Ottawa, July 21 (IANS) The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) confirmed a total of 604 cases of monkeypox in the country as of Wednesday.
The cases included 320 from Quebec, 230 from Ontario, 40 from British Columbia, 12 from Alberta and two from Saskatchewan, Xinhua news agency reported.
The Canadian federal government said on Wednesday that it will fund to support community-based organisations in addressing monkeypox.
According to the PHAC, provinces and territories are reviewing case data in their jurisdictions, and those meeting the case definition will be reported to the PHAC to be included in the national investigation.
The National Microbiology Laboratory is performing diagnostic testing for the virus that causes monkeypox. In addition, the laboratory is conducting whole genome sequencing, an enhanced fingerprint analysis, on Canadian samples of monkeypox, the PHAC said.
Monkeypox is a sylvatic zoonosis that may cause infections in humans and the disease usually occurs in forested parts of Central and West Africa. It is caused by the monkeypox virus which belongs to the orthopoxvirus family, according to the World Health Organization.
Mounties said in a news release Monday that the 77-year-old man is not in custody but is co-operating with investigators, and his truck has been seized for examination following the march on Saturday.
Temperatures surpassed 40 C for days in last summer's so-called heat dome in B.C., resulting in almost 600 heat-related deaths, most of them elderly and vulnerable people living in buildings without air conditioning.
The centre says its laboratory has confirmed the infection in a resident of Vancouver, but it is awaiting further confirmation by the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. It says in a statement that Vancouver Coastal Health is conducting public health followup on the case.
Jack Weisgerber, who was energy, mines and petroleum resources minister in the Social Credit government of former Premier Bill Vander Zalm, and was B.C.'s first minister of native affairs, was 81 years old.
As a cornerstone of Canada's economic growth, federal immigration policy strikes a delicate balance between economic, humanitarian and labour-policy priorities, all the while preserving public buy-in to keep the ever-present political dangers at bay, Selee said.
Flood watches were posted Sunday for the Dean River in the Fraser Plateau east of Bella Coola and for the Liard River and its tributaries around the northeastern B.C. community of Fort Nelson and along Highway 97 toward Watson Lake.
