B.C. seeks ban on using drugs in 'all public spaces,' shifting approach to decriminalization
The B.C. government is moving to have drug use banned in 'all public spaces,' marking a major shift in the province's approach to decriminalization.
Canada’s chief public health officer says the federal government will follow up with its counterparts in Hong Kong over one of their confirmed cases of the new COVID-19 Omicron variant.
Speaking during a news conference on Friday, Dr. Theresa Tam said Canadian officials would reach out to Hong Kong authorities after reports that one of two confirmed cases of Omicron was in a traveller who arrived from Canada.
"It is most likely that this individual caught it elsewhere [than Canada], but never say never," Tam said during a briefing Friday. "We want to just follow up to see if anything that we need to trace back to in Canada from that particular traveller."
In a statement to CTVNews.ca, Global Affairs Canada said it "is following-up on media reports of a Canadian citizen in quarantine in Hong Kong. Due to the provisions of the Privacy Act, no further information can be disclosed."
CTVNews.ca has not independently confirmed if the patient travelled through Canada or is Canadian.
The first case in Hong Kong was found in a traveller from South Africa and was transmitted to the second person staying in the hotel room opposite theirs while quarantining, according to the Hong Kong government.
Tam said there’s no indication to date of the Omicron variant being present in Canada.
"Many countries might start detecting these types of variants and this particular variant over the next day, so we'll have to keep monitoring that," Tam said. "So far other countries have either detected it in travellers or there’s potentially fairly close contact, meaning being in the same hotel as another case."
Canada on Friday suspended the entry of all foreign nationals who have travelled through southern Africa in the last 14 days over growing concerns regarding the new COVID-19 variant. Anybody currently in the country who travelled through the region within the past two weeks is asked to get tested and remain in quarantine until they receive a negative result.
The affected areas includes South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini.
Canadians and other permanent residents returning to Canada from the region through another country must receive a negative test in the third country.
Omicron, previously labelled "B.1.1.529," was first detected in Botswana and appears to have a high number – about 30 – mutations in the coronavirus’s spike protein.
With files from CTVNews.ca's Solarina Ho and The Associated Press
The B.C. government is moving to have drug use banned in 'all public spaces,' marking a major shift in the province's approach to decriminalization.
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.
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.
The Canadian Transportation Agency has hit a record high of more than 71,000 complaints in a backlog. The quasi-judicial regulator and tribunal tasked with settling disputes between customers and the airlines says the backlog is growing because the number of incoming complaints keeps increasing.
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.
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Philadelphia 76ers All-Star centre Joel Embiid has been diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, a form of facial paralysis he says has affected him since before the play-in tournament.
An American Airlines flight attendant was indicted Thursday after authorities said he tried to secretly record video of a 14-year-old girl using an airplane bathroom last September.
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.”
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.