Provincial health officials says uncertainty about new variants BA.2
Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 02 Mar, 2022 11:05 AM
British Columbia's provincial health officer says there are still some uncertainties about new variants, including B-A-point-2, with some cases present in B-C.
Doctor Bonnie Henry says the province is prepared for a potential uptick in COVID-19 cases during the next respiratory season.
She says the province will integrate wastewater surveillance testing into its regular surveillance of respiratory illness including influenza, and also include other pathogens to get a periodic snapshot of what else may be circulating in communities.
Henry says a decline in hospitalizations, immunity from vaccination and the availability of at-home rapid tests point the way forward to normal activities like high school graduations, which young people need to feel connected to others.
The push for Canadians to get their vaccine booster shots is ramping up as the COVID-19 Omicron variant spreads across the country, triggering more pandemic restrictions in some provinces. Starting Monday in Quebec, all bars, restaurants, retail stores and places of worship will be limited to 50 per cent capacity.
On Thursday, at around 7:21 pm, the Surrey RCMP responded to a person lying on the ground in the 8000 block of 144 Street. BC Ambulance Service and Surrey Fire Department personnel attended and pronounced the pedestrian deceased at scene.
The senior officer tasked with changing the Canadian military's culture says while she and her team are already working on initiatives to tackle sexual misconduct and hate in the ranks, victory will look like "irreversible positive changes" within five years.
"What choices we make as Canadians over the next week or two will determine how bad the rest of our winter is — how many people we lose, how overwhelmed our hospitals get, how much we're going to take a hit in our economy," Trudeau said Thursday during a year-end roundtable interview with The Canadian Press.
There have been 135 cases of the Omicron variant of concern identified in B.C. Fraser Health says in a statement 23 COVID-19 cases were identified among staff and students at Khalsa School Old Yale Road.
There are no happy visions of snow-covered slopes on the 2021 list. Just death, destruction and drought. Consider late June's heat dome in Western Canada, the top pick by Phillips for the year.
