Update of the Covid-19 Landscape

[GTranslate]Globally, there have been over 111 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 according to Johns Hopkins University data.  Since the start of the pandemic, over 88 million people have recovered and more than 2.4 million fatalities were attributable to the virus.

Here we provide a daily update of the data available for select countries and jurisdictions as of February 23, 2021, at 1:15pm (EST).

Update of the Covid-19 Landscape

[GTranslate]Globally, there have been over 107 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 according to Johns Hopkins University data.  Since the start of the pandemic, over 80 million have recovered and more than 2.3 million fatalities were attributable to the virus.

Here we provide a daily update of the data available for select countries and jurisdictions as of February 12 2021, at 10:30am (EST).

Covid-19 precautions halt influenza in its tracks

[gtranslate] TORONTO – What’s comforting about Covid-19 cases aplenty and the new, highly transmissible UK variant circulating throughout communities and countries struggling to contains Covid-19 infections? Influenza levels remain “exceptionally low”. Initial fears that flu cases would exacerbate an overburdened health care system dealing with the coronavirus pandemic have not quite materialized. Thank heavens for that.

Il videomessaggio del Papa
agli iracheni: “Pregheremo
tutti insieme”

CITTÀ DEL VATICANO – “Cari fratelli e sorelle in Iraq, assalam lakum!”: inizia così il videomessaggio che Papa Francesco ha messo in rete (nella foto) – lanciandolo con un tweet – per salutare gli “amici iracheni” alla vigilia del suo viaggio in Iraq. Un viaggio di pace e per la pace, sottolinea Bergoglio, per “pregare insieme e camminare insieme”, tutti quanti, “nel segno del padre Abramo,  che riunisce in un’unica famiglia musulmani, ebrei e cristiani”. Continue reading→

Nursing homes scandal: unpunished violations

[GTranslate]TORONTO – The initial shock soon was replaced by anger. The photograph of Long Term Care Homes that emerges from a CBC News investigation is shocking. Not only are anti-contagion security protocols broken in these facilities while the Covid-19 pandemic is underway, but LTCs found red-handed are not punished for their behaviour. As they say in Italian, after the “pulling of ears”, everything ends up in “tarallucci and wine”. It’s a fact. Inspections of Ontario’s Long Term Care Homes almost never have consequences. Homes are asked to solve the problem, but even if an inspector returns and finds the same problem, there are no fines or penalties. In very rare cases, houses are forbidden to accept new residents. Continue reading→

FILIPINO-CANADIAN ON (TCDSB) TORONTO CATHOLIC SCHOOL BOARD.

Once, during a religious seminar I participated in, the issue of Filipino parents sending their children came into focus. I admit, having been involved in the media for most of my Canadian life, this issue never came up in my front burner. I have always regarded it as a given in the Filipino immigrants’ life to send their child or children to a Catholic school. And I assumed that Canadians knew the Catholic background of the Philippines. Continue reading→