Canada Day has kicked off the unofficial start of summer, and the tourism sector is hopeful the first season in three years largely free of COVID-19 restrictions will marshal a much-needed boost for a pandemic-stricken industry.
Coronavirus vaccines tweaked to include the Omicron variant strain can improve protection when used as a booster, the European Medicines Agency and other global health regulators said on Friday.
Russia said on Friday it was ending all restrictions to combat the spread of COVID-19, including the requirement to wear masks, citing a steady decline in deaths from the virus.
An emergency room physician in Toronto is warning that COVID-19 variants will continue to 'mutate endlessly' as the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are poised to become the dominant strains of the virus.
At Wimbledon, where the All England Club is following British government guidance that requires neither shots nor testing, three of the top 20 seeded men have withdrawn over the first four days of action because they got COVID-19.
U.S. regulators told COVID-19 vaccine makers Thursday that any booster shots tweaked for the fall will have to add protection against the newest omicron relatives.
Researchers examining the threat of emerging COVID-19 strains predict Omicron BA.5 will account for nearly 70 per cent of cases in much of the country by Canada Day.
The number of new coronavirus cases rose by 18 per cent in the last week, with more than 4.1 million cases reported globally, according to the World Health Organization.
Researchers suggest antibodies found in llama blood could lead to the development of a spray to immunize against COVID-19, SARS and other coronaviruses.
