'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
It's "only a matter of time" before cases of the new omicron COVID-19 variant are detected in Canada, according to the medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.
Dr. William Schaffner says travel bans, such as the one implemented by Canada against southern states in Africa, can help delay the spread of the new strain but that it will eventually make its way around the globe.
"By that time, it's hopeful that we'll learn a lot more about these variants that will help us cope," he told CTV News Channel on Friday. "Anything that can dampen down introductions, slow the spread of this new variant around the world is important."
Right now, what medical experts do know about the strain is that it features a high number of mutations to the virus's spike protein and it appears to transmit more easily than the original COVID-19.
Fortunately, however, current testing methods are sufficient to detect it, which makes screening for the virus more important for countries than before.
"No border is completely porous-free. These things can travel, and that's a problem," Omar Khan, professor of biomedical engineering and immunology at the University of Toronto, told CTV News Channel on Friday. "It was recently detected, that does not mean it recently emerged. So that's the concern."
Canada's chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam stated Friday there are no indications of omicron's presence within the country.
If the new strain were in fact here, Khan says, Canada's high vaccination rate should offer Canadians good levels of protection. We'll know more about how well the COVID-19 vaccines work against omicron in the coming weeks.
"We have to understand that the current vaccines we have available were developed for the original type of coronavirus,” he said. “We were extremely fortunate that it worked for Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta. Now, with omicron, time will tell if we will still have protection.
"It's a moving target. The vaccine stays the same and the virus is evolving. So that's the challenge."
But, in the meantime, while Canada and the rest of the world buys time to find a way to tackle the new variant by restricting borders, the price is being paid by those countries in the south of Africa where omicron was detected first, Schaffner says.
"Travel bans are things that are instinctive, you would think that they would keep the virus out, but they're very, very imperfect," he said. "They have the added unfortunate effect of penalizing, in effect, the countries that are so forward who have made the discovery and let everybody know about them."
The pandemic is a global event, Schaffner says, and finding ways to help developing nations will, in effect, help everyone.
"We, the countries of the world, have not yet figured out a way to make enough vaccine and get it distributed equitably in rapid fashion," he said.
"We in the developed world have two reasons for doing this. One is of course the simple humanitarian reason, we want to save as many lives as possible. But the other is those variants, they appear abroad, and then can come home to our countries. So, we have a self-interest in making sure that we end this pandemic around the world as quickly as possible."
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.