Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world on Friday
CBC
The latest:
German state leaders said on Friday that hospitals could soon become swamped by COVID-19 patients and a new lockdown might be needed unless urgent action is taken to reverse a surge in cases.
"If we take too much time now, it will end in a lockdown like last year," the leader of the eastern state of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer, told Deutschlandfunk radio.
The premier of Thuringia, Bodo Ramelow, said it was a matter of days until the coronavirus situation would mean that there were not enough intensive care beds at hospitals.
As of Thursday, there were 2,503 free beds in German intensive care units, down from around 3,100 at the start of October, according to data from the DIVI association for intensive and emergency medicine.
Germany reported 37,120 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the second day in a row that it marked the highest daily increase since the start of the pandemic last year.
State health ministers will conclude a two-day meeting on Friday and issue a statement outlining their strategy for winter, including whether to expand booster shots and which restrictions could be placed on the unvaccinated.
Germany's total death toll from the pandemic is 96,346 and the total number of cases stands at 4,709,488. Current restrictions include having to prove vaccination, recovery or a negative test, and wearing masks indoors in public.
-From Reuters, last updated at 6:50 a.m. ET
As of early Friday morning, more than 248.7 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University's coronavirus tracker. The reported global death toll stood at more than five million.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Indonesia's economic growth slowed more than expected in the third quarter as restrictions to control COVID-19 weighed on activity, although recent data suggests growth may be getting back on track in the current quarter.
Australia's Victoria state removed entry restrictions to citizens of neighbouring New South Wales on Friday, allowing almost blanket reciprocal travel between the country's two biggest states ahead of the busy Christmas period.
In Africa, Kenya's health ministry on Thursday reported 149 new cases of COVID-19 and 14 additional deaths.
In Europe, Russia reported 40,735 new COVID-19 cases and 1,192 deaths related to the virus on Friday as authorities fight a surge that has forced them to re-impose a partial lockdown nationwide.
A New Brunswick Mountie testified he punched a woman in the face twice, but only because she had punched him while he tried to arrest her.
The City of Winnipeg is halting work to clean up the Manwin Hotel site following a Wednesday fire, after officials determined there was asbestos in the rubble.
A Saskatoon judge has now heard about the hours just before and after Taya Sinclair's death.
Two people were taken to hospital after a fire tore through a unit in an apartment building just west of downtown Edmonton Wednesday evening.
B.C. Premier David Eby, who is on a trade mission to India, says that finding new trade partners is critical to ensure British Columbians' standard of living doesn't deteriorate amid the U.S. trade war.
A program aimed at preventing homelessness on Prince Edward Island that was halted last year due to funding issues is back up and running again with support from the provincial and federal governments.
Large crowds of people lined up around the block outside a pair of packed community halls in central Alberta on Wednesday night, to attend town halls focused on the idea of the province seeking independence from Canada.
The sight of a cyclist in January in the Yukon can prompt confusion from some onlookers — but historians say bicycles were being used to get around the territory in winter long before cars.
On Prime Minister Mark Carney's first day of talks in Beijing, the government agreed to co-operate with China more on clean and conventional energy after years of difficult relations between the two countries.
The city says it is one step away from returning the Bearspaw feeder main to full service, with a final water pump scheduled to be turned on Friday morning — if the pipe continues to remain stable.
When David St-Pierre saw the snow outside his window in Brossard, Que., south of Montreal, he decided to chance the metropolitan region's shiny light-rail transit system once more.
A Calgary lawyer who falsified court documents and repeatedly lied to a client, causing the man to miss out on parenting time with his youngest child, pleaded guilty to forgery on Thursday.
The Crown has stayed an assault charge against Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. president Jeremy Tunraluk.