Today’s coronavirus news: AstraZeneca becomes third COVID-19 vaccine with promising results; Toronto and Peel enter lockdown phase of province’s pandemic plan

The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Monday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
5:50 a.m. Asian stocks and Wall Street futures rose Monday as investors looked ahead to quarterly U.S. economic data amid unease about anti-coronavirus restrictions and wrangling over the American presidential election.
London, Shanghai, Frankfurt and Hong Kong advanced. Japanese markets were closed for a holiday.
Investors awaited U.S. economic growth data due out Wednesday after Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index ended last week down as rising infection numbers collided with hopes for a possible vaccine. Also Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve is to report on its latest meeting, though no surprises are expected.
Investors have been rattled by decisions to reimpose anti-virus controls in the United States, Europe and some Asian countries that threaten to hamper retail spending, travel and other business activity.
5:25 a.m. Health officials in Washington state said the number of people who were hospitalized to receive treatment for the coronavirus has reached a record high.
KOMO-TV reports there were 762 people receiving hospital care for the virus in Washington as of Saturday.
At the Swedish First Hill campus of Seattle’s Swedish Medical Center, 10 coronavirus patients were admitted within a span of five hours Wednesday.
Leaders from hospitals statewide met last week to consider strategies to ensure they have room to care for COVID-19 patients as the hospitalization rate climbs.
5:21 a.m. Indonesia’s confirmed cases of the coronavirus have breached half a million as the government of the world’s fourth most populous nation scrambles to procure vaccines to help it win the fight against the pandemic.
The Health Ministry reported 4,442 new cases on Monday to bring the country’s total to 502,110, the highest toll in Southeast Asia and second in Asia only to India’s more than 9.1 million confirmed cases.
The ministry said that the death toll from the virus is 16,002, and that it has been adding 3,000-5,000 daily cases since mid-September.
5:19 a.m. Chinese authorities are testing millions of people, imposing lockdowns and shutting down schools after multiple locally transmitted coronavirus cases were discovered in three cities across the country last week.
As temperatures drop, large-scale measures are being enacted in the cities of Tianjin, Shanghai and Manzhouli, despite the low number of new cases compared to the United States and other countries that are seeing new waves of infections.
Many experts and government officials have warned that the chance of the virus spreading will be greater during the cold weather. Recent flare-ups have shown that there is still a risk of the virus returning, despite being largely controlled within China.
On Monday, the National Health Commission reported two new locally transmitted cases in Shanghai over the last 24 hours, bringing the total to seven since Friday. China has recorded 86,442 total cases and 4,634 deaths since the virus was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
5:15 a.m. Toronto and Peel Region have entered the lockdown stage of Ontario’s pandemic protection plan.
It means that for at least the next 28 days, non-essential retailers can only offer curbside pickup, while restaurants are closed to all but takeout and delivery orders in the two COVID-19 hot spots.
Personal services have also been forced to close, but schools and child-care centres remain open.
Premier Doug Ford announced the move on Friday, but it didn’t come into effect until 12:01 a.m. today.
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That gave residents of Toronto and Peel the chance to stock up over the weekend — flooding local malls, even as they extended hours in an effort to prevent too many people from coming at once.
5:11 a.m. The Halifax region and neighbouring Hants County are now under stricter public health rules that will last until Dec. 21 as new COVID-19 infections rise in Nova Scotia.
The province had 44 active cases of COVID-19 as of Sunday, including 19 new infections identified on Friday and Saturday.
The limit for gathering without physical distancing in the two hardest-hit regions is now five people rather than 10, and while that group doesn’t have to remain consistent, health officials are urging people not to gather in random or spontaneous groups.
Households in the two regions are allowed to host up to five visitors at a time and people in households with more than five members may only go outside the home in groups of five or fewer.
The limit on indoor gatherings, such as sports games, arts and culture events, organized physical activity, faith gatherings, weddings, funerals, festivals and special events is 50 per cent of the venue’s capacity up to a maximum of 100 people with physical distancing measures in place, while the limit outdoors is 150 people.
Monday 5:04 a.m. AstraZeneca said Monday that late stage trials of its COVID-19 vaccine developed with Oxford University were “highly effective’’ in preventing disease.
The results are based on interim analysis of trials in the U.K. and Brazil of the vaccine developed by Oxford University and manufactured by AstraZeneca. No hospitalizations or severe cases of COVID-19 were reported in those receiving the vaccine, AstraZeneca said.
“These findings show that we have an effective vaccine that will save many lives. Excitingly that one of our dosing regimens may be around 90% effective,’’ said Professor Andrew Pollard, the chief investigator for the trial.
The trial looked at two different dosing regimens — a half dose of the vaccine followed by a full dose at least one month apart was 90% effective. A second regimen using two full doses one month apart was 62% effective. The combined results showed an average efficacy rate of 70%.
“This vaccine’s efficacy and safety confirm that it will be highly effective against COVID-19 and will have an immediate impact on this public health emergency,’’ AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said. “Furthermore, the vaccine’s simple supply chain and our no-profit pledge and commitment to broad, equitable and timely access means it will be affordable and globally available, supplying hundreds of millions of doses on approval.”
Two other drugmakers, Pfizer and Moderna, last week reported preliminary results from late-stage trials showing that their COVID-19 vaccines were almost 95% effective.
Sunday 7:15 p.m.: Alberta is reporting 1,584 new COVID-19 cases, but no new deaths.
It’s the fourth straight day the province has announced a record-breaking number of new cases.
In each case, the total was over 1,000.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, says on Twitter there are 12,195 active cases in the province and that 319 of them are in hospital.
Sixty are in ICU.
Click here to read more of Sunday’s COVID-19 coverage.read more