Category: Corona Virus

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) Another 13,741 Kansans have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine since Friday. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment says 1.2 million Kansans, or 41.4% of the population, are armed with one dose.

The KDHE says 1.01 million have finished getting their COVID-19 shots, bringing the state to 34.7% of Kansans who are fully vaccinated.

The KDHE releases the vaccine and coronavirus updates each Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

It says there has been one more death linked to COVID-19 since Friday, bringing the states death toll to 5,058.

There have been 33 new hospitalizations linked to the coronavirus. The KDHE does not track recoveries.

Since Friday morning, 277 more Kansans have tested positive for the virus, while 2,171 have tested negative.

County coronavirus cases updated: May 24, 2021Weekly doses updated May 24, 2021Sources:Kansas Department of Health and EnvironmentNebraska Department of Health and Human ServicesOklahoma State Department of Health

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Coronavirus in Kansas: More than 1 million Kansans are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 - KSN-TV

(Washington, DC) Today, DC Health and the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) announced the launch of a new program that connects District organizations, including faith-based and community-based organizations as well as District employers, with vaccine providers that can assist with providing COVID-19 vaccinations to large groups in the community or workplace. Through the Vaccine Exchange Program, organizations are now able to submit requests for a vaccine clinic and vaccine providers are able to accept those requests and schedule clinics.

We are proud to partner with our many vaccine providers in the District to provide this opportunity for organizations to offer their members or employees COVID-19 vaccinations where they work or at a designated vaccination clinic, said Dr. LaQuandra S. Nesbitt, Director, DC Health. This public-private partnership allows the District to help meet the demand of employers looking for ways to protect their workers from COVID-19 and its devastating results.

The Vaccine Exchange Program Clinics can accommodate groups of individuals from community groups, employers or groups of individuals. The clinics can take place indoors or outdoors. Vaccine clinic operations generally require use of three distinct spaces for the following functions: check-in, vaccine administration, and post-vaccination observation. All spaces must allow for social distancing to be maintained.

Workplace and community-based clinic organizers will be responsible for:

We hope workers will encourage each other to take the shot. Residents, visitors and workers are reminded that the safest way to enjoy all DC has to offer is by getting vaccinated, said Dr. Ankoor Shah, Senior Deputy Director, Community Health Administration, DC Health and COVID-19 Vaccination Team Lead.

Organizations interested in offering a vaccination clinic can submit a request here. User guides for the portals are available for organizations and vaccine providers.

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DC Health Launches Program to Allow Faith-Based and Community-Based Organizations and District Employers to Schedule Vaccine Clinics | coronavirus -...

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Maui to tourists: Without a vaccination card, you will have to be tested for coronavirus - USA TODAY

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a long and rocky road, and two words have come to symbolize its exit ramp: herd immunity.

Since the start of the vaccine rollout, public officials have stressed that immunizing enough of the population would eventually stop the spread of the coronavirus. Each day, an online dashboard tracks San Diego Countys progress toward that goal.

But what happens once we reach it?

If youre expecting the virus to vanish, think again, says Natasha Martin, an infectious disease modeler at UC San Diego.

The biggest misconception is that something magical and immediate and drastic will happen when we hit this level of immunity, she said.

It will come with a whimper, not a bang.

Thats in part because were already seeing the benefits of vaccination. Immunizing close to the entire population against COVID-19 would help further, protecting both the vaccinated and unvaccinated. But getting to that point will be a struggle due to the rise of viral variants and issues of vaccine hesitancy and access. And were already seeing a clear slowdown in the pace of the rollout.

Martin and many others including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious disease expert say its even possible that well never quite reach herd immunity. But they also say that continuing to vaccinate as many people as possible, as quickly as possible will allow us to live alongside the virus safely by making infections less frequent and less severe.

In other words, the pandemic will end, but expect the coronavirus to stick around.

Vaccines protect communities by depriving a virus of the one thing it cant do without: hosts.

Viruses are essentially teeny-tiny parasites. They slip inside your cells, take them hostage and create countless viral copies that spew out of infected cells, often killing them in the process. And then they repeat that process again and again.

