Anniversary of global pandemic declaration recognized in Canada as day of remembrance

Pandemic declared one year ago today Thursday marks one year since the pandemic was declared by the World Health Organization. Stephanie Thomas reports.

CALGARY — The one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization's declaration that the spread of COVID-19 had reached pandemic proportions has arrived.

On March 11, 2020, the virus had been detected in more than 100 countries, including Canada.

The federal government dedicated the day to commemorate the more than 22,000 lives in the country lost due to the virus including the 1,928 deaths recorded in Alberta

Canadians are being asked to reflect and to think of the front-line and essential workers who have helped us get through this past year.

Where were you when it happened?

The reverberations of the declaration of a global pandemic, the likes of which had not seen since the spread of the Spanish Flu more than 100 years ago, were pronounced.

A year ago, the NBA postponed a game prior to tip-off after Utah Jazz centre Rudy Gobert tested positive. That night, celebrities Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson announced they too had tested positive for COVID-19 in Australia. They have all since recovered.

Vaccine rollout

Vaccines are being administered around the world and active case counts are dropping, but Alberta's public health officials say the fight against transmission must continue.

"(The) more people who become immunized, the less the virus will be able to mutate, and the less it will impact our communities," said Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, during her Wednesday briefing.

"In the meantime, as our vaccine supplies increase and all of us get closer to receiving a dose. Please continue to follow public health guidelines in any activities that you do, even if you have been vaccinated with one or two doses, all public health orders in place, still apply."

Alberta has administered 308,962 vaccine doses, and 91,259 people are considered fully immunized after receiving two doses.

Despite this progress, the rise of variant cases is of great concern to many health experts.

On Wednesday the province recorded 47 new variant cases, the second-highest daily variant total trailing only the 54 variant cases reported Sunday.

A total of 734 cases of B.1.1.7 (the variant first identified in the United Kingdom) have been identified in Alberta since the first variant of concern was detected in a returning traveler in mid-December.

Variants make up nine per cent of cases in new infections, whereas Ontario is reporting 30 per cent of all new cases are variants.