Half of Canadians have negative opinion of latest Liberal budget: poll
A new poll suggests the Liberals have not won over voters with their latest budget, though there is broad support for their plan to build millions of homes.
South Korea will drop its COVID-19 quarantine requirements and end testing recommendations for international arrivals starting next month after the World Health Organization declared the end of the global health emergency.
In lowering the coronavirus alert level from "critical" to plainly "alert" starting June 1, health authorities will also lift mask mandates in pharmacies and small clinics but will continue require mask wearing in large hospitals and long-term care facilities and other medical venues with high infection risks.
The decision was announced during a meeting attended by President Yoon Suk Yeol, where he thanked the country's medical workers and said it was "delightful that people are getting their normal lives back after three and a half years."
He said his government will take steps to improve the country's capacity to deal with future pandemics, including providing stronger support for vaccine developments and expanding international co-operation.
South Korea has been requiring seven-day quarantines for virus carriers. While the mandate will be lifted from June 1, health officials will continue to recommend people to isolate for five days if they test positive for the virus, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. Travellers had been advised to take PCR tests within three days after arriving in the country, but that recommendation will also be lifted.
Youngmee Jee, KDCA's commissioner, downplayed worries that virus measures were being loosened too quickly, saying that the country's COVID-19 situation was stabilizing, partially because of high vaccination rates and immunity gained through infections during previous waves of the virus.
The fatality rate of COVID-19 after a steady decline is now at a similar level with influenza and there are enough medical resources to deal with a modest rise in infections, with about half of the country's 700 hospital beds designated to treat serious cases currently vacant, Jee said.
She said officials will maintain preventive measures to protect vulnerable groups, including senior citizens and people with medical conditions, and continue financial support to lower the costs of tests and hospitalizations for virus carriers.
"The risk of COVID-19 is not yet over, but considering the decline in cases, improved medical response capacities and high levels of immunity, we have reached a point where we need to step out of an international emergency state and transition toward a long-term management phase," Jee said during a briefing.
The announcement came as health workers reported 20,574 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, which represented a slight increase from last week's level. Lee Sang-won, KDCA's chief of epidemiological investigations, said the pace of the country's COVID-19 infections has moderately increased in recent weeks because of the spread of XBB, a new omicron variant. He said it was unlikely that the spread would develop into another huge wave of the virus.
There are concerns that the lifting of the quarantine mandate will result in people showing up to work when sick, considering the country's notoriously harsh work culture.
Lim Sook-young, another KDCA official, said the government, for the time being, will continue to provide subsidies to COVID-19 patients in low-income brackets and to small companies when they offer paid leave to sick employees, so that infected people could be encouraged to isolate and recover.
She said government agencies were debating further plans to "institutionalize a culture of resting when sick," including pushing employers to establish consistent guidelines over paid and sick leave and provide employees expanded options for working at home.
South Korea had maintained a stringent COVID-19 response based on aggressive testing, contact tracing and quarantines during the earlier part of the pandemic, but has eased most of its virus controls since last year as the omicron variant's surge rendered those containment strategies irrelevant.
WHO had declared an end to the COVID-19 emergency last week, though Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted the viral disease remained a global health threat.
A new poll suggests the Liberals have not won over voters with their latest budget, though there is broad support for their plan to build millions of homes.
Appointing a trusted person to help with financial obligations can give you peace of mind. In his personal finance column for CTVNews.ca, Christopher Liew outlines the key benefits of naming a confidant to take over your financial responsibilities, if the need ever arises.
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their “extremely dangerous” experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
The federal government has added $36.4 million to a program designed to support people who have been seriously injured or killed by vaccines since the end of 2020.
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
An Ontario senior’s attempt to get technical help online led him into a spoofing scam where he lost $25,000. Now, he’s sharing his story to warn others.
A Minnesota state senator and former broadcast meteorologist told police that she broke into her stepmother's home because her stepmother refused to give her items of sentimental value from her late father, including his ashes, according to burglary charges filed Tuesday.
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.
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.
Molly Knight, a Grade 4 student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.