'A beautiful soul': Funeral held for baby boy killed in wrong-way crash on Highway 401
A funeral was held on Wednesday for a three-month-old boy who died after being involved in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby last week.
Toronto Western Hospital has closed its COVID-19 unit as infection numbers continue to decline across Ontario.
Infectious disease expert Dr. Abdu Sharkawy, who works at the hospital, said on Twitter he was "thrilled" to report that the unit officially closed on Monday.
"Let's keep it that way. This is a testament to the benefit of following PH advice & the incredible impact of vaccines!" Sharkawy tweeted.
Sharkawy told CTV's Your Morning on Tuesday that he is "overjoyed" by the unit's closure and said many of his colleagues would echo the same sentiments.
"It's been a very grueling, very difficult, very exhausting, very emotionally draining past 15 months, and I think this is the first time we feel that things are really coming down to a bit of a dim [and] might have some finality to it," Sharkawy said.
According to Sharkawy, the University Health Network, which includes Toronto Western Hospital, has cared for 1,698 patients with COVID-19 since January 2020.
He says Toronto Western was hit hard by the virus, suffering from multiple outbreaks, one of which forced its COVID-19 unit to relocate to a new area in October. The hospital also had to install tents outside its emergency room in April amid a surge in hospitalizations
While previous waves of the pandemic have brought concerns of an "ebb and flow in the tide" of infections, Sharkawy said vaccines have recently helped to keep case numbers low.
"Canadians are really willing and interested and inclined and there's a real energy around the country and right here in Ontario… to get vaccinated and to get back to those really precious freedoms," Sharkawy said.
He added that the promise of lifting public health measures as vaccine rates increase has served as a "really potent form of motivation."
On Tuesday, Ontario reported fewer than 300 new cases of COVID-19, which marks the lowest daily total since September.
According to CTVNews.ca's vaccine tracker, more than 73 per cent of eligible Ontarians have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Sharkawy credits this to the closure of his hospital’s COVID-19 unit.
"I can't say enough about how overjoyed I am and how thankful I am to all of my colleagues and really all Ontarians who have been very patient, working through all of this and doing their part to help everyone else," Sharkawy said.
Sharkawy said the hospital will still be busy, but with other forms of care that may have been previously neglected due to COVID-19.
Sharkawy said the closure of the hospital’s coronavirus unit is "good news" as the facility can reopen and expand its regular services including accommodating non-COVID emergencies, surgeries, and cancer treatments.
"We're now being able to accommodate people with non-COVID related issues and that's really something that was a serious form of collateral damage throughout this pandemic," he explained.
"The idea that cancer surgeries and cancer care, and all sorts of other important forms of health care can be addressed is something that gives me a lot of joy and fulfillment," he added.
Sharkawy said it has been a privilege and an honour to be able to help inform the public on COVID-19, but hopes Canadians will see less of him going forward as pandemic wanes.
"The less you see me from this point on, probably the better it is for Canadians in terms of the pandemic," Sharkawy said.
A funeral was held on Wednesday for a three-month-old boy who died after being involved in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby last week.
There has been a "sophisticated" cybersecurity breach detected on B.C. government networks, Premier David Eby confirmed Wednesday evening.
Toronto police say a man was taken into custody outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion Wednesday afternoon after he tried to gain access to the residence.
U.S. President Joe Biden said for the first time Wednesday he would halt shipments of American weapons to Israel, which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza, if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah.
Rookie goalie Arturs Silovs will start in net for the Canucks as Vancouver kicks off a second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers Wednesday night.
One of the Indian nationals accused of murdering British Columbia Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar says in a social media video that he received a Canadian study permit with the help of an Indian immigration consultancy.
Pfizer has agreed to settle more than 10,000 lawsuits about cancer risks related to the now discontinued heartburn drug Zantac, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the deal.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault is defending his comments about a new history museum after he was accused by a prominent First Nations group of trying to erase their history.
Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had a parasite in his brain more than a decade ago, but has fully recovered, his campaign said, after the New York Times reported about the ailment.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
A P.E.I. lighthouse and a New Brunswick river are being honoured in a Canada Post series.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.