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.
Early data suggests Omicron is more transmissible than the currently dominant Delta variant, with a doubling time of about two days. British Columbia Health Minister Adrian Dix says the province is considering further public health orders on public and private gatherings, with an announcement expected next week.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first pledged the quick reaction force to a future UN mission while hosting an international peacekeeping summit in Vancouver in 2017, yet the Liberal government has yet to make good on the promise.
Canada has recorded its 30,000th COVID-19 death since the pandemic began in early 2020, surpassing a grim milestone just as the country braces for the potential fallout of surging infections driven by the Omicron variant.
Sanjay Mahar says he is heading to India from Toronto to see his family for the first time in years, having booked the trip a few months ago when case counts were low and vaccination rates high.
The Canadian military confirmed today that 21 of its 23 Cyclone helicopters have cracks in their tails. Cracks were first detected in one of the maritime helicopters during a routine inspection on Nov. 26 at 443 Maritime Helicopter Squadron at Patricia Bay, B.C.
Lia Bergen, who lives in the Sumas Prairie area of Abbotsford, returned to her home nearly two weeks after an evacuation order from a trio of powerful storms last month to discover the destruction of furniture, two freezers, a fridge, two cars, and her husband's heavy-duty work tools.
