B-C provincial health officer Doctor Bonnie Henry is scheduled to provide an update this afternoon on the province's respiratory illness season.
It's Henry's first update of 2024 and she'll be joined by Health Minister Adrian Dix.
The most recent information from the province's centre for disease control says that in late December Influenza A and R-S-V cases were on the rise.
The centre said at the time that COVID-19 numbers were remaining stable or decreasing since early November.
B-C’s gang squad says it has secured charges, including loansharking and money laundering, against a 35-year-old woman. The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit says it began an investigation in 2019 into allegations related to criminal interest rates and illegal operation of a money service business.
An early morning fire has shut down an elementary school in the Metro Vancouver municipality of Surrey. Surrey Fire Services say the fire, which has been knocked down, left some damage to the school’s walls but caused no injuries.
Business leaders are seizing on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's trip to Washington on Friday to urge him to delay a controversial tax aimed at foreign tech firms that cater to Canadian audiences. The digital services tax, which takes effect in January, is deeply unpopular with Canada's most important ally and trading partner, says Goldy Hyder, president and CEO of the Business Council of Canada.
A Canadian man trying to get out of Gaza with his family says Global Affairs Canada has asked him to gather his documents and be prepared to leave at any moment through the enclave's border crossing with Egypt. An apparent agreement on Wednesday allowed hundreds of foreign passport holders and dozens of wounded Palestinians to leave Gaza through the Rafah crossing for the first time since the war began.
Statistics Canada said that cocaine use is continuing to show signs of increase in the country based on new data of wastewater monitoring. In most Canadian municipalities, cocaine levels increased from January to May 2022 compared with the same period in 2020, the national statistical institute said.
A state of local emergency has been declared in the Village of Harrison Hot Springs, east of Vancouver, as two of three pumps at the community's water treatment plant have failed. A statement from Mayor Ed Wood says the availability of water for drinking and firefighting could be at risk.