About 2,700 passengers disembarked from the ship on March 19 in Sydney and it has since become the largest source of coronavirus infections in Australia. More than 600 cases of COVID-19 and 15 deaths are linked the to the ship, the Ruby Princess.

New South Wales police, which boarded the ship Wednesday night at Port Kembla south of Sydney, said it’s expected to remain in port for 10 days with its 1,040 crew undergoing medical assessments. About 200 crew have shown symptoms of COVID-19, while 18 have tested positive for the virus that causes it. The workers remaining on the ship are from 50 countries.

3:38 a.m.: Prime Minister Boris Johnson spent a third night in the critical care unit where his condition was improving, as officials draw up plans to extend the lockdown in an bid to control the U.K.’s growing coronavirus crisis.

Johnson has been in St Thomas’ Hospital in London since Sunday after struggling to shake off virus symptoms, including a cough and a fever. He continues to make “steady progress” and remains in intensive care, 10 Downing Street said in a statement on Wednesday evening.

“The latest from the hospital is that the prime minister remains in intensive care where his condition is improving,” finance minister Rishi Sunak said Wednesday. “He’s been sitting up and engaging positively with the clinical team.”

3:24 a.m.: Iran’s supreme leader suggested Thursday that mass gatherings in the Islamic Republic may be barred through the holy Muslim fasting month Ramadan amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“We are going to be deprived of public gatherings of the month of Ramadan,” Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said during a televised addressed. “Those gatherings are meetings for praying to God or listening to speeches which are really valuable. In the absence of these meetings, remember to heed your prayers and devotions in your lonesomeness.”

Ramadan is set to begin in late April and last through most of May.

3:08 a.m.: China signaled that it’s planning to officially ban the eating of dogs after the species was omitted from a list of animals approved for human consumption.

The Ministry of Agriculture published a draft version of the list on Wednesday, which lays out what animals will be allowed to be bred for meat, fur and medical use, and includes species such as deer, ostriches and foxes. The ministry is seeking public feedback on the draft list until May 8, it said.

In its statement, the ministry specifically noted the omission of dogs, saying that public concern about the issue and a growing awareness of animal protection had contributed to the species being left off. Cats were also omitted, though that was not specifically addressed by the ministry.

12:42 a.m.: The coronavirus may be “reactivating” in people who have been cured of the illness, according to Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

About 51 patients classed as having been cured in South Korea have tested positive again, the CDC said in a briefing on Monday. Rather than being infected again, the virus may have been reactivated in these people, given they tested positive again shortly after being released from quarantine, said Jeong Eun-kyeong, director-general of the Korean CDC.

“While we are putting more weight on reactivation as the possible cause, we are conducting a comprehensive study on this,” Jeong said. “There have been many cases when a patient during treatment will test negative one day and positive another.”

A patient is deemed fully recovered when two tests conducted with a 24-hour interval show negative results.

The Korean CDC will conduct an epidemiological probe into the cases, Jeong said.

9:35 p.m. (updated): The Toronto Caribbean Carnival is being cancelled for the first time in its 52 years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In consultation with our stakeholders … and taking into consideration the mass crowds that attend the events present a tremendous risk regarding the spread of the virus, it is therefore unanimous that the priority must be the health and safety of our patrons and, having weighed all these considerations, there is no choice but to cancel this year’s festival,” the festival’s board of directors says in a news release.

The festival, a celebration of Caribbean culture formerly known as Caribana that features elaborate costumes, music and food, runs in July and August. The cancelled events include the Junior King and Queen Show, Junior Parade, Adult King and Queen Show, Pan Alive and the grand finale, the Grand Parade that takes over Lake Shore Blvd. with floats, costumed dancers and mas bands.

The festival management committee says that if circumstances change and permit restrictions are lifted by July 1, it will seek to have a non-traditional celebration the weekend of Aug. 1.

8:45 p.m.: Canada has received its first shipment of N95 masks from 3M, which includes 500,000 masks, Premier Doug Ford said in a statement Wednesday night.

In addition to that, Ford said construction hours have been extended so hospitals and COVID-19 assessment centres can be built 24 hours a day.

The province says it will also be hiring more inspectors and more staff for their phone lines to ensure employers of essential workers are adhering to health and safety regulations.

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