Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks at a bi-weekly news conference outside Rideau cottage on the COVID-19 pandemic in Ottawa, Ontario, Friday, Nov. 27, 2020. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP)
In this Sept. 25, 2020, file photo, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announces the state's phase three openings at a news conference in St. Petersburg, Fla. As the summer coronavirus spike in Sunbelt states subsides, Florida has gone the furthest in lifting restrictions, especially on restaurants where the burden of ensuring safety has shifted to business owners and residents _ raising concerns of a resurgence. (John Pendygraft/Tampa Bay Times via AP, File)
A medical workers works in a COVID-19 set up for rapid new coronavirus testing in Vienna, Austria, Monday, Nov. 30, 2020. The Austrian government has moved to restrict freedom of movement for people, in an effort to slow the onset of the COVID-19 disease and the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)
A person passes a sign with a message about wearing a face mask outside a church near Royal Columbia Hospital in New Westminster, British Columbia, on Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)
A health care worker direct a person to use a swab for a self administered test at the Miami-Dade County Youth Fairgrounds at Tamiami Park, on Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020 in Miami. (David Santiago/Miami Herald via AP)
Medical personnel transfer a COVID-19 patient from a state to a private clinic which has been appropriated, in the northern city of Thessaloniki, Greece, Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020. Greece's Health ministry has forcibly appropriated two clinics and their staff in the country's second populated city, where the outbreak is the most severe. (AP Photo/Achilleas Chiras)
People wearing masks to help protect against the spread of coronavirus, walk along a popular street in Ankara, Turkey, Friday, Nov. 27, 2020. Turkey's COVID-19 fatalities continue to rise, hitting another record Sunday, Nov 29, 2020, with 185 new deaths. The Turkish government resumed reporting all positive cases this week after only reporting symptomatic patients for four months. Night-time curfews over the weekend are in effect for a second week across the country but media reports show packed public spaces during the day. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)
Barbara Roque, top left, holds up a sign during a Voice for Choice - Open Our Schools rally in Horsham, Pa., Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020. Joining her are her children, from left to right, Elaina, Emily, Erica and her husband, David. The group holding the event said their rally is about having the choice to choose from in-person Instruction or virtual. (David Maialetti/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)
Visitors wearing face masks to protect against the spread of the coronavirus walk through the colorful autumn leaves at the Kenchoji temple in Kamakura, Monday, Nov. 30, 2020. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
People wait in front of heating stations to warm the COVID-19 test in a set up for rapid new coronavirus testing in Vienna, Austria, Monday, Nov. 30, 2020. The Austrian government has moved to restrict freedom of movement for people, in an effort to slow the onset of the COVID-19 disease and the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)
A medical worker, right, tries to test woman for COVID-19 in a set up for rapid new coronavirus testing in Vienna, Austria, Monday, Nov. 30, 2020. The Austrian government has moved to restrict freedom of movement for people, in an effort to slow the onset of the COVID-19 disease and the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)
A man shows a negative COVID-19 test together with his cellphone QR code in a set up for rapid new coronavirus testing in Vienna, Austria, Monday, Nov. 30, 2020. The Austrian government has moved to restrict freedom of movement for people, in an effort to slow the onset of the COVID-19 disease and the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)
A medical worker, left, tests a man for COVID-19 in a set up for rapid new coronavirus testing in Vienna, Austria, Monday, Nov. 30, 2020. The Austrian government has moved to restrict freedom of movement for people, in an effort to slow the onset of the COVID-19 disease and the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)
People wearing face masks to protect against the spred of the coronavirus, walk along a street in Hong Kong, Monday, Nov. 30, 2020. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Women wearing face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus walk along a pedestrian bridge in Beijing, Monday, Nov. 30, 2020. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Sikh devotees, some of them wearing masks offer prayers during celebrations to mark the birth anniversary of the first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak Dev, at a Gurudwara, or Sikh temple, in Jammu, India, Monday, Nov.30, 2020. India is second behind the U.S. in total coronavirus cases. Its recovery rate is nearing 94%. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)
Two employees look out over the closed ski resort at the Zugspitze in Grainau, Germany, Monday, Nov 30, 2020. The skiing areas are prepared but due to the Corona pandemic restrictions skiing is not allowed at the area. (Angelika Warmuth/dpa via AP)TORONTO — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is vowing to spend tens of billions more dollars to help the country recover from the pandemic.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says the country is facing its most severe challenge since the second World War, the worst economic shock since the Great Depression and the worse health crisis since the Spanish flu over a century ago.
The cost to date has the federal deficit reaching a record $381.6 billion Canadian (US$294 billion) this year, but the government says it could close in on $400 billion Canadian (US$308 billion) if widespread lockdowns return in the coming weeks. Toronto, Canada’s largest city, is on lockdown.
The government’s fall economic update proposes to send extra child-benefit payments to families next year. The government is proposing $25 billion Canadian (US$19 billion) in new spending.