If enough people have been vaccinated or recovered from infection, that leaves fewer places for a virus to go, eventually breaking the cycle of transmission. And that point is known as herd immunity.

Herd immunity doesnt just help the vaccinated; it helps those who havent gotten their shots, or whove been inoculated but didnt mount a strong immune response. Thats because these people, who are still vulnerable to COVID-19, are now mostly in contact with immune individuals, who are far less likely to spread the virus.

That person who is in the herd but didnt perhaps get the vaccine or get the full protection from the vaccine, theyre also protected because the herd is protected, said Dr. Davey Smith, UCSDs chief of infectious disease research.

These arent hypothetical, far-off benefits of vaccination. Theyre already happening and have helped get us to a point where, on Monday, the county reported just 47 new cases, the lowest count since April 2020.

I do believe that the reductions in case rates that weve seen recently are occurring predominantly because of the expansion of vaccinations, Martin said.

But she cautions that we still havent immunized enough people to avoid a potential resurgence in cases if everyone (especially the unvaccinated) suddenly abandoned basic public health precautions.

Reaching herd immunity could prevent surges in a mask-free future. But how many people need to be vaccinated to get there? Martins best estimates are in the range of 85 percent to 90 percent, perhaps more.

Those figures apply to the entire population, meaning about 3 million people in San Diego County would need to be vaccinated or have recovered from COVID-19. Thats far higher than the countys goal of fully vaccinating 75 percent of San Diegans 12 and up, roughly 2.1 million people.

Martin thinks a higher target is warranted for a few reasons. One is that while children younger than 12 arent yet eligible for coronavirus vaccines, they, too, can get COVID-19. Another factor is the rise of faster-spreading viral variants, especially B.1.1.7, a strain first spotted in the U.K. and that now accounts for most new cases in the U.S. Theres evidence that this variant is 40 percent to 50 percent transmissible.

Its going to take time to reach those high levels of community-wide immunity, especially since the pace of vaccination has slowed. The number of San Diegans getting their first vaccine dose has declined for six weeks in a row, from about 123,500 a week in early April to nearly 60,000.

So far, 1.4 million residents have gotten the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine or the two shots of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines needed for full immunity against the coronavirus. At the current rate, its unlikely the county will reach 2.1 million fully vaccinated San Diegans by their goal of early July, let alone the higher figures Martin believes are needed.

We know its going to be a little bit of a grind, said Supervisor Nathan Fletcher during the countys weekly coronavirus briefing on Thursday. Were going to continue to strive to hit that goal. I think we will at some point get there. It is more an organizing tool around giving us something to strive toward.

Jaeden Johannesson, Ashley Skoglund and Emily Skoglund, from Minnesota, take a selfie near some sea lions in La Jolla on Tuesday, April 27, 2021 after the CDC said that fully vaccinated people can go outdoors without masks, except in crowded settings.

(Sandy Huffaker / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Regardless of when we cross that goalpost, infection rates likely wont dip dramatically. As people start getting together more, the virus will have more chances to find those who havent been vaccinated. And slow but steady vaccination offset by people resuming pre-pandemic activities will probably mean case rates will continue declining gradually, according to UCSDs Smith.

Its also likely that outbreaks will continue in places where vaccination rates are low. Infectious disease models rely on population averages, which dont tell the whole story. If 85 percent of people have been vaccinated, its unlikely the remaining 15 percent are spread evenly throughout a community. Some places will have high vaccination rates, and others wont, either because of differences in access to shots or interest in getting them.

Thats already true in San Diego County, with vaccination rates lower in East County than elsewhere in the region. Its also true worldwide, with plenty of countries that have only vaccinated a small percentage of their citizens, allowing the virus to spread largely unchecked in places like India.

An uneven vaccine rollout could eventually make coronavirus outbreaks look a bit like measles outbreaks, according to Smith. A single person carrying the measles virus can infect 12 or more people, but the spread of the virus is mostly contained through high vaccination rates. There are, however, still outbreaks in communities where immunization rates are low, such as in Marin County, New York Citys Orthodox Jewish Community and the Philippines. Occasionally, those outbreaks spill out into the wider community.

