More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is urging fully vaccinated people to continue wearing face masks and follow physical distancing measures as the highly infectious Delta variant spurs new COVID-19 outbreaks around the world.
At a press briefing in Geneva on Friday, WHO officials said masks should stay on, even for those who have received both doses of a vaccine series.
"Vaccine alone won't stop community transmission," said Mariangela Simao, the WHO’s assistant director-general for access to medicines and health products. "People need to continue to use masks consistently, be in ventilated spaces, hygiene, physical distance, avoid crowding."
Simao said public health measures continue to be "extremely important" as countries cope with outbreaks of the COVID-19 Delta variant, despite high vaccination rates.
"People cannot feel safe just because they’ve had the two doses. They still need to protect themselves," Simao said.
While COVID-19 vaccines have shown to be effective in preventing severe disease and death, including against the Delta variant, WHO officials say it is a "dangerous variant" and fully vaccinated people can be part of its transmission chain if measures aren't maintained.
The news comes as countries continue to ease public health measures and offer new guidelines for those who are fully vaccinated.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on May 13 that fully vaccinated Americans do not need to wear masks outdoors and can avoid wearing them indoors in most places.
Canadian guidance, released on Thursday, suggests that those who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can hug each other, attend barbecues and have a small group of friends over for dinner without wearing a mask or staying apart.
However, the Public Health Agency of Canada says Canadians might still want to protect themselves in certain situations such as at crowded concerts, sports events or house parties.
The Delta variant, first identified in India, has now become the dominant strain in the U.K. and accounts for about one in every five new coronavirus infections in the U.S.
Canada's chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam warned on Friday that the Delta variant continues to pose a real risk in Canada based on international experience.
Between April 25 and May 23, Canada saw a four-fold increase in the proportion of Delta cases, with the majority of them being found in unvaccinated or partially-vaccinated people, according to the latest modelling data.
The modelling shows that if the Delta variant becomes the predominant strain, Canada could once again risk exceeding hospitalization capacity as the variant is 50 per cent more transmissible than the original strain of COVID-19, and results in more severe infections.
However, if Canada hits around 80 per cent of the population fully vaccinated, the modelling suggests that a fourth wave could be avoided.
Until that mass vaccination level is reached, Tam suggested that personal protective measures like mask-wearing will remain important.
With a file from CTVNews.ca's Rachel Aiello
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.
As if a 4-0 Edmonton Oilers lead in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings wasn't good enough, what was announced at Rogers Place during the next TV timeout nearly blew the roof off the downtown arena.
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.”