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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
— Moderna asking US, European regulators to OK its virus shots
— Fauci: US may see ‘surge upon surge’ of virus in coming weeks after Thanksgiving travel
— U.K. stocks up on vaccines, hopes to start virus shots within days
— Virus forces businesses to adapt or close down on the streets of London
— New York City to reopen its schools to in-person learning, tests students more for COVID-19
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Follow AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi’s Department of Health has reported a record number of coronavirus hospitalizations for a single day.
Officials said 1,008 people were hospitalized with the virus Monday, marking the first time the number of coronavirus hospitalizations in the state has reached more than 1,000. That’s an increase from Nov. 10, when 669 virus hospitalizations were reported.
State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs shared the data on Twitter Monday, saying that the record comes ahead of an “anticipated Thanksgiving acceleration” in coronavirus cases.
The state Health Department said Monday that Mississippi, with a population of about 3 million, has reported more than 153,250 confirmed coronavirus cases and at least 3,807 deaths from COVID-19 as of Sunday evening. That’s an increase of 1,485 cases and one death from the day before. The death occurred Saturday and was identified later using a death certificate.
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KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Hospital and nursing officials fear that if COVID-19 cases continue unchecked there won’t be enough nurses to staff new hospital beds in the near future in the Kansas City metro area.
Kansas health officials on Monday added 4,425 cases to the state’s pandemic tally since Friday, bringing the total to 157,446. Data showed that Kansas averaged 2,198 new confirmed and probable coronavirus a day for the seven days ending Monday. That is below the record average of 2,766 cases.
The number of COVID-19 related deaths also rose by 31 to 1,560.
It is too soon to see how Thanksgiving gatherings have impacted coronavirus numbers, but medical providers expect to see another rise in hospitalizations in 10 to 14 days once people begin showing symptoms.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported on Monday 87 new hospitalizations, bringing the total of hospitalizations to 5,105 since the start of the pandemic. The state’s COVID-19 dashboard showed 227 coronavirus patients were in ICU units, with 39% of ICU capacity remaining in Kansas.
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MIAMI — Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Monday that schools will be required to remain open despite the rise in confirmed COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, arguing lockdowns and closures have not worked.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that the spread of the virus among children “is not really very big at all” and is now advising to get children back in the classrooms.
The Republican governor said schools will continue to offer online classes for families who have chosen not to physically return, but school districts will require students who have fallen behind online to return to in-person instruction.
Florida has seen cases rise again, now totaling more than 990,000 confirmed cases since the pandemic began earlier this year. More than 18,700 people have died with COVID-19 since March.
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DES MOINES, Iowa — Coronavirus deaths continued to increase in Iowa in the past two weeks as the state ends November posting 687 deaths. That’s a 34% increase from the 512 deaths reported in October.
The Iowa Department of Public Health reported that there were 1,200 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases in the previous 24 hours.
Data collected by Johns Hopkins University shows the state’s seven-day rolling average positivity rate of 40.2% remained third highest in the nation behind Idaho and South Dakota. Hospitalizations continued a gradual decline after peaking at more than 1,520 patients two weeks ago.
Laura Shoemaker, a spokeswoman for University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, said the hospital’s decrease in COVID-19 patients — to 56 patients on Monday from 84 a week earlier — was mostly due to hospital discharges.
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SEATTLE — More than 30 patients and staff at Washington state’s largest psychiatric hospital are suffering from coronavirus — the biggest spike in cases to date — and more than 150 have tested positive since the virus first hit the facility in March.
Ten Western State Hospital patients on a single ward got sick within a few days of each other after a nurse tested positive about a week ago. The patients ranged in age of 62 to 82 and were moved to the hospital’s special COVID-19 ward so they’re kept away from other patients.
Hospital officials say 12 workers tested positive within a three-day span last week. Most were on the same ward as the patient spike.
Officials are scrambling to find nursing staff to work on the COVID-19 ward and have offered overtime pay.
Department of Social and Health Services spokeswoman Kelly Von Holtz said the new spike in cases reflects the increase being seen across the country.
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said on Monday that hospitals across the state will reduce elective surgeries to ensure there is enough space to accommodate coronavirus patients as the number of cases continues to surge.
Hospitals will be able to maintain their available bed capacities “at this moment,” the Republican governor said at a news conference. “But the worst days are ahead of us.”
State health data shows the number of people hospitalized with the virus in West Virginia jumped 29% in the past week to a record 597, including 162 in intensive care units. The number of hospitalizations has more than doubled in the past month.
And active virus cases statewide have jumped 62% in the past two weeks to 16,788.
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ZAGREB, Croatia — Croatia’s Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic has tested positive for the new coronavirus.
Government spokesman Marko Milic says Plenkovic is feeling fine and will continue to perform his duties from his home.
The announcement came after Plenkovic’s wife tested positive for the virus on weekend. Plenkovic’s initial test came out negative but was repeated on Monday.
