COVID-19: Should mask mandates continue in Canada?

WHO is releasing a strategy to strengthen and scale up genomic surveillance around the world.

World Health Organization on Wednesday released an updated plan for COVID-19, laying out three possible scenarios for how the pandemic will evolve this year.“Based on what we know now, the most likely scenario is that the COVID-19 virus continues to evolve, but the severity of disease it causes reduces over time as immunity increases due to vaccination and infection,” Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a briefing.However, the WHO head cautioned that periodic spikes in cases and deaths may occur as immunity wanes, which may require periodic boosting for vulnerable populations.Talking about the other two potential scenarios, Tedros said either less severe variants will emerge and boosters or new formulations of vaccines will not be necessary, or a more virulent variant will emerge and protection from prior vaccination or infection will wane rapidly.

WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden is expected to receive his second COVID-19 booster shot Wednesday as well as update Americans on the country’s progress in the war on the pandemic. Biden is expected to speak around 1:30 p.m. ET Wednesday from the South Court Auditorium.Biden received his first booster shot in September.

The World Health Organization has released an updated plan for Covid-19, laying out three possible scenarios for how the pandemic will evolve this year.

#COVID19 virus variant emerges. Against this new threat, people’s protection against severe disease and death, either from prior vaccination or infection, will wane rapidly"-@DrTedros

Premier Dennis King has tested positive for COVID-19.King posted on social media today that he developed mild symptoms on Monday and stayed home from the office and the legislature the following day.

COVID-19 as hospitalizations jumped Wednesday.The number of hospitalizations rounded out at 1,200, a rise of 47. This comes after 148 patients were admitted, while 101 left in the last day.Officials say 60 people were being treated for the disease in intensive care units, a drop of three.The province’s daily tally included 3,067 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, though this isn’t representative of the situation since PCR testing is only open to select groups.

—Niharika Mandhana in Singapore and Miho Inada in Tokyo contributed to this article. Download the App to get 14 days of unlimited access to Mint Premium absolutely free!

COVID-19.Geneviève Guilbault took to social media Wednesday to confirm she had contracted the disease after taking care of her young daughter, who tested positive for the virus over the weekend.“I have cared for her since and had symptoms on Monday, confirmed by a positive test yesterday,” she wrote. “I will therefore remain isolated until Saturday in line with public health guidelines.”Guilbault is the latest among those who work in François Legault‘s cabinet be sidelined with COVID-19.

A further 9,610 cases of coronavirus have been reported in Scotland – with the nation's virus death toll increasing by 34.

COVID on Wednesday, with 165 in intensive care.This is down by 12 for hospitalizations and unchanged in ICUs since the previous day. Hospitalizations are almost at 800 for the second straight day as some experts have said Ontario and Canada are entering a sixth wave.Last Wednesday, there were 611 hospitalizations with 174 in ICU.Of the 778 people in hospital with COVID-19, 50 per cent of them were admitted because of the virus, while 50 per cent were admitted for other reasons but tested positive for COVID-19.Of the 165 people in ICUs with the virus, 73 per cent were admitted because of COVID, while 26 per cent were admitted for other reasons.

GENEVA - The number of people killed by the coronavirus surged by more than 40% last week, likely due to changes in how COVID-19 deaths were reported across the Americas and by newly adjusted figures from India, according to a World Health Organization report released Wednesday.In its latest weekly report on the pandemic, the U.N. health agency said the number of new coronavirus cases fell everywhere, including in WHO's Western Pacific region, where they had been rising since December.About 10 million new COVID-19 infections and more than 45,000 deaths were reported worldwide over the past week, following a 23% drop in fatalities the week before.The jump in reported deaths, up from 33,000 last week, was due mainly to an accounting change; WHO noted that countries including Chile and the United States altered how they define COVID-19 deaths.In addition, more than 4,000 deaths from Maharashtra state in India that initially weren't included among the COVID-19 death toll were added last week, according to WHO.WHO has said repeatedly that COVID-19 case counts are likely a vast underestimate of the coronavirus’ prevalence.

B.C.’s Human Rights Commissioner is calling on provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry to bring back the COVID-19 mask mandate, saying its “hasty end” will have “profoundly unequal effects” on society.

