Coronavirus

A patient is attached to a ventilator in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at St. Paul’s hospital in downtown Vancouver, Tuesday, April 21, 2020. Canada’s race to procure ventilators for COVID-19 patients in the early days of the pandemic had researchers, scientists, industry and a notable astrophysicist working “night and day” to design machines that could be quickly manufactured domestically. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Canada’s stockpile of ventilators up from 500 to 27,000 after push to procure them

Public Services and Procurement Canada says total cost was more than $807 million

A patient is attached to a ventilator in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at St. Paul’s hospital in downtown Vancouver, Tuesday, April 21, 2020. Canada’s race to procure ventilators for COVID-19 patients in the early days of the pandemic had researchers, scientists, industry and a notable astrophysicist working “night and day” to design machines that could be quickly manufactured domestically. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
A shelf of drugs at a pharmacy Thursday, March 8, 2012 in Quebec City. In B.C., pharmacist Aftabahmed Abdullatif Shaikh is serving a one month suspension for faking his COVID vaccine records. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

B.C. pharmacist suspended for faking his own COVID vaccine records

Vaccination became regulatory college requirement in October 2021

A shelf of drugs at a pharmacy Thursday, March 8, 2012 in Quebec City. In B.C., pharmacist Aftabahmed Abdullatif Shaikh is serving a one month suspension for faking his COVID vaccine records. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot
Used medical masks overflow a waste bin at the University of Calgary Medical Clinics in Calgary, Alta., Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Rise and fall of Canada’s domestic PPE market blamed on government policy

‘We’ve got an industry that is just running on fumes’

Used medical masks overflow a waste bin at the University of Calgary Medical Clinics in Calgary, Alta., Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says all British Columbians can “likely” get a COVID-19 boosters in the fall as part of a campaign that might become an annual ritual like the a flu-vaccination campaign.

B.C. announces spring COVID-19 boosters to be available soon

Henry also added that a fall booster will likely be available for all British Columbians

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says all British Columbians can “likely” get a COVID-19 boosters in the fall as part of a campaign that might become an annual ritual like the a flu-vaccination campaign.
FILE - Couples, whose weddings were cancelled or curtailed during the COVID-19 pandemic, participate in a symbolic multicultural ceremony at Damrosch Park, Sunday, July 10, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)

Pandemic 3 years later: Has the COVID-19 virus won?

Saturday marks three years since the World Health Organization first called the outbreak a pandemic

FILE - Couples, whose weddings were cancelled or curtailed during the COVID-19 pandemic, participate in a symbolic multicultural ceremony at Damrosch Park, Sunday, July 10, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)
People wearing face masks to help curb the spread of COVID-19 walk past a multi-colour mural with hearts painted on it, in Vancouver, on Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020. A new study suggests the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic took a relatively limited toll on global mental health. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

More mental health resilience during COVID-19 than previously thought, study suggests

Global study challenges media portrayals of mental health decline as ‘a tsunami or catastrophe’

People wearing face masks to help curb the spread of COVID-19 walk past a multi-colour mural with hearts painted on it, in Vancouver, on Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020. A new study suggests the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic took a relatively limited toll on global mental health. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Eleven-year-old Ian Milos, shown in a family handout photo, was infected with COVID-19 two years ago and was diagnosed with long COVID by a pediatrician last fall. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO

Report says long COVID could impact economy and be ‘mass disabling event’ in Canada

It’s becoming clear COVID-19 raises risk of chronic diseases including diabetes and hypertension

Eleven-year-old Ian Milos, shown in a family handout photo, was infected with COVID-19 two years ago and was diagnosed with long COVID by a pediatrician last fall. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO
Scientists examine a step in the vaccine purification process as they design updates to the Novavax’s COVID-19 shots in the company’s research laboratory on May 24, 2022, in Gaithersburg, Md. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Angie Wang

Company planning to make COVID-19 vaccine in Canada could go out of business

US-based Novavax told investors changing market is creating significant uncertainty

Scientists examine a step in the vaccine purification process as they design updates to the Novavax’s COVID-19 shots in the company’s research laboratory on May 24, 2022, in Gaithersburg, Md. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Angie Wang
FILE - This 2020 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows SARS-CoV-2 virus particles, which cause COVID-19. A crucial question has eluded governments and health agencies since the COVID-19 pandemic began: Did the virus originate in animals or leak from a Chinese lab? Now, the U.S. Department of Energy has assessed with “low confidence” that it began with a lab leak although others in the U.S. intelligence community disagree. (Hannah A. Bullock, Azaibi Tamin/CDC via AP, File)

Coronavirus origins still a mystery 3 years into pandemic

Experts say the true origin of the pandemic may not be known for many years — if ever

FILE - This 2020 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows SARS-CoV-2 virus particles, which cause COVID-19. A crucial question has eluded governments and health agencies since the COVID-19 pandemic began: Did the virus originate in animals or leak from a Chinese lab? Now, the U.S. Department of Energy has assessed with “low confidence” that it began with a lab leak although others in the U.S. intelligence community disagree. (Hannah A. Bullock, Azaibi Tamin/CDC via AP, File)
Snow falls as protesters stand by a semi-trailer truck on Wellington Street, on the 21st day of a protest against COVID-19 measures that had grown into a broader anti-government protest, in Ottawa, on Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. Justice Paul Rouleau says the Canada Border Services Agency made a bad situation worse when it mishandled the announcement of a vaccine mandate for truckers early last year, amid rampant anger and false information around the pandemic. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Government communication on COVID-19 contributed to ‘Freedom Convoy’ origin: report

