Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
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.
The suggestion that raccoon dogs may have played a role in the origin of COVID-19, based on the collection of genetic material from a wet market in China, doesn’t shed much light on the current pandemic situation, according to one Canadian expert.
Speaking on CTV’s Your Morning on Monday, Dr. Isaac Bogoch said that it was “pretty unfortunate” that we’re finding out about this new potential animal vector this late, considering that we know those samples were collected in early 2020.
“They’re only being made available now, and in fact they were uploaded to a global public repository for genetic material, and then subsequently removed, so there certainly is an issue with transparency,” he said.
The data hasn’t undergone peer review yet. Bogoch noted that the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has called for more transparency from China.
“I think another key point here is that this is still a theory, we still don’t have an answer, this provides incremental data in terms of understanding what the origin of the virus was,” he said.
The animal vector theory has centred on bats since the beginning of the pandemic, meaning raccoon dogs could be a new intermediate animal vector between bats and humans. Still others contend the virus could have leaked from a lab.
The most important thing is preparation for the future, Bogoch said.
“It’s important to understand where this virus came from. But on the other hand too, regardless of where it came from … we need to be prepared,” he said.
“We need early detection systems globally so that we know that there’s an issue well before it becomes a much bigger issue, we need to have support for public health systems all over the planet, we need a response plane that’s not just Canada but a global response plan.”
Click the video above this article to watch the full interview with Dr. Isaac Bogoch
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.
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.
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.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
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.
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
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.