Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Canada continues to be in the thick of the flu epidemic, according to the latest national FluWatch, which reports a steady incline of influenza activity – particularly affecting young children and older adults.
"At the national level, influenza activity has continued to increase steeply as we enter the fifth week of the national influenza epidemic. All surveillance indicators are increasing and all are above expected levels typical of this time of year," the report released on Friday said.
Between Nov. 20 and Nov. 26, 8,226 laboratory detections were reported, compared to the 5,891 reported in the previous week; an increase of about 14.8 per cent. The hardest hit provinces with influenza include P.E.I., Alberta and British Columbia.
Within just a few weeks, infections shot up. The earliest report this month, ending the week of Nov. 5, reported 999 influenza detections among individuals between the ages of five and 19 years old. In the latest report, ending Nov. 26, that number had increased to 4,692.
Many of the cases, roughly 46 per cent, were reported in Canadians aged 0-19 years old. However, the groups experiencing more serious outcomes from influenza were children under the age of four and adults over the age of 45.
Hospitalizations among children ages 0-4 are among the highest, at 40.9 per cent of confirmed cases. Specifically, children aged 2-4 have been hospitalized the most, with 203 reported admissions this past week. Of cases in adults aged 65 and older, the rate of hospitalization rose to 33.4 per cent in the latest report. Since the start of the influenza season in August, there have been 109 ICU admissions and 36-influenza linked deaths, the report said.
Can't see the chart below? Click here
The report indicates the current influenza-like illness (ILI) rates are above normal seasonal levels, as is the rate of cough and fever among Canadians. ILI includes any symptoms not related to one sole respiratory illness, but includes other viruses like respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).
Health experts have been cautioning Canadians throughout the flu season to take precautions, as the epidemic, combined with COVID-19 cases, RSV and other respiratory illnesses, as well as a shortage of children's pain relief medications, have exacerbated hospitals across the country and overwhelmed other parts of the health-care system.
A recent report by the National Institute on Aging indicated there has been a slow uptick in flu vaccinations among Canadians this season. The study found only 48 per cent of Canadians received their flu vaccine throughout the 2021-22 season. Those 65 and older were particularly lower than anticipated, with 70 per cent reported having been vaccinated against the flu. The Public Health Agency of Canada indicates an 80 per cent vaccination rate is needed among the 65-and-older population to effectively protect the vulnerable group.
Canada's top doctor, Dr. Therea Tam, said in a health briefing last week that Canadians should get their flu shot, wear a mask and stay home when sick, especially as the holiday season brings larger groups of people together.
With files from CTVNews.ca's Olivia Bowden.
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
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.
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.
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.
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.