Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
More children are being admitted to hospitals across Canada amid a flu season crush exacerbated by a stretched health-care system and lack of vaccination, says an infectious disease expert.
Dr. Isaac Bogoch told CTV’s Your Morning Thursday that with the growing number of flu cases across the country, it’s paramount that all families receive their flu shots.
That includes “kids as young as six months, because we know those vaccines are safe, and they are widely available and they work. They can reduce the chances that someone gets influenza…and it can actually reduce the severity of infection,” he said.
According to Canada’s weekly flu reports, the weekly number of pediatric hospitalizations is now at levels typically seen during peak influenza season. In the week ending Nov. 26, there were 223 flu-associated hospitalizations.
The highest cumulative hospitalization rates are among children under five years old and adults 65 and older, according to the flu report.
Since the first weekly FluWatch report of the season was issued on Aug. 28, 707 children aged 16 and younger have been hospitalized due to flu, and children nine years old and younger account for 50 per cent of the hospitalizations, according to the report.
There is currently a national flu epidemic and influenza activity levels are above what’s expected for this time of year, it states. A total of 8,242, lab detections of flu were reported in the week ending Nov. 26 and over 23,000 cases have been reported so far this flu season.
Like children, seniors are also at risk of experiencing serious effects of the flu.
But other than making flu shots available, there hasn’t been “much done” to protect older populations, said Bogoch.
Vaccine clinics and pop-up clinics need to be accessible to communities as it can be sometimes challenging to sign up, he said.
“There’s few walk-in clinics that are available, but by putting pop-up clinics into community centres, into schools, into grocery stores, into temples, and houses of worship, into malls, where people spend their daily lives, we’d get a lot better uptake,” he said.
On Nov. 29, the National Institute on Aging, a public policy think tank within Toronto Metropolitan University, released a report on how uptake for the flu shot is lower than what’s needed to combat the “multi-demic” of the flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and COVID-19 that is making its way through populations.
General indifference, lack of awareness and information, and lack of access are contributing factors to populations not seeking out the flu shot, according to the report’s authors.
A culturally relevant public health campaign, that provides flu shot information in multiple different languages and targets Canada’s diverse communities, as was done with the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, is needed, the report states.
It’s unclear whether this year’s flu season might end up being longer than previous years, said Bogoch.
“We often say that flu is predictably unpredictable. This year it started earlier than other years,” he said. “It’s just hard to say, it’s not entirely clear how this influenza season will pan out, although it’s obvious that it’s much worse this year,” he added.
There’s a lot of complacency when it comes to the flu, as the public is tired from the COVID-19 pandemic, said Bogoch. Public health authorities need to build back trust, he said.
“Some people just might not care…and many people said ‘I never get a flu shot, why would I get one this year?’ Flu vaccines… are especially important this year, given that we have a greater community burden and given that our health- care system is extremely stretched,” he said.
Health-care systems across the country are reporting high emergency room wait times and packed children’s ICU units.
“It’s very challenging, obviously our doors are never closed…but if people can take very simple measures to avoid getting sick and avoid needing to seek health care, it’s a very wise decision,” he said.
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.