Smith and Martin say its unlikely well ever eradicate the coronavirus not any time soon, anyway. Theres only one virus scientists have wiped out with a vaccine: smallpox. The World Health Organization began that effort in 1959, declaring the disease eradicated by 1980.

Heres the good news: Eradication isnt necessary. The key is vaccinating more people as we return to normal. So far, scientists have yet to find a viral variant that no vaccine works against. Maintaining a high percentage of vaccinated people, which limits the viruss chances to mutate, will help make sure things stay that way.

We dont need to have the goal of eradication to be able to get back to a point as a society where we can live alongside that virus and go about our daily lives with minimal interruption, Martin said. You just want to be able to live alongside it so that it doesnt result in severe disease.

U-T staff writer Paul Sisson contributed reporting.

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The pandemic will end, but the coronavirus is probably here to stay. Here's why - The San Diego Union-Tribune

Illinois health officials say that nearly 7,800 coronavirus cases have been linked to various variants of the virus, including more than 5,100 cases involving a more-contagious strain of the virus that originated in the United Kingdom.

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, the state has identified 5,188 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant of the virus during the pandemic. That variant, which has been shown in studies to spread more rapidly than other strains, was first identified in Dec. 2020 in the United States, and was originally detected in the UK.

While the UK strain is the primary variant currently identified in Illinois, the P.1 variant, which originated in Brazil, is becoming more prevalent as well. According to officials, 1,967 COVID cases are tied to the variant, which was first detected in the United States in January.

Officials say that approximately 504 cases of coronavirus have been tied to the B.1.427 and B.1.429 variants of the virus, which is believed to have originated in California last year. Another 94 cases are linked to the B.1.351 variant, which is believed to have originated in South Africa in Oct. 2020 and was first detected in the U.S. in January.

While the strains are different, scientists say that most are believed to spread more quickly than the original COVID-19 variant, and that some could potentially cause more serious health issues. Vaccines have been shown to be largely effective against the variants, but officials warn that continued spread of variants could slow down reopening efforts due to increasing COVID statistics.

The state updates case totals for each of the variants every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.

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More Than 7,800 COVID Cases in Illinois Linked to Variant Coronavirus Strains - NBC Chicago

(Washington, DC) - The Districts reported data for Saturday, May 22, 2021 includes 21 new positive coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, bringing the Districts overall positive case total to 48,748.

The District reported that 2 additional residents lost their lives due to COVID-19.

Tragically, 1,127 District residents have lost their lives due to COVID-19.

Visit coronavirus.dc.gov/data for interactive data dashboards or to download COVID-19 data.

Below is a summary of the Districts current ReOpening Metrics.

Below is the Districts aggregated total of positive COVID-19 cases, sorted by age and gender.

Patient Gender

Total Positive Cases

%

Female

%

Male

%

Unknown

%

All

48,748*

100

25,374

100

23,187

100

187

100

Unknown

60

<1

19

<1

38

<1

3

2

0-18

6,241

13

3,091

12

3,126

14

24

13

19-30

13,134

27

7,195

29

5,876

25

63

34

31-40

9,669

20

4,972

20

4,657

20

40

21

41-50

6,251

13

3,154

13

3,082

13

15

8

51-60

5,768

12

2,840

11

2,910

13

18

10

61-70

4,164

9

2,089

8

2,065

9

10

5

71-80

2,100

4

1,136

5

959

4

5

3

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Coronavirus Data for May 22, 2021 | mayormb - Executive Office of the Mayor

(NEXSTAR) After more than a year of the COVID-19 pandemic, most people are eager for life to return to normal, as it was before the pandemic.

But that time may never come.

COVID-19 likely wont go away, said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at the University of California at San Francisco School of Medicine.

Until vaccine equity is established, until people are not hesitant about the vaccine, this wont go away, he said.

Because COVID-19 was transmitted from animals to humans, and its unlikely that the world can vaccinate or euthanize all the animal carriers, the virus will continue to circulate, potentially indefinitely.

COVID-19 isnt like other infectious diseases, such as smallpox, which was effectively eliminated after global vaccine efforts.

