More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
After expanding its travel ban to include a total of 10 countries in southern Africa, the Canadian government has introduced a temporary exception for travellers who meet certain criteria.
Canadians who provide a negative PCR COVID-19 test from an accredited lab in South Africa within 48 hours of departing will be allowed to return home for the next week or so, the government announced Saturday.
The exemption also allows travellers to fly from Johannesburg or Cape Town to Frankfurt, Germany on a Lufthansa flight that leaves on or before Dec. 13, and then travel by either Lufthansa or Air Canada from Germany to Canada.
The amended rules allow Canadians currently stuck in South Africa to return home. One such traveller is Lara Dodo, a Toronto resident who has been trying to get home with her husband and three children. She recently travelled to South Africa to visit relatives after her father passed away from COVID-19 earlier this year.
“It’s completely surreal,” Dodo told CTV News Channel on Sunday. “Over the past week, there's been absolutely no clear information coming from Ottawa as to what our status is in terms of travel, or a clear and co-ordinated pathway home, so it's been stressful.”
The Canadian government first announced a ban on the entry of all foreign nationals who have travelled through southern Africa on Nov. 26. The legislation was introduced in response to growing concerns over the spread of Omicron, the new COVID-19 variant.
The ban initially applied to travellers from seven countries, but has since been expanded to include 10 – Botswana, Egypt, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
While Dodo and her family have been able to secure a flight with Lufthansa this week, she said she’s still nervous about the departure going as planned.
“The real stress is receiving our five negative PCR tests,” she said. “And then the next venture, which is a government quarantine hotel.
“The idea of spending time in a government hotel is a little daunting at this stage, so one step at a time.”
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
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The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
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