Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
After a reprieve of months, confirmed cases of COVID-19 are surging in the southern tip of South America. But officials in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay hope high vaccination rates mean this latest wave will not be as deadly as previous ones.
At the same time, there is concern that many people are not ready to once again take on the prevention measures that authorities say are needed to ensure cases remain manageable.
Cases have been steadily increasing for weeks, largely fueled by the BA.2 version of the Omicron variant. In Chile, the number of weekly confirmed cases more than doubled by late May when compared to the beginning of the month. In Argentina, cases rose 146 per cent in the same period, while in Uruguay, the increase was almost 200 percent.
Although the number of positive tests remain far lower than in previous waves, experts say the increase in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases is a reminder that the pandemic is far from over.
Argentina's health minister, Carla Vizzotti, recently said that Argentina is "starting a fourth wave of COVID-19" while in Chile, Health Minister Begona Yarza characterized the current moment as "an inflection point in the pandemic" and in Uruguay, President Luis Lacalle Pou, said he was "worried" and called on everyone to be "vigilant."
The countries are part of a regional trend as cases have been rising across the continent.
"COVID is again on the rise in the Americas," Carissa Etienne, the head of the Pan American Health Organization, said during an online news conference last week.
For many residents in the region, the sharp increase has meant they suddenly have to think about the coronavirus again.
"There were numerous cases in my family after my birthday last week," Marina Barroso, 40, said outside a testing centre in a Buenos Aires suburb. "The number of cases has really shot up."
The high increase in cases has yet to translate to significant numbers of hospitalizations and deaths. Officials are crediting high vaccination rates in the region as more than 80 per cent of the population in the three countries have received at least two doses.
"We are in a very different situation from the previous waves since so much of the population is immunized," Claudia Salgueira, the president of the Argentine Society of Infectious Diseases (SADI), said.
In Uruguay, the number of beds in intensive care units occupied by patients has doubled, from 1.5 per cent in the beginning of the month to a little more than 3 per cent by mid-May.
"Sure, mathematically we doubled the cases but we're still talking about small numbers," said Julio Pontet, president of the Uruguayan Society of Intensive Care Medicine who heads the intensive care department at the Pasteur Hospital in Montevideo. "What is protecting us from the serious cases is our high level of vaccination."
In previous waves, there has been a lag between a rise in cases and hospitalizations "and it's likely that the same thing will happen now," said Felipe Elorrieta, a mathematical epidemiology researcher at the University of Santiago. "Still, the death toll will be lower now."
Chile is at an advantage because it enjoys the highest level of vaccinations in the region and the highest rate of booster shots in the world with more than 80 per cent of people having at least a third dose, he said.
Chile has been able to get such a large proportion of its population to receive booster shots by essentially making life very difficult for those who eschew the shots.
Starting in June, Chile will block the "mobility pass" of any adult who received the first booster more than six months ago and has not received a second booster shot. Without the pass, Chileans are not allowed to go to restaurants, bars nor attend large events.
In other countries in the region, some are warning the vaccination campaign is lacking because of how many people have yet to receive boosters.
"There is an enormous percentage of people who don't have the adequate vaccination, four million people only have one dose, 10 million only have two and there's a group that does not have any," said Hugo Pizzi, an infectious disease specialist who is a professor in the medical school at Argentina's Cordoba National University. "There's an apathetic, defiant attitude among the population that is really maddening."
Adriana Valladares, a 41-year-old retail worker in Buenos Aires, says the increase in cases is not going to change how she lives.
"I have three doses so I feel pretty protected," she said. "I used to be really scared of this virus but now I know lots of people who caught it and they were fine."
Some are finding that it is not as easy as it once was to get tested.
"There is a huge increase in cases but they aren't testing anywhere," Jose Sabarto said in Avellaneda, Buenos Aires province. Sabarto said his daughter was diagnosed with COVID and a family member wanted to get tested but was having a difficult time finding active testing centers.
It's important for testing infrastructure to be "maintained and strengthened," Etienne said.
"The truth is," she added, "this virus is not going away anytime soon."
____
With the emergence of a new COVID-19 variant of concern, labelled Omicron, CTVNews.ca wants to hear from Canadians with any questions.
Tell us what you’d like to know when it comes to the Omicron COVID-19 variant.
To submit your question, email us at dotcom@bellmedia.ca with your name, location and question. Your comments may be used in a CTVNews.ca story.
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Three people have been arrested and charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – as authorities continue investigating potential connections to the Indian government.
Pius Suter scored with 1:39 left and the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night in Game 6.
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
RCMP say human remains found in a rural area in central Saskatchewan may have been there for a decade or more.
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
As Wegovy becomes available to Canadians starting Monday, a medical expert is cautioning patients wanting to use the drug to lose weight that no medication is a ''magic bullet,' and the new medication is meant particularly for people who meet certain criteria related to obesity and weight.
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
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 British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.