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Good evening, here are the coronavirus updates you need to know tonight.

Top headlines:

  1. Worldwide count of infections climbs past 20 million, with more than half from the U.S., India and Brazil
  2. Scientists sound alarms after Russia registers COVID-19 vaccine tested on just dozens of people
  3. Alberta First Nation chief says pandemic has laid bare persistent inequities among Indigenous communities

In Canada, there have been at least 120,131 cases reported. In the last week 2,658 new cases were announced, 8 per cent fewer than the previous week. There have also been at least 106,355 recoveries and 8,987 deaths. Health officials have administered more than 4,791,975 tests.

Worldwide, there have been at least 20,089,624 cases confirmed and 736,191 deaths reported.

Sources: Canada data is compiled from government websites, Johns Hopkins and COVID-19 Canada Open Data Working Group; international data is from Johns Hopkins University.


Coronavirus explainers: Updates and essential resourcesCoronavirus in maps and chartsReopening plans in each provinceGlobal rules on mask-wearing


Photo of the day

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A news alert is displayed on a mobile phone in Christchurch, New Zealand, on August 12. The country's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Tuesday that authorities have found four cases of the coronavirus in one Auckland household from an unknown source. Auckland has been placed at Level 3 lockdown and the rest of the country has moved to Level 2.Mark Baker/The Associated Press


Number of the day

20 million

Over the past six weeks, the total number of cases around the world has doubled to 20 million, according to Johns Hopkins data.

  • More than half the cases are from the United States, India and Brazil. On average, the U.S. reports 54,000 new cases daily, while 59,000 new cases are reported in India and nearly 44,000 in Brazil.
  • Experts say the real number of people infected is much higher given limited testing and mild cases that are unreported or unrecognized.
  • The U.S., with about 4 per cent of the world’s population, accounts for about 25 per cent of the known coronavirus infections and 22 per cent of deaths.

Coronavirus in Canada


In Ottawa, the government has launched an updated calculator to help employers estimate the wage subsidy they might receive before the applications open for the next phase of the program open Monday.

  • Enhancements to the program include expanding eligibility criteria, introducing a sliding revenue-decline test to determine the subsidy amount and a top-up subsidy for the most affected employers.

Please don’t float: Authorities on the Canada-U.S. border are warning people not to participate in Float Down, the annual tubing party this weekend on the river that separates Sarnia, Ont., from Port Huron, Mich. Coast guards from both countries have warned of the serious legal repercussions of crossing the border, which has been closed to non-essential travel since March.


Coronavirus around the world

  • Scientists expressed alarm after Russia became the first country to approve a vaccine. The shots have reportedly only been studied in dozens of people.
  • French Prime Minister Jean Castex warned the public was becoming careless after nearly 5,000 new COVID-19 cases were recorded from Saturday to Monday.
  • New Zealand authorities found four cases of the coronavirus in one Auckland household from an unknown source, marking the first reported cases of local transmission in the country in 102 days. Auckland, the nation’s largest city, will ask people to stay at home midday Wednesday through midnight Friday, while bars and many other businesses will be closed.

Coronavirus and business

Canada Goose is increasing its investment in e-commerce, and will double the number of new brick-and-mortar stores in to China where shopping traffic has better recovered.

  • The Canadian retailer reported its first-quarter revenue dropped 63 per cent compared to last year. In June, the company projected first-quarter sales would be “negligible” as a result of the pandemic, and today projected a “significant” drop in its second-quarter revenue.
  • Ahead of the busy fall and winter season, the retailer is investing more in e-commerce, including a “cross-border solution” to reach international shoppers, and increased direct-to-consumer efforts through its website.

Yesterday, the government announced temporary changes to Employment Insurance to allow more people to qualify as it looks to transition workers off emergency income measures like the Canada Emergency Response Benefit. Claimants will need no more than 420 hours of insurable hours, down from 700, to receive at least 26 weeks of coverage, up from 14 weeks.

Rob Carrick: TFSAs, RRSPs and the tax hikes to come [For subscribers]


Globe opinion

  • Rob Carrick: What exchange-traded funds of companies will survive and thrive in the pandemic? [For subscribers]
  • Editorial: “School closings have ‘significant adverse health and welfare consequences for children and youth,’ according to a report from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Those adverse effects include setbacks to children’s educational, emotional, social and physical development caused by their absence from the classroom.
  • Andrew Coyne: “The interesting thing about Mark Carney’s wing-lurking is likewise less that Mr. Trudeau is consulting him than that Mr. Trudeau wishes it to be known that he is. This will be exciting to those who imagine the economy as a kind of machine, to be programmed only by the most brilliant minds.”

More reporting


Distractions


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