Its going to stay around and have flares, Chin-Hong said.

Unless we vaccinate everyone at the same time, youll have flares, he said. And every time you have a flare, theres the possibility of creating variants.

Some parts of the U.S. are effectively open, with very low viral case rates, such as in California, where Chin-Hong lives. But the physician doesnt expect things to stay calm indefinitely.

He says the current low case rate in places like California is due to vaccination in combination with a huge spike in cases in the winter, during which people recovered and developed natural immunity, meaning immunity not from the vaccine, but from catching the virus.

Natural immunity likely fades faster than the protection from the vaccine within 6 to 12 months, physicians believe. Once it fades in a majority of the population, that paves the way for flares.

Vaccine hesitancy is hardly an American-only problem. A recent Gallup poll found that nearly 1.3 billion adults would not agree to be vaccinated. Only two in three adults worldwide said they would get the vaccine even if it was available to them at no cost which isnt enough for global herd immunity.

That said, Chin-Hong does believe life will return to almost normal eventually. He expects well feel relief regionally, and develop regional herd immunity.

There will probably be countries with much less disease than others, he said. But as long as were traveling back and forth, theres potential for it to randomly flare up.

Chin-Hong says measles provides a good example. A lot of people are immunized against it but not everyone and that means there will still be outbreaks occasionally when someone travels from elsewhere and exposes a large group of people not vaccinated against the disease.

The key is to get as many humans vaccinated against COVID as possible, and quickly, before new variants develop.

Ultimately, thats the only avenue by which we can squash COVID to the bare minimum, Chin-Hong said.

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This wont go away: Why one doctor thinks COVID-19 will never disappear - WGN TV Chicago

The N.B.A. planned for each of its 30 teams to play 72 games across 145 days this season, its 75th. Despite a rash of postponements and injuries to big-name stars, all 1,080 games were played in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic.

No one in the league office is celebrating yet.

We knew it was going to be a challenge to get through all of the games in a way that we thought kept people safe, and were really happy to have done that, said David Weiss, the N.B.A.s senior vice president of player matters. At the same time, the virus keeps changing, so what we have to do keeps changing.

No one knows everything about Covid, Weiss added, and so were always willing to revisit what we do.

With the playoffs underway, here are answers to some of the questions about where things stand with the N.B.A.s health and safety rules related to the coronavirus.

League officials have maintained all season that they did not plan to return to a restricted-access bubble environment, like the one engineered last summer at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Fla. Numerous players said the isolation was harmful to their mental health, and Commissioner Adam Silver said in May 2020 that playing games without fans for an entire season could lower revenue by as much as 40 percent.

Without the bubble, and with limited or no fans in arenas, 31 games were postponed in December, January and February when teams could not meet the minimum requirement of eight players in uniform because of positive tests or contact tracing, as well as injuries. The league hadnt postponed more than four games in one season over the past 20 years.

After getting through March, April and May with no postponements, more than half of the 16 teams in the playoffs are expected to have crowds of at least 10,000 in the first round, including the Knicks and the Nets.

According to weekly reports from the league and the players union, 77 players tested positive for the coronavirus between Dec. 3, after training camps started, and Wednesday. In the first round of testing after the off-season, before training camp, 48 players tested positive.

The N.B.A. does not announce whether a player has been sidelined because of a positive test or because of exposure to someone who has tested positive. In either case, the player will be out for a number of days based on his level of exposure, often a week or more. (Unless he is vaccinated; see below.) This is the same policy from the regular season.

A real-time illustration played out on Tuesday, hours before the Indiana Pacers hosted the Charlotte Hornets in the opening game of the play-in tournament. The Pacers Caris LeVert was ruled out for 10 to 14 days because of the N.B.A.s health and safety protocols.

Of the nearly 550 players who appeared in at least one game this season, 167 spent time in the leagues health and safety protocols, according to data maintained by Fansure.

May 23, 2021, 3:32 p.m. ET

Were optimistic that what weve been doing will work, but we certainly cant relax because its the playoffs, Weiss said. We have to emphasize that its important to keep following the protocols and getting vaccinated.

Yes.

