Spring allergy season has begun. Where is it worse in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
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 spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
Premier Doug Ford says that lawsuits launched by four Ontario school boards against a trio of social media platforms are “nonsense” and risk becoming a distraction to the work that really matters.
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
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King Charles III gave public remarks for Maundy Thursday, addressing the importance of acts of friendship, following his and Catherine, Princess of Wales’ cancer diagnoses.
Crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison for a massive fraud that unravelled with the collapse of FTX, once one of the world's most popular platforms for exchanging digital currency.
Peggy is a stout and muscular Staffordshire bull terrier, and Molly is a magpie, an Australian bird best known for swooping on humans during breeding season, not for befriending dogs. But in an emotional video posted online, Peggy’s owners announced that the animals had been separated.
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.
Newfoundland’s unique version of the Pine Marten has grown out of its threatened designation.
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.
A Toronto man is out $12,000 after falling victim to a deepfake cryptocurrency scam that appeared to involve Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
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The owner of an e-bike business says he has doubts police will find the roughly $500,000 worth of product that was stolen from a shipping container last week, while police say he “complicated” their investigation by posting video of the theft.
At least one Costco store in Ottawa has implemented a digital card scanner for member entry, a departure from the traditional in-person card check, in an effort to crack-down on shoppers who have not paid a membership fee.
With the solar eclipse just a week away, it’s time to think about how to safely view the celestial show.