Is Canada dropping its COVID-19 guard too quickly? Experts weigh in

Covid-19 wave emerges, while China battles a resurgence of the pandemic fueled by the Omicron variants, here is a guide to which mutated variant of the SARs-COV-2 is likely to affect your Upper Respiratory tract and the Lower Respiratory Tract and how severe can it get. 

infectious disease expert Zhang Wenhong -- who has been called "China's Fauci" after US disease expert Anthony Fauci -- also said in a blog post that the city's medical resources were becoming "strained" as cases climb, but he expects the metropolis to turn the corner soon.

The health service is "really struggling" due to the latest surge in Covid-19 cases, HSE Chief Operations Officer Anne O'Connor has said.

BTS member J-Hope has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, according to his label Big Hit Music.Today, Big Hit Music confirmed the K-pop idol’s positive diagnosis in a statement to the group’s Weverse page. The label noted that the idol had begun experiencing symptoms of a sore throat on March 23, which prompted him to take a PCR test that same day as a precaution, before testing positive the day after.The label then went on to clarify that the 28-year-old rapper had been triple-vaccinated against the virus prior to his diagnosis.

Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!!

Surveillance of wastewater data is suggesting that COVID-19 cases are on the rise again in Canada as provinces have eased public health restrictions.

IPL 2022: 10 points to note

Covid-19 deaths are running at around 900 per day -- with a total of one million deaths from the disease expected withing about a month.

Covid-19 cases, India on Thursday reported 1,938 fresh Covid-19 cases, according to Union Health Ministry data. A total of 2,531 recoveries, taking the over all tally of Covid-19 recoveries at 4,24,75,588. Additionally, 67 Covid-19 deaths were also reported in the last 24 hours, taking the country's death toll up to 5,16,672, the updated data revealed. The active Covid-19 cases stood at 22,427 on Thursday and the daily positivity rate at 0.29%, as per the data.

PHILADELPHIA - Motorists have found some relief at the pump in recent weeks - albeit pennies worth - but experts believe gas prices will worsen in the coming months as pandemic-weary travelers plan to hit the road again. According to AAA, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline has fluttered down to $4.23. Pennsylvania's average price sits a few cents above that at $4.31, and in neighboring New Jersey and Delaware drivers are paying around $4.Experts say the ongoing war in Ukraine is partly to blame for the high prices at the pump, but it's not the only reason driver's wallets will continue to get hammered.

Taron Egerton will not be working in his London play, Cock, for a least a week, after testing positive for COVID-19.

Health Matters March 23: The University of Alberta is leading a national research network that’s studying glycomics – and how the science can accelerate drug discovery. Also, Alberta Health confirms the Omicron subvariant BA.2 is now the dominant COVID-19 strain in the province.

Public health restrictions are lifting, but there is, of course, the possibility they could return. So what does that uncertainty mean for our mental health? Jamie Mauracher looks at pandemic flux syndrome.

LOS ANGELES - Having a "pawsome" day? It’s about to get better, because March 23 is National Puppy Day, and to celebrate, the company Top Data has revealed some doggone fantastic facts you may not know. According to the consumer insights company, the team collected data from 500,000 adopted dogs, utilized Google Search traffic volume and surveyed 1,000 dog owners across the U.S. to figure out the top dog names and adopted breeds by state.

FILE - Steve Wilhite, inventor of the GIF file, poses with an award backstage at the 17th Annual Webby Awards at Cipriani Wall Street on May 21, 2013 in New York City. (Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images for The Webby Awards)Stephen Wilhite, the creator of the massively popular GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) and chief architect of America Online, died of COVID-19 at the age of 74 on March 14, according to The Verge. Wilhite was an avid camper and loved to travel, according to his obituary.

COVID-19 Omicron wave is set to resume normal operations on Thursday.Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) says the West End Urgent Care Clinic on Main Street East at Macklin Street South will go back to offering seven-day a week care again on March 24.“If you’re experiencing an illness or injury that isn’t an emergency but can’t wait for an appointment with a family doctor, an urgent care centre is a good option for you,” emergency medicine chief Dr. Kuldeep Sidhu said in a statement.The clinic had been shuttered for close to ten weeks after five emergency-trained physicians, 10 nurses and other staff (clerks, environmental aides, etc.) were moved to other emergency departments (EDs) and other high priority facilities in the network.

The threat posed by COVID-19 may be lessening, but the toll it has taken on the mental health of physicians in Canada is severe. Caryn Lieberman reports.

