Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Japan's government is introducing a contentious new policy in which coronavirus patients with moderate symptoms will isolate at home instead of in hospitals, as new cases surge in Tokyo to record levels during the Olympic Games.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's plan, which aims to save hospital beds almost exclusively for those with serious symptoms or at risk of developing them, is a major policy shift as new cases in the capital have more than tripled since the Olympics began on July 23.
Tokyo reported 4,166 new cases on Wednesday, an all-time high since the pandemic began early last year. Nationwide, Japan registered 12,076 cases on Tuesday for a 956,407 total, including more than 15,000 deaths.
The new policy, introduced this week, was debated in parliament on Wednesday. Opposition as well as some governing party lawmakers and experts charged that the lives of people isolating at home without adequate care would be at risk.
Suga, who has been criticized for insisting on hosting the Olympics despite public virus fears, says there is no evidence linking the upsurge in cases to the Games.
He said the home isolation policy is meant to ensure that hospital care is available for seriously ill patients, and that the new plan is only for areas where hospitals are severely strained.
Infections, propelled by the more contagious delta variant, could accelerate to 10,000 a day in Tokyo alone by mid-August, some experts say. They called for a current state of emergency in Tokyo and five other areas to be expanded nationwide. The emergency measures, which focus on alcohol bans and shorter hours for eateries, are increasingly ignored by the public, which has tired of restrictions.
NHK public television and other media reported that Suga is expected to expand a milder version of the emergency measures to 13 prefectures.
"The pandemic has now entered a new phase," Health Minister Norihisa Tamura said in parliament. "Hospital capacity is limited."
He defended the home isolation policy as necessary to prevent a medical collapse similar to what happened in April in Osaka, when thousands of people became sicker and some died at home while waiting for hospital beds.
Tamura, cautioning against a repeat of that situation, urged people to avoid all non-essential outings to slow infections.
In Tokyo, more than 14,000 patients with mild symptoms are currently isolating at home -- more than a 10-fold increase from a month ago -- and about 8,400 others are waiting for beds in hospitals or special hotels.
Opposition lawmakers criticized Suga for not increasing hospital capacity sufficiently despite warnings about the fast-spreading delta variant. Coronavirus treatment in Japan is limited to public and university hospitals that have adequate facilities and expertise.
"Lives that can be saved will be lost," said Kazunori Yamanoi, a lawmaker from the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, calling isolation at home "abandonment."
Dr. Shigeru Omi, the government's top medical adviser, said patients at risk of developing serious symptoms while staying at home will need to be given proper support by community physicians who make household visits.
Japan has managed to keep its cases and deaths lower than much of the world, but testing is still insufficient and Tokyo's positivity rate stands at 20%, indicating widespread infections. Its seven-day moving average is 8.3 cases per 100,000 people, compared to 2.9 in India, 6.5 in the Philippines and 27.3 in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Suga said vaccinations of elderly people have significantly reduced infections and that he plans to accelerate immunizations for younger people and inoculate 40% of the entire population by the end of August.
Experts say higher vaccination rates are needed to control the outbreak.
Despite a late start, vaccinations picked up in May and 31.5% of the population is now fully immunized.
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
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.
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.
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.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.