Thats of course one of the things that were worried about, and its why weve first and foremost been pushing that everyone educate themselves on vaccination and its benefits, hoping that people decide to get vaccinated, Weiss said.

Breakthrough cases, in which a person tests positive for the virus after vaccination, are another source of anxiety. They are rare, but the Yankees recently had nine such cases, and the N.B.A. is not immune. Golden States Damion Lee publicly acknowledged testing positive after getting vaccinated.

Vaccines arent perfect, and that was expected, Weiss said. Well have to manage those cases when they come up. We also have to like a lot of society is doing recognize that vaccines and declining case rates are the path back to normalcy. But we cant limit peoples entire lives. Weve got to find a balance where were recognizing the stress and the mental health challenges from this season and try to get back to normal.

Further coronavirus disruptions seem inevitable over the next two months, but Silver has said for months that he would not push to make vaccinations mandatory.

In an April interview with Time magazine, Silver said that more than 70 percent of our players have received at least one shot.

That figure has risen to nearly 80 percent for players and staff with full access to players, the league confirmed. The limit for team traveling parties was increased to 48 people for the playoffs, with a traveling team doctor now mandatory.

League and union officials have discussed modifying some of the protocols after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said recently that people who are fully vaccinated meaning two weeks removed from their second or only shot no longer need to wear masks or distance themselves when outdoors or in most indoor settings. Teams were notified on Saturday, just as the playoffs were about to start, that fully vaccinated head coaches no longer have to wear masks during games but still before and after games in team settings.

Beyond that last-minute amendment, league rules havent changed much since March 17. In that round of updates, players were notified that some restrictions would be relaxed for fully vaccinated individuals and for teams with 85 percent vaccination rates among players and certain personnel.

Among the rules eased two months ago:

Quarantines are no longer mandatory after exposure to the coronavirus.

Vaccinated players dont have to test on off days.

Outdoor dining at restaurants is OK.

Friends, family and other guests can visit fully vaccinated players, at home or on the road, without registering with their teams.

No masks are required at practice facilities for teams that have met the 85 percent threshold for vaccinations, with in-person team meetings and meals on team flights also restored.

Jayson Tatum, the Boston Celtics star, scored 50 points on Tuesday night in Bostons victory over Washington in a play-in game, which secured a playoff berth for the Celtics and a first-round showdown with the Nets. Yet Tatum has also been open about needing to use an inhaler before games because of fatigue and breathing difficulties he has dealt with since testing positive for the coronavirus in January.

Evan Fournier, Tatums teammate, said this month that his vision and depth perception were still diminished after he contracted the virus in April. He likened the way bright lights were bothering my eyes to a concussion.

Portlands Nassir Little told The Athletic in December that he lost 20 pounds and was in miserable pain after his bout with the virus. Milwaukees Jrue Holiday told The New York Times recently that he needed three or four weeks to restore his conditioning to its usual level after spending nearly two weeks recuperating in his basement.

The actual effects on my body were not fun, Holiday said.

Uncertainty about the effects of the coronavirus on the heart has also been a constant source of concern throughout the sports world. Every N.B.A. player who tests positive is given an extensive cardiac exam before returning to basketball activity, but the medical communitys understanding of the coronavirus and its potential long-term impact is still evolving because the virus is so new.

In the Time interview, Silver said the prospect of down-the-road difficulties for players who tested positive absolutely worries me, but he added: Based on the information we have today, I still believe that what weve done has only allowed them to live safer and healthier lives.

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Why Coronavirus May Be The NBA's Toughest Playoff Matchup - The New York Times

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) earlier this year said he took every precaution before ignoring state rules and attending a maskless wedding ceremony and reception for his son during a December surge in COVID-19 cases in California.

What McCarthy did not disclose in defending the San Luis Obispo County gathering was that he learned later that he had tested positive for antibodies to the coronavirus.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the immune system can produce antibodies one to three weeks after a person is infected with the coronavirus. That means McCarthy could have been infectious, but asymptomatic, as he mingled with family members and others at the ceremony, experts say. It could also mean he contracted the coronavirus at the wedding or was infected long before the event and thus was no longer at risk of spreading it to others, according to the experts.