KYIV, Ukraine - Russia's pledge to scale back some military operations in Ukraine drew skepticism, a bitter reality check in a rare moment of optimism five weeks into what has devolved into a bloody war of attrition.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there was no reason to believe Russia's announcement that it would reduce military activity near Kyiv, the capital, as well as in the northern city of Chernihiv, given what's happening on the ground."We can call those signals that we hear at the negotiations positive," he said in his nightly video address to the Ukrainian people. "But those signals don’t silence the explosions of Russian shells."Still, Tuesday's talks sketched out what could end up being a framework for ending the war that has imposed an increasingly punishing toll, with thousands dead and more than 4 million Ukrainians fleeing the country.

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COVID-19 cases in China's most populous city jumped by a third despite stringent measures already in place to try to stop the virus spreading.

WHO highlighted that during the week of 21 through 27 March 2022, the number of new cases declined again with a 14% decrease as compared to the previous week. On the other hand, during the same period, the number of new weekly deaths has increased by 43%, driven by changes in the definition of COVID-19 deaths in countries in the Region of the Americas (Chile and the United States of America) and retrospective adjustments reported from India in the South-East Asia Region.

coronavirus surged by more than 40 per cent last week, likely due to changes in how COVID-19 deaths were reported across the Americas and by newly adjusted figures from India, according to a World Health Organization report released Wednesday.In its latest weekly report on the pandemic, the U.N. health agency said the number of new coronavirus cases fell everywhere, including in WHO’s Western Pacific region, where they had been rising since December.About 10 million new COVID-19 infections and more than 45,000 deaths were reported worldwide over the past week, following a 23% drop in fatalities the week before.The jump in reported deaths, up from 33,000 last week, was due mainly to an accounting change; WHO noted that countries including Chile and the United States altered how they define COVID-19 deaths.

The effects of the long St Patrick's weekend are yet to be seen on Ireland's Covid figures, according to a Consultant in Emergency Medicine at Connolly Hospital in Dublin.

MUMBAI :

Residents aged 75 and over and at-risk groups across Ayrshire are now being invited for their second Covid-19 booster vaccination.

coronavirus tests will only be available to certain people from this week.Universal testing is set to come to an end on Friday (1 April).This means people will have to pay if they want to get a lateral flow test.The measure comes as part of the UK government's 'Living with Covid' plan, with the virus being treated like other respiratory infections.However, according to the new plans, which were revealed on Tuesday (29 March), free symptomatic testing will be provided for certain people, such as patient-facing NHS workers. Under these proposals, asymptomatic lateral flow tests will also continue next month for certain settings where the possibility of coronavirus spreading quickly is at a high level.

PEORIA, Ariz. - The Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) says an investigation into a group trafficking large amounts of meth and illegal weapons to Mexico has ended in the arrest of four suspects.In February of this year, Bart Graves, a DPS spokesperson, says detectives with the DPS's Border Strike Force Bureau and the Pinal County Investigations Unit began an investigation into the coordination between the suspects, saying drugs and high-powered rifles were believed to be headed from Arizona to Mexico.By mid-March, detectives and SWAT conducted an operation that led to the arrest of the four suspects, one of them being a 17-year-old boy. Graves says five guns and 127 pounds of meth were seized."As the suspects were being arrested, detectives discovered one of the suspects had his one and a half year-old infant with him, with firearms in the vehicle next to the child.

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GRAND PORTAGE :

Red Velvet member Seulgi has been diagnosed with COVID-19.SM Entertainment shared in an announcement to TenAsia earlier today (March 30) that the K-pop idol has been diagnosed with the coronavirus, but noted that the singer is showing no symptoms. The company also assured that Seulgi has already been double-vaccinated against the virus prior.The agency also said that, in light of her diagnosis, Seulgi will “immediately halt all schedules and self-quarantine” in line with local health guidelines, as translated by Koreaboo.

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COVID-19 wave, experts say, as cases and hospitalizations have started to creep back up again across the country.While average daily case counts have levelled off nationally, there continues to be regional variability across the country with several jurisdictions reporting increases, said Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer in her latest weekly update on Friday.

Covid vaccine doses administered in the country so far has exceeded 183.82 crore.

Infectious diseases expert Dr. Isaac Bogoch talks about the rise of the BA.2 subvariant across Canada and why he suggests Canadians should still be wearing masks.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk says he might have contracted the COVID-19 virus again. And while the billionaire says he has experienced “almost no symptoms,” he is known for stating skepticism over the COVID vaccine, opposing to a second dose.“You are taking a risk, but people do risky things all the time,” Musk previously said, sharing his thoughts on why he chose to oppose vaccine mandates.“Covid-19 is the virus of Theseus.

