Coronavirus Update: What we know so far about ‘Deltacron,’ a new hybrid COVID-19 variant

Good evening, here are the COVID-19 updates you need to know tonight.

Top headlines:

1. What we know so far about ‘Deltacron,’ a new hybrid COVID-19 variant
2. Many Ontario long-term care homes keeping vax mandates as province lifts policy
3. Soaring fuel costs and looser travel restrictions create ‘perfect storm’ for flight, cruise prices

Note to readers: Due to changes in the prevalence of testing, case counts alone are no longer a reliable indicator of the spread of COVID-19. In part due to this, recovery data is no longer available from all provinces and territories. Some provinces have also shifted to weekly or irregular updates, which impacts the timeliness of data shown below.

In the past seven days, 35,868 cases were reported, down 5 per cent from the previous seven days. There were 286 deaths announced, down 31 per cent over the same period. At least 3,747 people are being treated in hospitals.

Canada’s inoculation rate is 13th among countries with a population of one million or more people.

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Coronavirus explainers: Coronavirus in maps and charts • Tracking vaccine doses • Lockdown rules and reopening

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Coronavirus in Canada

• Sugar shack owners in Quebec are reopening their dining rooms for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and strangely, they are crediting the novel coronavirus with revitalizing their industry. Health authorities in the province say 1,077 people remain in hospital with COVID-19, and 61 patients are in intensive care.
• British Columbia’s remedy for bringing more foreign-trained doctors into the medical profession has been delayed due to the pandemic, sidelining potential candidates and prolonging pressure on the province’s health system, advocates say. Meanwhile, hospitalizations have dropped again but another 14 people died over a three-day period since Friday.
• In Alberta, Calgary’s police chief says officers were in a no-win situation when anti-vaccine, anti-mask protesters got into a “standoff situation” with residents and other counter-protesters on the weekend.
• Vaccination against COVID-19 will still be required for employees at many Ontario long-term care homes, even though the province has lifted its official mandate for the sector. More than a third of Ontario’s total COVID-19 deaths have been among long-term care residents. The province is reporting 228 people with COVID-19 in intensive care units in the province’s hospitals.

Scientists have reported that a hybrid of the Omicron and Delta variants has been popping up in several countries in Europe.

• Although a hybrid variant might sound worrisome, there are a number of reasons not to panic. Etienne Simon-Loriere, a virus expert at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, says the recombinant has not yet shown the ability to grow exponentially.
• Simon-Loriere also says that the defenses people have acquired against Omicron – through infections, vaccines or both – should work just as well against the new recombinant.

Year three: Many experts are expressing cautious optimism that Canada has passed the need for lockdowns and the widespread safety protocols that were used over the first two years of the pandemic.

COVID and the courts: Canadian courts grappling with the aftermath of pandemic closures and restrictions will have to parse out how much of the delays should be deemed reasonable and unavoidable as more cases approach or exceed the maximum time frame set for criminal trials, experts say.

Paralympics: Canada produced its second-best performance in history at this year’s Paralympic Games – remarkable considering the huge hurdles posed by the pandemic.

Coronavirus around the world

• The Chinese mainland is currently facing its worst outbreak since early 2020, and many have pointed at Hong Kong – where cases have been running out of control for weeks now – as the most likely source of infection.
• Former U.S. president Barack Obama said Sunday that he had tested positive for the coronavirus, though he’s feeling relatively healthy and his wife, Michelle, tested negative. Meanwhile, the Biden administration wants to expand a federal COVID-19 tracking system to provide a more detailed view of how respiratory and other infectious diseases are affecting patients and hospital resources.
• France removed most of its COVID-19 restrictions on Monday, including lifting mask mandates in most settings and allowing people who aren’t vaccinated back into restaurants, sports arenas and other venues.
• In Russia, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on Monday lifted a long-standing requirement for people to wear masks in public, citing the improving situation with COVID-19 and the need to support businesses facing sanctions pressure.

Coronavirus and business

After two years of masks, sanitizing and being overlooked for priority vaccination, a steady stream of early-childhood educators are exiting the profession at a time when demand for their services is set to dramatically expand.

• There was a 21-per-cent drop in employment among child-care workers in Canada from February, 2020, to February, 2021, according to Statistics Canada. Some of this reduction was likely owing to involuntary layoffs during the shutdowns, but after daycare centres reopened, many of these frustrated and fed-up employees didn’t come back.
• More than 38,000 new early-childhood educators will need to be hired to accommodate the provincial deals signed with the federal government so far, according to the Canadian Child Care Federation. And that number doesn’t include Ontario, which hasn’t yet signed a deal.

Also today: A pent-up demand for travel is one of the factors that’s causing vacation prices to soar. International flight prices for Canadians were up 36 per cent on average in early March, compared with the same period in 2019, according to an analysis of online searches by the travel-search website Kayak.

And: JPMorgan Chase & Co will resume hiring unvaccinated individuals beginning April 4, the bank said in an internal memo. The bank is also dropping the mask mandate in it offices for all employees, making wearing masks voluntary for both vaccinated and unvaccinated employees, according to the memo.

Globe opinion

• André Picard: To mask or not to mask, that is the question
• Tracy Vaillancourt and Wendy Craig: Like it or not, masks are coming off – it’s time to have the conversation with children
• David Parkinson: Small businesses are back in business, but not back to normal
• The Editorial Board: COVID-19 is still with us, but thanks to vaccines, the pandemic (mostly) isn’t
• Rob Carrick: Houses in the suburbs seemed more affordable – then gas prices soared and commuting resumed

Information centre

• Everything you need to know about Canada’s travel restrictions for vaccinated and unvaccinated people
• Where do I book a COVID-19 booster or a vaccine appointment for my kids? Latest rules by province
• What is and isn't 'paid sick leave' in Canada? A short primer
• Got a vaccine 'hangover'? Here's why

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