Canadians feel grocery inflation getting worse, two in five boycotting Loblaw: poll
Almost two-thirds of Canadians feel that inflation at the grocery store is getting worse, a new poll suggests, even as food inflation has been steadily cooling.
Travel bans implemented on seven southern African countries in a bid to keep the new omicron COVID-19 variant out of Canada must be backed up with more stringent testing and tracing at the border, according to an expert in the field.
Dr. Nazeem Muhajarine, an epidemiologist in Saskatoon, told CTV News Channel that the travel bans implemented on Friday should include “very, very careful and very comprehensive screening at the border of travellers coming into the country.”
“I really think that’s what we need to focus on,” he said. “Testing, tracing [and] if needed, isolating our travellers more than any kind of carte blanche in our travel bans.”
“Those are very crude, sledgehammer-types of measures,” he continued, “And I think we need a little bit sharper, more data driven measures like testing, tracing in place.”
Mihajarine’s remarks come as Canada confirmed its first two cases of the B.1.1.529 -- or omicron variant -- in Ontario.
In a statement Sunday evening, Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott and Dr. Kieran Moore, chief medical officer of health, said both cases of the omicron variant were detected in Ottawa.
“Both of which were reported in individuals with recent travel from Nigeria,” the statement reads. “Ottawa Public Health is conducting case and contact management and the patients are in isolation.”
Canada’s Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said as monitoring and testing continues across the country, “it is expected that other cases of this variant will be found in Canada.”
“I know that this new variant may seem concerning, but I want to remind Canadians that vaccination, in combination with public health and individual protective measures, is working to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and its variants in our communities,” Duclos said in a statement Sunday.
On Friday, officials announced a travel ban barring foreign travellers from seven southern African countries from entering Canada.
Border measures have been tightened on anyone who has travelled to South Africa, Eswatini, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Namibia.
Officials are also asking anyone who had travelled to one of the countries in the last 14 days, who is now in Canada, to get a COVID-19 test and isolate.
Canadians or other permanent residents seeking re-entry must also quarantine for 14 days and undergo enhanced screening and testing.
Global Affairs Canada also issued a travel advisory, urging Canadians not to travel to the region.
Canada is just one of several countries, including the U.S., Britain and the European Union, that have implemented more stringent travel rules over fears of the omicron variant.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam, said the omicron variant is “unusual” because it has a high number of mutations.
“Due to the potential for increased transmissibility and the possibility of increased resistance to vaccine induced protection, we’re concerned about this new variant and are closely monitoring the evolving situation,” she told reporters.
Tam said laboratories across the country have been “alerted” to the new variant, but conceded it would be “very difficult” to keep the omicron variant from reaching Canada.
Dr. Zain Chagla, an associate professor of medicine at McMaster University, told The Canadian Press that the “blind closures” don’t make scientific sense, adding that the variant may have been first detected in South Africa because they have good genomic surveillance infrastructure.
“This has likely been circulating for some time,” he told the outlet. “It really doesn’t make sense that we use rigid travel bans as a way of preventing cases, as compared to mitigating spread.”
Chagla said this underscores the urgent need for a united, global effort to increase access to vaccines around the world.
He said Canada should evaluate whether it should import more vaccines for boosters for low-risk populations, or if it should work on getting vaccines to countries in need.
"If we're going to repeat the same mistakes this time, and keep re-vaccinating our lowest risk populations and forget about our global duties, I'm pretty sure we're going to see this scenario playing itself out over and over and over again,” he said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) designated omicron a ‘variant of concern’ on Friday.
On Sunday, the WHO said it was not yet clear whether the variant, which was first reported in South Africa, is more transmissible than other variants, or whether it causes more severe disease.
“Preliminary data suggests that there are increasing rates of hospitalization in South Africa, but this may be due to increasing overall numbers of people becoming infected, rather than a result of specific infection,” the WHO said.
Muhajarine echoed this, saying we are in the “very early days” of studying the variant.
“I think scientists, lab scientists are really getting going in doing experiments to find out how transmissible, and particularly whether this variant will have an advantage in evading, to some extent vaccine induced antibody immunity, that first line of defence that vaccines and the body produces in blocking the variants from getting into cells,” he said.
With files from The Canadian Press
Almost two-thirds of Canadians feel that inflation at the grocery store is getting worse, a new poll suggests, even as food inflation has been steadily cooling.
Ticks are parasitic bloodsuckers, capable of spreading deadly disease, and they’re becoming increasingly common. Here’s what you need to know about them.
Donald Trump had spent weeks needling U.S. President Joe Biden for his refusal to commit to a debate. But Washington political columnist Eric Ham describes how in one fell swoop, Biden ingeniously stole the issue from the Trump campaign and made it his own.
Police in Ontario say a group of suspects charged in an armed home invasion north of Toronto last year were driving a vehicle stolen in a carjacking in Calgary just one month earlier.
Ontario Provincial Police continue to investigate a long weekend fatal boat collision on Bobs Lake, north of Kingston, Ont.
From artificial intelligence running wild to collapsing ecosystems, a new Canadian government report outlines 35 disruptions that could rattle the country in the near future.
In his latest column for CTVNews.ca, former NDP leader Tom Mulcair argues that if there's an unofficial frontrunner in the eventual race to replace Justin Trudeau as Liberal leader, it has to be former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney.
British Columbia serial killer Robert Pickton was attacked and sustained life-threatening injuries in a Quebec prison Sunday in what officials described as a 'major assault.'
The Toronto Blue Jays have offered tickets and a signed baseball to a fan who says she was struck in the face by a 110 m.p.h (177 km/h) foul ball at Friday’s game.
Montreal photographer captured the moment a Canada Goose defended itself from a fox at the Botanical Garden.
Public libraries in Atlantic Canada are now lending a broader range of items.
Flashes of purple darting across the sky mixed with the serenading sound of songs will be noticed more with spring in full force in Manitoba.
Catching 'em all with impressive speed, a 7-year-old boy from Windsor, Ont. who only started his competitive Pokémon journey seven months ago has already levelled up to compete at a world championship level.
A sanctuary dedicated to animals with disabilities is celebrating the third birthday of one of its most popular residents.
2b Theatre recently moved into the old Video Difference building, seeking to transform it into an artistic hub, meeting space, and temporary housing unit for visiting performers in Halifax.
A B.C. woman says her service dog pulled her from a lake moments before she had a seizure, saving her life.
A Starbucks fan — whose name is Winter — is visiting Canada on a purposeful journey that began with a random idea at one of the coffee chain's stores in Texas.
Members of Piapot First Nation, students from the University of Winnipeg and various other professionals are learning new techniques that will hopefully be used for ground searches of potential unmarked grave sites in the future.