Delta Cleaners co-owner Donovan Bisharat said.“It kind of felt like we weren’t making much headway in the last couple of years, until just recently, really.”Bisharat says dry-cleaning business is once again starting to pick up. He says they’re seeing more office wear coming in, as more people return to working in offices, but it was yet to reach pre-pandemic levels.“We definitely started to see people that we didn’t see for maybe two years or a year and a half, they would come and say well, I haven’t needed my shirts or I haven’t needed my suits or whatever,” Bisharat told Global News.“Some people are coming back, we’re still not seeing the frequency that they would normally have been pre-pandemic.” Canadians favour hybrid work amid COVID-19.

As COVID-19 restrictions ease and people head back to the office, there is a tricky question of workplace etiquette that lingers. Brittany Rosen has more.

The Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield and Deputy Director-General of Māori Health John Whaanga will today host a media briefing to provide updates on the response to the Omicron outbreak.

A 'healthy' 18-year-old girl who suffered a 'thunderclap headache' after receiving her first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine died just days later, an inquest has heard.

An investigation has revealed that the former Unifor National President, Jerry Dias, breached Unifor’s Code of Ethics and Democratic Practices after he accepted a large sum of money from a supplier of COVID-19 rapid test kits and then, in turn, encouraged employers of union members to purchase the kits.

Led mainly by surges in Asian hot spots, COVID-19 cases last week increased for the second straight week, though deaths continued to fall, the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday in its weekly pandemic update.

COVID-19 patients can safely use inexpensive pulse oximeters at home to watch for a drop in blood oxygen that signals they need to seek advanced care, according to a systematic review published yesterday in The Lancet Digital Health.

After months of stops and starts, Moderna announced today it seeks emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of a two-dose primary series of its COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 6 months to 6 years.

Bob Saget supposedly knocked his final show out of the park, but he apparently wasn’t feeling well that night. Rosalie Cocci, a showrunner who works at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall — where Bob’s final performance took place before his death — told investigators Bob had told her he wasn’t doing well health-wise, per TMZ.The woman said Bob told her he was suffering from long-term COVID and his hearing was also off, as he was constantly asking the crew to turn everything up. She also said the Full House star was sick the day before, had a sore throat, and took some time to get himself together for his stand up set. Even so, she noted she and the crew were surprised when he killed his set, acting as if nothing was wrong.

NEW DELHI :

A study yesterday in Clinical Microbiology and Infection suggests that natural infection, but not immunity acquired from COVID-19 vaccinations, is linked to the development of long COVID-19, or symptoms that persist up to a year after acute infection.The prospective study was based on 479 COVID-19 patients originally

London, Ont. councillors reject reintroducing municipal masking bylaw Nine of the 22 COVID-19 inpatients are being treated for COVID-19, while 14 were admitted for other reasons but were later found to have an incidental infection.At least 172 staff at LHSC are positive with COVID-19 as of Wednesday, up five from Tuesday and 13 from Monday.At St.

Mitski has postponed two upcoming shows due to a positive COVID-19 test in her touring party.The Japanese-American artist is currently out on the road in the US in support of her acclaimed sixth album ‘Laurel Hell’, which came out on February 4.This week’s shows at Radio City Music Hall in New York tomorrow (March 24) and Franklin Music Hall in Philadelphia on Friday (March 25) will now take place at a later date, according to a post on Twitter. Earlier this week, Mitski’s shows in Boston were also postponed for the same reason.“This week’s Mitski shows in NYC and Philadelphia will be postponed due to a positive Covid test in the Mitski touring party,” the post read.

COVID-19 and a slight uptick in hospitalizations Wednesday. COVID-19 hospitalizations in Manitoba continue to drop Since the beginning of the pandemic, 1,735 Manitobans with COVID-19 have now died.Meanwhile, the number of people hospitalized as a result of COVID-19 rose to 387 as of Wednesday morning, seven more than had been reported 24 hours earlier.

won’t look different: There’s no automatic months-long extension on the due date like we saw for the past two years. (Though you do get a three-day grace period: Taxes are due April 18, since the IRS is closed on April 15 for Emancipation Day in Washington, D.C.) Which means it’s time to tear off a chunk of sourdough and get down to business.While this was waived for 2020 thanks to the American Rescue Plan—no needed to be paid that year on unemployment benefits of up to $10,200—that temporary relief period has ended.

