Video shows suspect setting Toronto-area barbershop on fire
Video of a suspect lighting a Richmond Hill barbershop on fire earlier this week has been released by police.
The federal government has signed deals with Pfizer and Merck to purchase their antiviral medications, pending Health Canada approval of the products.
Public Services and Procurement Minister Filomena Tassi said Ottawa has placed an initial order for one million of Pfizer’s antiviral pills, and 500,000 of Merck’s pills, with an option for 500,000 more.
Tassi made the announcement during a press conference on Friday.
“As soon as these drugs are authorized for use, the government will work on getting them to provinces and territories as quickly as possible so that health-care providers can help Canadians who need it most,” said Tassi.
“I will keep working to ensure that we have the supplies Canada needs to finish the fight against COVID-19.”
On Wednesday, Pfizer initiated a rolling submission to Health Canada of its drug PAXLOVID, intended for use in mild to moderate COVID-19 cases in adults at increased risk of hospitalization or death.
Its trial enrolled non-hospitalized adults aged 18 years and older.
The drug maker said in a press release that the pill is designed to block the activity of an enzyme in SARS-CoV-2 that is essential for the virus to replicate itself, and also help to slow the breakdown of the pill’s ingredients in order to help combat the virus for longer. Part of the pill uses ritonavir, an existing drug that has been used in combination with other antiviral medications before.
Merck submitted its request for approval of its twice-daily drug molnupiravir in August. The antiviral agent is intended for use in those 18 years old and above and is to be taken five days after the onset of COVID-19 symptoms.
Merck’s study tracked 775 adults with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 who were considered to be at higher risk for severe disease because of health problems such as obesity, diabetes or heart disease. Among patients taking molnupiravir, 7.3 per cent were either hospitalized or died at the end of 30 days, compared with 14.1 per cent of those who received the placebo.
Health Canada has already approved four COVID-19 treatments. They include: remdesivir, bamlanivimab, casirivimab and imdevimab combination, and sotrovimab.
Tassi said antivirals should be viewed as a “complement” to vaccines.
“It’s another tool that we have available in order to fight this fight against COVID-19. It in no way takes away from the importance to ensure that we get the vaccinations but it’s an important tool because it prevents, for those that do get infected by COVID-19, from having effects and impacts,” said the minister.
Duclos further specified that therapeutics are the government’s fourth tool in the toolbox, after personal protective equipment, testing, and vaccines.
He said that the these treatments aren’t just beneficial at the patient level, but also to prevent overwhelmed hospitals.
Health Canada's chief medical adviser Dr. Supriya Sharma has said an approval will only be granted when all evidence has been reviewed.
With a file from Brooklyn Neustaeter, Avis Favaro, and Elizabeth St.Philip
Video of a suspect lighting a Richmond Hill barbershop on fire earlier this week has been released by police.
A New Brunswick woman suffering from sarcoidosis, a disease that limits your lung capacity, is in need of a double lung transplant.
The adorable trio of child actors from the 1993 classic comedy 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' which starred the late and great Robin Williams, are all grown up and looking back on their seminal time together.
York Regional Police say they are continuing to search for a suspect in an auto theft investigation who was captured on video running over a police officer in Toronto last month.
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
Pius Suter scored with 1:39 left and the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night in Game 6.
Quebec Premier François Legault reiterated that the pro-Palestinian encampment at McGill University must be dismantled while police remain 'on the lookout for new developments.'
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.