TORONTO -- Canada has had nearly 689,000 total cases of COVID-19, with more than 17,500 associated deaths. Here's what else you need to know to start your day.
1. COVID-19 origins: An investigative team from the World Health Organization has arrived in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the pandemic first started more than a year ago.
2. Vaccine procurement: When Canada enters Phase 2 of the national mass COVID-19 immunization effort in April, federal officials say they are planning to receive more than one million doses of approved vaccines every week, on average.
3. Immigration levels: Canada will have a 'very difficult' time meeting aggressive new immigration targets set for the coming years, as the pandemic has stymied global movement, a Toronto immigration lawyer says.
4. Mental health: Even before holiday-season restrictions went into effect in some parts of the country, Canadians were reporting their highest-ever levels of depression and anxiety, according to a new poll.
5. 'Quarantine myopia': Experts are warning about an uptick in near-sightedness in the wake of new research out of China that suggests that lockdowns could have a serious effect on young children's eyesight.
One more thing…
Psychology lesson: A man who was legally blind by age 47 and had his vision restored nine years later struggled with the psychological effects of returning to a sighted world.