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.
Canadians currently stuck in South Africa are running out of options as they navigate confusing travel rules to come home.
Richard Maisel arrived in Cape Town, South Africa, on Nov. 24, just as the world first learned of the B.1.1.259 variant -- later named “Omicron” – and is now looking at another two weeks in the country as airlines and governments restrict travel from southern Africa.
“This has been incredibly frustrating and stressful,” he told CTV News Channel on Monday.
Maisel said he is running low on options as most airlines will not accept Canadian travellers, while the federal government requires an in-transit PCR test for entry into Canada, which rules out several connecting airports.
“Most of the European airlines are only taking EU citizens back, not allowing Canadians to board the flights,” he said. “The American airlines -- Delta and United -- are only allowed American citizens to come back.”
Maisel said he’s only been able to find a flight to Germany that accepts Canadians and provides in-transit PCR testing, but the next flight isn’t for one or two weeks.
“Luckily for me… I have my parents to stay with,” he said. “Most Canadians on the chat group are staying in hotels or Airbnbs and they have no where to go.”
Jonathan and Rene Goldman are in a similar situation. They flew to Cape Town for a family member’s 90th birthday and are now stuck in South Africa with few flight options to return home.
“Because we don’t have a direct (flight) to Canada, on one really wants to help us,” Rene told CTV News.
Twenty members on Team Canada’s under-21 field hockey team do not have a clear path back to Canada after the team had travelled to the country in advance of the Junior World Cup.
“We’re playing a waiting game right now,” said Danielle Husar, a player on the team. “We’ve got a big team of people back home working, as well as the government.”
Canada had been set to play against Uruguay, England and Belgium in the first two weeks of December, but the tournament has been cancelled.
"Everyone is safe and well – the team will remain in [sic] situ while the flight home is arranged," said Kevin Underhill, spokesperson for Field Hockey Canada, in a statement to CTV News Vancouver Island.
"(Sports Canada and Global Affairs) understand this is a junior national team which is only in South Africa to represent Canada at the world level," said Underhill. "Field Hockey Canada feels fortunate to have the highest levels of government working on this on our behalf."
On Friday, the Canadian government banned travellers from the southern African countries of South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini. Anyone who had travelled through those counties in the previous 14 days is asked to quarantine until they can provide a negative test result.
Health officials have confirmed three cases of the Omicron variant in Canada: two in Ottawa and one in Quebec. There are also four more suspected Omicron cases in Ontario.
It is still unclear how transmissible and dangerous this new variant may be. Researchers have said more information is needed to make those conclusions.
With files from CTVNews.ca Writers Nicole Bogart and Hannah Jackson, CTV News Montreal Bureau Chief Genevieve Beauchemin and CTV News Vancouver Island
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.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
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.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
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.
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.
As if a 4-0 Edmonton Oilers lead in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings wasn't good enough, what was announced at Rogers Place during the next TV timeout nearly blew the roof off the downtown arena.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
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.”