Bed blocking and covid cases are contributing to poor performance at Paisley’s struggling Royal Alexandra Hospital.

gatherings and congregations – social, sports, entertainment, academic, cultural, religious, festival-related and others – may be resumed, provided that Covid Appropriate Behaviour is duly adhered to.

NEW ORLEANS - The tornado that ripped through a New Orleans suburb lifted one house into the air and dropped it onto the middle of a street with a family of three inside.Neighbors said the parents of a girl climbed out of the wreckage screaming frantically for help. Their daughter was on a breathing machine, and now was stuck inside.Chuck Heirsch told The Times-Picayune / New Orleans Advocate that he called 911 as he saw his neighbor on Prosperity Street trying to reach his daughter.Damage pictured from a tornado on March 22, 2021, near New Orleans, Louisiana. (Credit: WVUE-TV) RELATED: New Orleans tornado kills 1, leaves trail of damage in its wake"They were screaming.

testing restrictions. The provincial case total now stands at 1,143,014.The death toll in the province has risen to 12,356 as 13 more virus-related deaths were added.

COVID-19 as the province saw a slight dip in hospital numbers Wednesday.Pandemic-related hospitalizations stood at 1,034, a nine-patient drop compared with the previous day. This comes after 99 people were admitted while 108 were discharged.Officials say 50 patients were in intensive care, an increase of four.The province recorded 2,111 new novel coronavirus cases, but the daily tally isn’t reflective of the situation since only certain high-risk groups have access to PCR screening.

Bridgerton actor wrote in a recent Instagram post. While her castmates from the popular Netflix and Shondaland series were dressed to the nines for the season two premiere red carpet, was home after testing positive for Covid earlier that day.Since didn’t get the red carpet treatment for the first season—which premiered in late 2020, during a high point of COVID-19 cases—Nicola shared her disappointment at having to miss this premiere because of the virus…again.

Russia on Wednesday condemned what it called a “reckless” Polish proposal to send international peacekeepers into Ukraine and warned that it could lead to a direct clash between Russian and NATO forces.Poland said last Friday it would formally submit a proposal for a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine at the next NATO summit. NATO summit a chance to bolster Ukraine response, experts say.

Pollen season is about to kick off in Scotland as we enter into the spring period.

Moderna said it would ask regulators to approve two small-dose shots, as the vaccine generated a similar immune response to adults in its clinical trial. 

Free lateral flow tests are still available for people who do not have symptoms of coronavirus in Scotland.

University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University will pause their COVID-19 mask and proof of vaccination requirements as of May 1.However, both post-secondary institutions said the mandates can be brought back on short notice if needed. University of Guelph pausing vaccine, masking requirements May 1 In a joint letter, Laurier president and vice-chancellor Deborah MacLatchy and provost and vice-president Tony Vannelli said the high vaccination rate at the school is one of the main remains reasons they are able to make changes.“Community members should remain up-to-date with their COVID-19 vaccinations, including third and fourth doses, as recommended by public health,” they said.“Remaining up-to-date on your vaccination status will ensure your work or study is not disrupted, should vaccinations be required to access any of our campuses or locations in the future and/or the meaning of ‘fully vaccinated’ changes to include additional doses.”Should vaccination requirements be reinstated, the university will not offer remote or hybrid options for in-person classes for students who do not meet the vaccination requirement.“Failure to demonstrate proof of vaccination under a future mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy risks deregistration from in-person courses for students who cannot verify compliance,” the school said.The University of Waterloo said it will maintain a requirement for everyone to provide information on their vaccination status in order to minimize any disruption to work and learning if vaccine requirements return.The school said it will also not be offering virtual or hybrid learning options for those who are unable to attend campus.

This Morning fans were delighted today to once again be greeted by much-loved host Holly Willoughby.The popular ITV presenter, 41, was forced to miss almost two weeks on the show after she tested positive for Covid-19 and had to stay at home to prevent the spread of infection to her co-stars. Holly returned to the show this morning alongside friend and overjoyed co-host Phillip Schofield and she waved an excited "Hi!" to her beloved viewers. "Do you know? It's so nice to be back," she told Phil.

COVID-19 vaccine works in babies, toddlers and preschoolers the company announced Wednesday -- and if regulators agree it could mean a chance to finally start vaccinating the littlest kids by summer.Moderna said in the coming weeks it would ask regulators in the U.S. and Europe to authorize two small-dose shots for youngsters under 6.

coronavirus infections inched upward across Europe, prompted by the more infectious BA.2 subvariant of omicron and the relaxation of nearly all public health measures.