Mask mandate being extended in Ontario
Ontario is extending its remaining mask mandates for select high-risk settings past April 27th.
Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Keiran Moore says the mandates for public transit, hospitals, long-term care facilities and other congregate care settings, will remain in effect until June 11th.
The province will also start to receive supplies of Evusheld, an antibody treatment for immunocompromised individuals who are COVID-19 negative.
Dr. Moore says following two single-dose injections, the treatment provides protection from the virus for six months.
Coronavirus boarder restrictions
The easing of some COVID-19 rules goes into effect today at Canada’s borders.
Vaccinated travellers will no longer have to wear face masks and keep a record of their contacts for 14 days after their arrival.
And unvaccinated children under 12, travelling with vaccinated adults, will no longer need to have a pre-arrival COVID-19 test in hand.
However, everyone will still have to wear face masks during their journey.
The right weapons
U-S Secretary of State Anthony Blinken says Ukraine will be around “a lot longer” than Russian President Vladimir Putin.
His comments come after he and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin became the highest-ranking U-S diplomats to visit Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky since the Russian invasion began February 24th.
Austin says Ukraine can win if it’s given the right weapons.
He adds the U-S wants to see Russia’s military capability weakened so it can’t carry out another invasion somewhere else.
The battlefield
Heavy fighting is being reported in the eastern Donbas region, as Orthodox Christians marked the Easter weekend.
Russia has pledged to take control of the region, where Russian-backed separatists have been operating for the past eight years.
Meantime, Ukrainian officials say Russia’s troops have launched an all-out offensive against the huge steelworks in Mariupol the last Ukrainian bastion in the southern port city.
And there are reports this morning that a massive oil storage depot in the Russian city of Bryansk is on fire this morning.
The city is about 150 kilometres from the Ukrainian border.