McCarthy told The Times that the 13 family members who attended the Dec. 5 wedding were tested for the virus beforehand and were healthy then and have remained healthy. And like the choices families have made all across the country, the choices we made [were] ours.

At the time of the event, state mandates required masks at weddings and banned receptions altogether.

The fact that McCarthy had no idea he had been previously infected with the coronavirus underscores the importance of following health orders and guidelines aimed at curbing the spread of the virus, experts said.

It highlights the fact that COVID is highly transmissible that if you are in settings where people are not masking and not practicing physical distancing, and if theres high community transmission rates going on, it is very possible to be mixing with someone who is asymptomatic themselves but capable of transmitting disease, said Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, medical epidemiologist and infectious disease expert at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.

Its always helpful and supportive of public health guidance when those in elected positions try to emulate and follow the guidance that the constituents are being asked to abide by, Kim-Farley added.

UC San Francisco infectious disease specialist Dr. Monica Gandhi warned that before vaccination, you could feel well, and you could still spread the coronavirus if youre infected.

Having a wedding during ... a COVID peak was likely not the best thing to do, she said.

McCarthy revealed in March that he learned he had tested positive for the antibodies a few days before undergoing elbow surgery on Dec. 22. He told reporters that a preoperative blood test found the antibodies. He said he was shocked by the result, adding, I didnt know it.... Nobody on my staff got it either.

The House leader said he had been tested many times for the virus, and his doctor thought he probably had been infected within two months of his blood test. McCarthy said he believed he had been infected sometime around the Nov. 3 election but did not respond to questions from The Times about why he thought that.

If he did acquire the virus in early November, he probably would no longer have been infectious by the time of the wedding, the experts said.

McCarthy has expressed support for wearing masks in group settings and taking other steps experts recommend to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Two days before his elbow surgery, he announced that he had received his first shot of COVID-19 vaccine.

In the weeks before his sons wedding, the pandemic was worsening in large swaths of California, including San Luis Obispo County, and it was clear by early December that much of the state was headed toward a second stay-at-home order.

On the morning of the wedding, McCarthy mockingly alluded on Facebook to Gov. Gavin Newsoms attendance at a party the month before at the exclusive French Laundry restaurant, a maskless get-together that drew accusations of hypocrisy and elitism. Newsom later apologized, but his presence at the party helped fuel the recall campaign against him.

Three videos of the McCarthy nuptials at the Cass House in Cayucos show that the dozen or so attendees, including the congressman, were not wearing masks at the outdoor ceremony. The attendees are also seen inside a building without masks among them the bride, who is filmed getting her hair styled (the stylist in the shot is wearing a mask).

In one of the videos, the tuxedoed father of the groom is shown using a microphone to address guests. An invitation to the wedding, shown in one of the videos, says a celebration would follow.

In response to questions from The Times in February, McCarthy said in an emailed statement that the original plan for a 300-guest wedding was scrapped and that the bride and groom decided to go forward with just parents, grandparents and sisters.

We took every precaution to ensure a safe celebration starting with just 13 family members, the statement said. We spent the majority of the time outside with the dinner following the ceremony in an almost completely open area. We wore masks indoors that day, except in those instances where some had to let makeup dry or when we were eating.

See the rest here:

Kevin McCarthy might have had COVID-19 at son's wedding - Los Angeles Times

The latest:

Manitoba's Canada-leading per-capitainfection rate continued to rise after the provincereported 461 new COVID-19 cases and an additional fatality on Sunday.

Of the new infections, 299 are in the Winnipeg health region.

With the new figures, the provincial government said in a news release that the test-positivity rate across Manitoba over the past five days is now at 14.5 per cent, up from 14.3.

The province's hospitals which are under increasing strain and sending some ICU patients to neighbouring Ontario saw 18 more people hospitalized due to the coronavirus, bringing the total to 316.

WATCH | Manitobadoctor urges more proactive fight against COVID-19:

Manitoba's daily infection rate is at about 34 newcases each day for every 100,000 people, the highest among Canadian provinces and U.S. states. Alberta is a distant second, with 20.6.