Croatia has faced weeks of soaring infections with the new coronavirus. On Monday, Croatia reported a record death toll of 74 fatalities in the past 24 hours and 1,830 new infections.
The government on Monday also tightened travel restrictions requesting a negative test for most people seeking to enter the country.
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ST. LOUIS — St. Louis County Executive Sam Page says the county is in crisis mode as COVID-19 cases continue to rise and hospitals strain to treat patients.
During a briefing Monday, Page repeated earlier warnings that the area’s hospitals could run out of intensive care beds sometime this week. He also said the National Guard could be called in to help hospitals deal with the overload of patients.
On Sunday, area hospitals said they were using 77% of the total staffed beds and 89% of their intensive care beds.
Page said the region will be severely tested during the next few weeks and urged residents to follow safety protocols.
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RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s most populous state on Monday tightened restrictions again on activities due to rising cases of COVID-19.
Sao Paulo state Gov. Joao Doria ordered shops, including bars and restaurants, to limit themselves to 40% capacity and to operate only 10 hours a day in the state of 46 million people. All must close by 10 p.m.
The measure comes a day after municipal runoff elections across Brazil, campaigns that involved gatherings of voters that experts fear have exacerbated viral spread.
Brazil has reported more than 172,000 deaths from the disease, second only to the United States. It has been averaging more than 500 deaths and nearly 35,000 new infections a day.
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TRENTON, N.J. — All indoor youth sports in New Jersey will be suspended starting Saturday because of the climbing COVID-19 caseload.
Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday that the pause would begin at 6 a.m. and go until Jan. 2. It covers all youth sports, but excludes college and professionals athletics.
The Democrat also said that the outdoor gathering limit would be reduced from 150 to 25 people beginning Dec. 7. The change won’t affect outdoor dining.
New Jersey, like much of the country, has seen spiking cases and hospitalizations.
The weekly average of new daily cases topped 4,000 on Monday, up from 3,500 earlier this month and above the nearly 1,000 seen in October. Murphy said Monday that New Jersey’s hospitalizations reached nearly 3,000, a level not seen since May.
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MADRID — Health authorities are urging Spaniards to keep awareness against the coronavirus high after people went out in mass for shopping or admiring Christmas lights over the weekend.
Silvia Calzón, State Secretary for Health, said that authorities have insisted for months on the need to “respect a physicial distance, not a social one.”
Authorities are worried that travelling will increase during an upcoming bank holiday on the country’s Constitution Day, increasing the virus spread before Christmas and now that new cases and hospitalizations are waning.
Spain’s 14-day infection rate dropped to 275 cases per 100,000 inhabitants on Monday, from a high of 529 cases on Nov. 9. It was the first time in 45 days that the variable closely followed by epidemiologists has been under 300.
The country has officially logged 1.6 million infections and over 45,000 deaths confirmed for COVID-19 since the beginning of the year.
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SAN JOSE — Officials in Santa Clara, the heart of Silicon Valley, have imposed a mandatory quarantine for anyone who has traveled more than 150 miles (240 kilometers) away from the county, including those who may have traveled to see loved ones over the Thanksgiving holiday.
The county now has the highest case rate in the San Francisco Bay Area, health officer Dr. Sara Cody said.
The new measures start Monday and will last through Dec. 21 for now. While they are among the strictest in the Bay Area, Cody’s order stops short of a full business shutdown ahead of the holiday season. It also exempts church services and protests, which are constitutionally protected.
It’s unclear how officials planned to enforce the rules.
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ISTANBUL — Turkey’s president has announced the most widespread lockdown so far amid a surge in COVID-19 infections, extending curfews to weeknights and full lockdowns over weekends.
Speaking after a cabinet meeting Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a curfew would be implemented on weekdays between 9:00 pm and 5:00 am. He also announced total weekend lockdowns from 9:00 pm on Friday evenings to 5:00 am Monday.
The new measures are scheduled to begin Tuesday. Grocery stores and food delivery services would be exempt from the lockdowns within certain hours.
Turkey resumed reporting all positive cases last week, after only reporting symptomatic cases for four months, bringing daily infections to around 30,000. The new numbers now put Turkey among the worst-hit in Europe.
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DENVER — Citing Congress’ failure to pass a new coronavirus economic relief package, Colorado’s Democrat-led Legislature convened on Monday in a special session called by Gov. Jared Polis to pass bills offering sales tax relief and state grants to small businesses, tenants and public school districts affected by the pandemic.
Over the weekend, Democratic lawmakers unveiled bills offering a combined $280 million to help small firms through the winter; sustain child care facilities; deliver rental and mortgage aid for landlords and tenants; and boost food pantry stocks.
The proposals also cover fortifying broadband and internet access for public school teachers and students; helping residents pay utility bills; and a $100 million transfer by the state for COVID-related public health expenses.
Lawmakers also are considering legislation to allow restaurants, bars and food trucks to keep state sales tax collections they otherwise would have to remit to the state, at least through February.
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