COVID-19 coverage timeline

As the Coronavirus pandemic story updates, more content will be added to this page. If you would like to announce a security event cancellation or postponement, please email Canadian Security editor Neil Sutton.

Canadian Security sister publications OHS Canada and Talent Canada are jointly hosting a webinar “Coping with COVID-19: What you need to know” on Thursday, March 19 at 3:30 PM EST. Click through for registration details.

Read Canadian Security’s feature report: Security in the time of COVID-19

March 19, 2020

Earthquake rattles millions on edge amid coronavirus threat
SALT LAKE CITY — With much of normal life at a screeching halt to combat the coronavirus, millions of people in Utah are hunkered down in the safety of their homes. But on Wednesday morning, even that protection felt fragile as an earthquake strong enough to shut down the airport tore through the Salt Lake City area.

March 18, 2020

Trump confirms Canada U.S. border to be closed to non essential travel
WASHINGTON — The Canada-U.S. border will be closed to non-essential traffic in both directions “by mutual consent,” President Donald Trump confirmed Wednesday as efforts across the continent to contain the widening COVID-19 pandemic continued to upend daily life in North America.

March 17, 2020

B.C. declares public health emergency on COVID 19 as three more deaths reported
VICTORIA — British Columbia declared a public health emergency Tuesday after reporting three new COVID-19 deaths and 83 more cases of the virus.

Ontario declares state of emergency
TORONTO — Ontario Premier Doug Ford declared a state of emergency Tuesday in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, ordering the closure of bars, restaurants, theatres, libraries and banning public events with over 50 people.

March 16, 2020

Calgary implements state of emergency over COVID 19
Downtown streets were mostly empty Monday and traffic was light as many Calgarians heeded public warnings about the novel coronavirus and decided to work from home.

Canada closes borders to most foreigners to fight spread of COVID 19
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada is closing its borders to most people who aren’t Canadians or permanent residents to slow the spread of COVID-19.

COVID 19 has Canadian Blood Services worried about critical shortage
OTTAWA — Canadian Blood Services is seeking to reassure donors that it’s safe to give blood, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

ASIS Toronto chapter cancels April Best Practices event
In an email alert, the Toronto chapter of ASIS International announced it will cancel its April 16 Best Practices event in response to the growing threat of the COVID-19 virus.

Border agency adds screening questions after complaints about airport disarray
The Canada Border Services Agency announced new screening questions for travellers arriving Monday following a weekend of disarray at points of entry into the country, especially airports.

March 12, 2020

Canada grapples with Trump’s ban on travel from Europe amid border questions
The Trudeau government, provincial premiers and Canadian business leaders awoke Thursday morning to address the fallout for Canada of President Donald Trump’s decision to slam America’s door shut to most foreign nationals who were recently in Europe.

Trudeau goes into self-isolation over COVID-19
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife are in self-isolation over COVID-19 concerns, which has forced the cancellation of an in-person meeting of Canada’s first ministers.

March 9, 2020

New coronavirus causes cancellation of women’s world hockey championship
The International Ice Hockey Federation cancelled the 10-country tournament scheduled for March 31 to April 10 in Halifax and Truro, N.S., because of concerns over the spread of the new coronavirus.

Canadian companies require travelling employees to self-quarantine amid COVID-19
Canadians planning overseas trips are being told by their employers to self-quarantine for weeks upon return in an effort to minimize the spread of a novel form of coronavirus.

March 4, 2020

PM creates COVID-19 cabinet committee to deal with novel coronavirus
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has created a new cabinet committee to deal with the novel coronavirus outbreak, which began in China but now has spread around the world.

March 2, 2020

Ontario reports three new coronavirus cases, brings province’s total to 18
A spate of new cases was reported over the weekend, all of them people who had recently travelled to Iran or Egypt, or family members of those who had visited the countries.

Feb. 28, 2020

Event organizers cancel conferences, grapple with coronavirus outbreak
Organizations across the country are cancelling conferences, fretting about whether to forge ahead with events and considering more health-conscious policies as concerns grow over the recent outbreak of a novel form of coronavirus.

Feb. 20, 2020

Ontario confirms new case of coronavirus, patient had travelled to Iran
A woman in her 60s who recently travelled to Iran has become the fifth person to contract the novel coronavirus in Ontario, as the province’s monitoring of the virus widens.

Feb. 16, 2020

Questions complicate efforts to contain new virus from China
WASHINGTON — Reports one day suggest the respiratory outbreak in China might be slowing, the next brings word of thousands more cases. Even the experts have whiplash in trying to determine if the epidemic is getting worse, or if a backlog of the sick is finally getting counted.

Feb. 10, 2020

Cybercriminals using coronavirus themed emails to deliver malware: report
Criminal groups are exploiting fears over the recent novel coronavirus outbreak in an email phishing campaign directed at the global shipping industry, according to a report issued Monday by a California-based cybersecurity firm.

Feb. 4, 2020

Sunnybrook outlines security plan in wake of coronavirus
Following the diagnosis of Canada’s first case of Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, Bruna Mariano, manager of security services at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, confirmed that they did not go into a perimeter lockdown of the security as they previously had done with SARS.

Jan. 28, 2020

Coronavirus risk in Canada remains low despite second case, feds say
The Canadian government is now advising citizens against all travel to a Chinese province that’s at the centre of a global outbreak of a new form of coronavirus, stepping up an earlier warning about the region.