Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
The British government has sought to ease food supply pressures in England by exempting more than 10,000 workers from quarantine rules that led to staff shortages and empty shelves and fears of panic-buying.
However, it has come under criticism Friday for being too hasty in lifting coronavirus restrictions in England and for not doing more to help other crucial sectors, such as transport, the emergency services and energy industry.
In an announcement late Thursday following mounting pressure from increasingly vexed retailers, it outlined plans for daily COVID-19 testing of critical food industry workers that will effectively allow those who test negative to continue working even if they have been notified on their phones to self-isolate due to contact with someone with the virus.
The move, along with a limited relaxation of self-isolation rules for "critical workers" in other key sectors and vital public services came amid growing concerns within government of the impact of the so-called 'pingdemic' on many key sectors of the British economy.
Many critics say the National Health Service's app, which has been download by more than 26 million people in England and Wales, or around half the adult population, since it launched last September, has being unfairly singled out. They say it's a distraction from the fact that the U.K. is in the midst of a third surge of the pandemic as a result of the spread of the more contagious delta variant and the lifting of lockdown restrictions.
The app, they say, is just doing its job and self-isolation remains a key weapon in the fight against the virus.
With daily infections predicted by the government to at least double to 100,000 this summer, the number of people being pinged will inevitably grow, potentially to more than 1 million a week.
"The best way to bring down the number of pings would be to bring down the number of infections and the idea that this is a problem with a faulty app which just needs to be binned is nonsense," said Dr. Simon Clarke, associate professor in cellular microbiology at the University of Reading.
Still, many individuals and firms have taken matters in their own hands. There's growing evidence pointing to people deleting the app, turning off Bluetooth when they go into areas, such as hospitals, where they could potentially come into close proximity with someone who may have COVID-19, or turning off the contact tracing function.
Amid the resurgence of the virus across the U.K., hundreds of thousands of people, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, are self-isolating for 10 days after being advised by the app that they have come into close contact with someone who has tested positive for the virus.
It was primarily concerns over food supplies that drove the government's change in approach as more and more workers, including crucial delivery drivers, were having to self-isolate, leading to scenes of empty supermarket shelves and fears of panic-buying by anxious consumers.
The government said it has identified priority locations, including the largest supermarket distribution centers, where testing will begin this week. The program will be expanded to as many as 500 sites next week, encompassing providers of staple foods such as bread and dairy products.
"All of the people working in those key strategic sites, distribution depots and those manufacturing facilities will be able to use this scheme, and probably well over 10,000 people," Environment Secretary George Eustice told Sky News on Friday.
The new policy was welcomed by retailers, but many said the government should consider bringing forward its previously announced plan to change the self-isolation rules on Aug. 16 when double-jabbed individuals will be exempt from the self-isolation rules.
"It is absolutely vital that government makes up for lost time and rolls out this new scheme as fast as possible," said Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium.
Alongside the measures to protect food supplies, the government published guidance on Thursday night setting out limited exemptions for fully-vaccinated critical workers from 16 sectors if their inability to work would have a "major detrimental impact" or risk national security. However, the guidance has already led to some confusion within the sectors involved.
Under the new guidance, fully vaccinated employees providing what are deemed critical services would be able to keep working and avoid self-isolation if they have been named on a list kept updated by officials.
The government said the policy is not a "blanket exemption" for all employees in a sector -- for instance, while railway signal operators on whom the network depends may be given an exemption, individual train drivers are unlikely to be.
Unions attacked the government for a "mess" of their own making by failing to consult in advance of the lifting of all lockdown restrictions in England.
"The government needs to be clear about who it classes as critical workers," Frances O'Grady, general secretary of the umbrella Trades Union Congress. "The current proposals don't reflect the real world because businesses don't exist in isolation -- they are part of complex supply chains."
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Three people have been arrested and charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – as authorities continue investigating potential connections to the Indian government.
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.
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 Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
RCMP say human remains found in a rural area in central Saskatchewan may have been there for a decade or more.
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.
As Wegovy becomes available to Canadians starting Monday, a medical expert is cautioning patients wanting to use the drug to lose weight that no medication is a ''magic bullet,' and the new medication is meant particularly for people who meet certain criteria related to obesity and weight.
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
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.