Premier Brian Pallister on Saturday said the province was working on a plan to get thousands of surplus shotssent from the U.S. state of North Dakota to Manitoba, but it was "kiboshed" by the White House, which needs to approve such requests.

Meanwhile, a day after Canadaofficially crossed the milestone of partially immunizing 50 per cent of residents, efforts are shifting to vaccinating younger age groups.

Ontario on Sundaybecame the latest provinceto open vaccine appointments to kids 12 and over through the province's booking system. Those wanting to book can do so through the provincial online portal or call centre, as well as through pharmacies offering the Pfizer-BioNTech shot.

The province alsoregistered1,691 new COVID-19 cases, along with 15 deaths, on Sunday.

In Quebec which confirmedits lowest daily increase of newcases in eight months on Sunday, at 477 cases there were long lineups outside a walk-in vaccine centre in Montreal that opened its doors to the 12-to-17 age group over the weekend.

The province will formally open its booking system to youths 12 and up on Tuesday, but a spokespersonfor the local health authority said officials at the clinic west of downtown decided not to turn away teens that showed up for walk-ins.

Several other provinces have already expanded vaccine eligibility to those 12 and over, including Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta.

Efforts to target younger residents came amid a general acceleration in the national immunization drive.

Canada's chief public health officer wrote on Twitter on Sunday that more than 2.5 million Canadians received a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine between May 9 and May 15. More than 19 million Canadians, or half the national population, had received at least an initial dose of vaccine as of Saturday, although less than five per cent have been fully immunized with two shots.

Nationally, new COVID-19 cases continued to trend below the third-wave peaks reported in mid-April, although case counts remained high in several provinces such as inAlberta, which reported 563 new cases andsix moredeaths on Sunday.

As of 5:45 p.m. ET on Sunday, Canada had reported 1,359,180confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 53,814considered active. A CBC News tally of deaths stood at 25,231. More than 21 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered so far across the country.

In British Columbia, RCMP say they've turned back 103 drivers at highway road checks across the province put in placethis weekend to prevent non-essential travel. A spokesperson said two drivers were charged for allegedly failing to stop for police, which carries a $230 fine.

B.C.'s travel restrictions were first announced in April as part of the province's efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19.

On Friday, Premier John Horgan said the province'scircuit-breaker restrictions are expected to end on Tuesday, the same day the province plans to announce a roadmap for lifting restrictions throughout the summer.

Saskatchewan recorded 116 new COVID-19 cases and one death on Sunday.

Starting on Monday, the province will allow some to start booking their second vaccine shot.

The eligibility will be for:

In the Atlantic provinces, New Brunswickadded 14 new infections, and officials confirmed a case at a Fredericton YMCA daycare;Nova Scotiarecorded 74 new cases and itsdeath toll rose by two to 79; andNewfoundland and Labrador logged 23 new cases the highest single-day case count since Feb. 21 as a cluster inLewisporte-Summerfordcontinues to grow.

In the North,health officials in the Northwest Territorieshave unveiled new rules for sick children who want to return to in-class learning that require studentswith even minor COVID-19 symptoms to undergo testing, or be assessed by a health-care provider,before returning to school.

As of Sunday, more than 166.7million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, a trackingdashboard from U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University said. The reported global death toll stood at more than 3.4 million.

In Europe,British health officials expressed optimism that the coronavirus restrictions remaining in England can be lifted in June after an official study found that the Pfizer-BioNTechand AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccines offer effective protection against the variant first identified in India.

WATCH |Hugs, pubs and restaurant dining back as U.K. easesrestrictions:

In the Americas,Brazil's health minister said the government is concerned about the coronavirus variant first identified in India after the first cases of it were confirmed in the South American country.

In Asia,Pakistan's federal authorities reported a decrease in COVID-19 deaths and new cases and decided to reopen tourist resorts beginningMonday, but only for those who have either tested negative or got vaccinated.

In Africa,Kenya's Health Ministry said it is in talks with vaccinemanufacturers such as Johnson &Johnson as it seeks alternatives to the AstraZeneca shot after shipment delays ofthe drug from India.

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Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world on Sunday - CBC.ca