Good evening, here are the coronavirus updates you need to know tonight.
Top headlines: Britons head out to enjoy record-breaking heat as officials try to prevent a surge of new cases; World Health Organization, health experts say no evidence of coronavirus becoming weaker
In Canada, 91,647 cases have been reported, more than double the number from 37 days ago. There have also been 49,489 recoveries and 7,325 deaths. Health officials have administered 1,773,164 tests.
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Worldwide, 6,221,339 cases have been confirmed; with 2,670,410 recoveries and 373,163 deaths.
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 resources Coronavirus in maps and charts Lockdown rules and reopening plans in each province
Staff gather outside the Orchard Villa retirement home on Monday to watch people lay flowers at an event to honour victims of COVID-19 hosted by SEIU Healthcare, a union for front line workers. The Pickering long term care home is one of the hardest hit in the pandemic with over 70 resident deaths. (Melissa Tait / The Globe and Mail)
Melissa Tait/The Globe and Mail
A doctor at St. Michaels Hospital in Toronto is leading one of the first large-scale surveys with 10,000 blood kits that will examine participants blood for antibodies that are specific to the virus that causes COVID-19.
There are currently at least 2,068 hospitalized cases, a 13% drop from a week ago. Of those, 302 are in intensive care.
In Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the government will provide this years full payment of $2.2-billion in gas tax transfers to municipalities in the coming weeks rather than the usual practice of spreading the transfers over two payments, as an interim measure to offset budget shortfalls cause by the pandemic.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities said more than a month ago that cities will need at least $10-billion in new emergency funding from the federal government to maintain existing services.
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Manufacturing activity contracted for the third straight month in May, but the pace of decline was less severe than in April, data shows.
Canadas economy shed about three million jobs in March and April combined, while GDP was estimated to have fallen in April by a record 11 per cent month-over-month.
Also today:
Question: Who do masks protect: the wearer or other people?
Answer from Andr Picard: Masks principally protect other people, not the wearer. Coronavirus is spread by respiratory droplets from an infected person. If you wear a mask, you are less likely to spread virus when you cough, sneeze or talk, and less likely to leave germs on surfaces. As the saying goes: Your mask protects me, my mask protects you.
The Globes health columnist Andr Picard answered reader questions on social distancing and many additional topics.
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The Vesey's Seeds retail store in York, PEI, on May 25.
John Morris
The frenzy began near the end of March. In the midst of a pandemic, Canadians forced to isolate suddenly expressed an insatiable desire to dig in the dirt.
All across the country, firms that fill seed packets have been swamped. In an unexpected development related to the novel coronavirus, garden-variety growers have become obsessed with obtaining seeds.
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Coronavirus Update: Blood kits will be sent to 10000 Canadians to estimate total spread of virus - The Globe and Mail