Canadian health experts say the sixth COVID-19 wave is just getting started, as public health restrictions disappear, and the number of hospitalizations rises.

Today the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized a second booster shot for Americans over 50 and for those 12 years and older who are immunocompromised.

Metropolitan Police officer who headbutted a cocktail bar manager after flouting the Covid "rule of six" has been spared jail.PC Luke Wilson, 28, attacked Johnny White while on a boozy night out in the City of London with colleagues from the Lewisham emergency response unit on July 2 last year.Wilson denied the offence but CCTV footage shows him headbutting the victim at Be At One cocktail bar in Monument.Mr White allowed the officers entry to the venue but told them they would have to be seated across different tables in line with the restrictions.Bar staff confronted the group of up to 25 off-duty colleagues for flouting the rules but were told to "lighten up", Westminster Magistrates' Court heard.CCTV shows that by 8pm, some of the group have started moving between tables which resulted in ten people sitting at one of the tables.The bar manager speaks to Wilson and explains that this isn't allowed.He then approaches the group of ten and explains four of them will have to move to another table.Wilson follows Mr White to the table but remains standing up.The footage shows Wilson squaring up to the victim and putting his face within a few inches of the victim's.Mr White steps backwards but the officer moves forward to close the gap between them, then headbutts him.The victim suffered minor injuries and Wilson denied the offence when he was interviewed the next day, claiming he had felt threatened.Wilson was shown CCTV footage of the victim standing with his hands in his back pockets and not appearing to be behaving aggressively towards him.The PC, of Gravesend, Kent, was convicted of common assault following an investigation by the City of London Police.He was sentenced to ten weeks imprisonment, suspended for 12 months,

Omicron mutation of the novel coronavirus is relatively new to the region.“We know the BA.2 is in Quebec now,” he said in an interview Tuesday, about the subvariant of Omicron, “so I think we provided a fertile ground for the variant.” Quebec public health experts say province has already entered a sixth wave of COVID-19 And while the transmission rate is high, Bonnier-Viger said it represents a fraction of the reality. “We only test 10 per cent of people with PCR tests right now.”He said he supports the decision to lift many restrictions, including the vaccine passport system, which ended in mid-March.

NEW DELHI :

COVID-19 pandemic, one expert says.Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases expert with University Health Network, said if you look around the province, and at “wastewater signals,” it is “pretty clear that there’s a growing burden of COVID in many communities across the province.”Bogoch said the “signals are very clear.”Data released on March 17 by the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table said the province’s wastewater signal had stopped declining and was increasing slightly.

The government has issued a statement clarifying who will be able to get free Covid testing from April 1, Friday, when mass PCR and lateral flow testing is brought to an end. The free testing available to a small number of groups will be symptomatic - meaning that those taking tests must already be showing symptoms.

A US study of 3,506 cancer patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 in 2020 shows that Black patients were significantly more likely than their White peers to have severe illness, regardless of demographic and clinical risk factors and cancer type, status, and therapy at COVID-19 diagnosis.

Results of a new survey of 436 Americans with long COVID reveal that the condition is significantly associated with poorer long-term health status, worse quality of life, and psychological distress. The results were published yesterday in Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses.The study was based on outcomes seen in patien

PRODUCTION - 19 January 2022, Bremen: ILLUSTRATION - A man stands at the open window of his apartment. (posed scene) Photo: Sina Schuldt/dpa (Photo by Sina Schuldt/picture alliance via Getty Images) With all the do’s and don’ts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S.

People wait for their COVID-19 vaccinations at a shopping mall in Luanda, Angola. ©WHO

Nicola Sturgeon will deliver an update on the state of the coronavirus pandemic in Scotland at Holyrood tomorrow.

Covid is the impact it has had on me. For a start, it’s hard to socially distance in a one-bed the size of a parking space. And seriously — you can just pop a paracetamol for a “headache that feels like a knife behind the eye”.

COVID-19 and a 38-patient increase Tuesday.The number of people hospitalized with the disease came to a total of 1,153. This comes after 135 patients were admitted in the last day while 97 left.Of pandemic-related hospitalizations, 63 are Quebecers in intensive care units.

Covid-19 booster for people age 50 and older, a step to offer extra protection for the most vulnerable in case the coronavirus rebounds.

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