What to know about avian influenza in dairy cows and the risk to humans
Why is H5N1, or bird flu, a concern, how does it spread, and is there a vaccine? Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions about avian influenza.
Monday could mark a major milestone in the history of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the World Health Organization (WHO) stands poised to decide whether or not to declare an end to the global public health emergency.
The WHO's emergency committee on COVID-19 spent Friday deliberating whether the COVID-19 pandemic still meets the strict definition of the agency's highest risk designation: a "public health emergency of international concern."
By declaring a global emergency, the WHO essentially sounded the alarm on a serious worldwide health risk that required international co-operation.
It triggered a legally-binding response among WHO member countries, including Canada, and allowed the organization to make temporary recommendations to those countries to prevent or deal with the threat.
Over the last few years those recommendations have included quarantining infected people and their close contacts and border testing and closures.
The formal designation was made on Jan. 30, 2020, when 99 per cent of confirmed COVID-19 cases were still restricted to China.
Even if that designation is lifted, it doesn't mean the pandemic is over or that the threat has ended.
Monday marks three years to the day since WHO director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus first declared the then little-understood coronavirus a global health emergency.
Since then, a committee of global experts has met every three months to offer advice on whether the pandemic still meets that definition.
"As we enter the fourth year of the pandemic, we are certainly in a much better position now than we were a year ago when the Omicron wave was at its peak and more than 70 thousand deaths were being reported to WHO each week," Tedros told the committee Friday.
At the previous meeting in October, he said weekly reported COVID-19 deaths had nearly reached their lowest levels since the beginning of the pandemic.
On Friday though, Tedros appeared to caution the committee against being too optimistic.
He said the number of weekly deaths had been rising since early December, particularly since public health restrictions were lifted in China.
"In total, over the past eight weeks, more than 170 thousand deaths have been reported. The actual number is certainly much higher," he said.
He also reminded the experts the pandemic response remains "hobbled" in countries without COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics.
Even in countries with such tools at their disposal, public trust in those life-saving medicines has been undermined by disinformation campaigns, health systems remain overwhelmed because of staff shortages, and countries have massively scaled down COVID-19 surveillance efforts.
Nothing much. At a press conference Friday, Canada's Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said no matter what the WHO decides, Canada will continue to track cases, serious illnesses and deaths, as well as roll out vaccination campaigns.
Cases, hospitalizations and deaths associated with the virus spiked noticeably over Christmas and in early January, Tam said, but all now appear to be trending down.
"We mustn't, I think, let go of the gains that we've had in the last several years," she said.
"I think whatever the decision is made by the director-general of WHO, I think we just need to keep going with what we're doing now."
The final call is ultimately up to Tedros, but he'll be informed by the advice of the emergency committee.
The group, first struck in 2020 when the threat of COVID-19 first came to light, voted Friday on whether or not to maintain the formal emergency designation.
Tedros is expected to make his decision Monday.
It's still difficult to say because COVID-19 is still spreading rampantly around the world.
The WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic a month and a half after designating it a global emergency, and at the time Tedros took pains to explain the two classifications are not one and the same.
"Describing the situation as a pandemic does not change WHO's assessment of the threat posed by this virus. It doesn't change what WHO is doing, and it doesn't change what countries should do," Tedros said on March 11, 2020.
Last fall he declared the end of the pandemic was "in sight," but it is difficult to say when it will fully come into view.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 30, 2023.
Why is H5N1, or bird flu, a concern, how does it spread, and is there a vaccine? Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions about avian influenza.
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Royal commentator Afua Hagan writes that when King Charles recently admitted Catherine to the Order of the Companions of Honour, it not only made history, but it reinforced the strong bond between the King and his beloved daughter-in-law.
A Massachusetts man who told police he was exorcising a demon and performing a baptism when he shoved his father's head under water multiple times has been convicted of involuntary manslaughter in his death.
American troops will be spending more time training in the Far North, the new commander of Norad says, a strategy that fits 'hand-in-glove' with Canada's renewed focus on Arctic defence.
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
A new survey by Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytics Lab asked Canadians about their food consumption habits amid rising prices.
It was evident to the federal government as early as last fall that Loblaw and Walmart might be holdouts to the grocery code of conduct, jeopardizing the project's success.
Charlie Woods failed to advance in a U.S. Open local qualifying event Thursday, shooting a 9-over 81 at Legacy Golf & Tennis Club.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
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.