Skip to main content

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

Top headlines:

  1. Quebec reaches grim milestone of 100,000 cases, but public-health officials are encouraged by lower daily totals
  2. The Atlantic bubble is said to have saved lives and the East Coast province’s from economic ruin
  3. Spanish PM enacts nightly curfews with state of emergency to curb second wave

In Canada, there have been at least 216,104 cases reported. In the last week 17,090 new cases were announced, 5 per cent more than the previous week.

There have also been at least 181,429 recoveries and 9,946 deaths. Health officials have administered more than 10,019,477 tests.

Open this photo in gallery:

daily deaths canada oct. 25The Globe and Mail

Worldwide, there have been at least 42,612,959 cases confirmed and 1,149,780 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: Coronavirus in maps and charts Lockdown rules and reopening Mask-wearing rules Back to school guide Essential resources


Photo of the day

Open this photo in gallery:

People keep a safe distance as they wait at a COVID-19 testing site as the spread of COVID-19 in Nizna, Slovakia Oct. 23. (REUTERS/Radovan Stoklasa/File Photo)RADOVAN STOKLASA/Reuters


Coronavirus in Canada

  • Quebec reached more than 100,000 total cases Sunday, becoming the first province in Canada to do so. Despite hitting the sobering milestone, public-health experts are encouraged by a continuing downward trend of daily cases. The province reported 879 new cases and 11 deaths Sunday.

In Ottawa, advocates are criticizing the federal government for not doing enough to help disabled veterans, as new figures appear to show that COVID-19 has made it more difficult for them to apply for financial assistance.

  • Figures from Veterans Affairs Canada show 8,154 veterans applied for disability benefits during the first three full months of the pandemic, which was about half the normal number of applications.
  • The sharp drop helped the department make progress on the backlog of more than 40,000 requests for federal assistance waiting to be processed, which has been growing for the past few years.

The government was warned in the spring that many former service members were having a hard time getting the necessary paperwork to apply for financial compensation and benefits because of COVID-19.


Coronavirus around the world

  • Spain declared a state of emergency on Sunday that includes an overnight curfew, with some exceptions, in hopes of not repeating the near collapse of the country’s hospitals. Spain became the first European country to surpass one million officially recorded COVID-19 cases.
  • Italy reported another daily record for new cases – 19,644 – on Saturday as the government planned further restrictions to contain a resurgence of the pandemic, despite a second night of street protests against curfews ordered this past week.
  • U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence was campaigning on Sunday despite a COVID-19 outbreak among his aides, and President Donald Trump claimed progress as the United States set records for daily infections, prompting Democratic challenger Joe Biden to accuse Mr. Trump of surrendering to the pandemic.
  • Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said on Sunday he had tested positive for coronavirus and would stay at home for any treatment for the time being.

Coronavirus and business

The border restrictions, along with tough public-health measures, helped the East Coast provinces, which have a combined population of 2.4 million, tamp down COVID-19 early on and largely keep the virus at bay even as the rest of the country entered a second wave of infections.

That success came at a cost. More than 171,000 jobs were lost, exports plunged and the region’s $5-billion tourism sector was crippled, with all four provinces swinging from economic growth to sudden contraction.

While the initial effect was similar to what happened in the rest of Canada, data shows the rebound in jobs and economic activity that followed was quicker, bolstered by the ability to reopen the economy faster than the rest of the country.

Also today: Insolvent clothing retailer Le Château Inc. was in financial difficulty long before the COVID-19 pandemic tanked retail sales across Canada.

And: SAP cut its guidance for 2020 and for the medium term today, saying the reimposition of coronavirus lockdowns had hit its business.


Globe opinion

  • Gary Mason: “A B.C. election that was called during a pandemic became, in essence, a referendum on the government’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis. And most of the electorate felt that, on balance, Leader John Horgan and his NDP administration have handled the emergency about as well as can be expected.”
  • Ambarish Chandra: “The government has indicated that a bailout package [for its domestic airlines] is being prepared, and the industry is lobbying for forgivable loans. But the government should only agree to bailouts under strict conditions.”

More reporting

  • My husband has dementia, and I feel as trapped as he does
  • Urban exodus: Pandemic drives chefs out of cities in search of greener pastures
  • Here’s why you can’t focus at work or stop doom-scrolling on your phone

Information centre

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

What are we missing? Email us: audience@globeandmail.com. Do you know someone who needs this newsletter? Send them to our Newsletters page.

Follow related authors and topics

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

Interact with The Globe