Commissioner said social media also played a large part in then spreading misinformation

Snow falls as protesters stand by a semi-trailer truck on Wellington Street, on the 21st day of a protest against COVID-19 measures that had grown into a broader anti-government protest, in Ottawa, on Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. Justice Paul Rouleau says the Canada Border Services Agency made a bad situation worse when it mishandled the announcement of a vaccine mandate for truckers early last year, amid rampant anger and false information around the pandemic. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Hundreds of people march along Yale Road near Hodgins Avenue during a so-called Fraser Valley Freedom Rally on Saturday, April 3, 2021. (Jenna Hauck/ Chilliwack Progress file)

OPINION: The staggering socioeconomic costs of COVID anti-vaxxer behaviour

COVID-is-a-hoax crowd caused thousands more deaths, hundreds of millions in hospital costs: report

Hundreds of people march along Yale Road near Hodgins Avenue during a so-called Fraser Valley Freedom Rally on Saturday, April 3, 2021. (Jenna Hauck/ Chilliwack Progress file)
Makhan “Mak” Parhar speaks at an anti-mask rally outside the Vancouver Art Gallery on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2020. Parhar died on Nov. 4, 2021 from a fatal combination of illicit drugs, according to the BC Coroners’ Service. (Flat Earth Focker/YouTube.com screenshot)

B.C. COVID-denier Mak Parhar died from toxic drugs, not virus: coroner

Parhar was infected with virus when he died, but it wasn’t what killed him

Makhan “Mak” Parhar speaks at an anti-mask rally outside the Vancouver Art Gallery on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2020. Parhar died on Nov. 4, 2021 from a fatal combination of illicit drugs, according to the BC Coroners’ Service. (Flat Earth Focker/YouTube.com screenshot)
City of Merritt Mayor Michael Goetz wants the B.C. government to drop the vaccination mandate for health-care workers to help deal with staffing shortages. (Photo courtesy of City of Merritt)

Merritt mayor calls on B.C. to drop vax mandate for health-care workers ‘right now’

Michael Goetz first made the demand in a conference call with Interior Health

City of Merritt Mayor Michael Goetz wants the B.C. government to drop the vaccination mandate for health-care workers to help deal with staffing shortages. (Photo courtesy of City of Merritt)
People working in long-term care have filed the most approved COVID-19 compensation claims to WorkSafeBC since 2020, out of all the different work sectors in B.C. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

More than 15,000 COVID compensation claims approved for B.C. workers since 2020

Vast majority of claims to WorkSafeBC come from health-care sector

People working in long-term care have filed the most approved COVID-19 compensation claims to WorkSafeBC since 2020, out of all the different work sectors in B.C. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
A food delivery rider walks up a staircase near restaurants only allowing take away in a shuttered commercial distirct as part of COVID-19 controls in Beijing, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

WHO decided the COVID-19 global emergency isn’t over. What happens next?

In the past 8 weeks, at least 170,000 people have died around the world in connection with the virus

A food delivery rider walks up a staircase near restaurants only allowing take away in a shuttered commercial distirct as part of COVID-19 controls in Beijing, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), talks to the media at the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Dec. 20, 2021. Monday could mark a major milestone in the history of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the World Health Organization stands poised to decide whether or not to declare an end to the global public health emergency. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Keystone via AP-Salvatore Di Nolfi

WHO decides the COVID-19 global emergency isn’t over

‘No doubt that we’re in a far better situation now’

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), talks to the media at the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Dec. 20, 2021. Monday could mark a major milestone in the history of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the World Health Organization stands poised to decide whether or not to declare an end to the global public health emergency. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Keystone via AP-Salvatore Di Nolfi
The World Health Organization’s emergency committee, will vote today on whether to maintain the emergency designation. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the WHO, gestures as he speaks to journalists during a press conference at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Martial Trezzini-Keystone via AP

WHO decision on COVID-19 emergency won’t affect Canada’s response: Tam

The WHO’s emergency committee will vote today on whether to maintain the emergency designation

The World Health Organization’s emergency committee, will vote today on whether to maintain the emergency designation. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the WHO, gestures as he speaks to journalists during a press conference at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Martial Trezzini-Keystone via AP
FILE - A nurse prepares a syringe of a COVID-19 vaccine at an inoculation station in Jackson, Miss., July 19, 2022. U.S. health officials are proposing a simplified approach to COVID-19 vaccinations, which would allow most adults and children to get a once-a-year shot to protect against the mutating virus. The new system unveiled Monday, Jan. 23, 2023 would make COVID-19 inoculations more like the annual flu shot. Americans would no longer have to keep track of how many shots they’ve received or how many months it’s been since their last booster. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

U.S. proposes once-a-year COVID shots for most Americans

The FDA will ask its panel of outside vaccine experts to weigh in at a meeting Thursday

FILE - A nurse prepares a syringe of a COVID-19 vaccine at an inoculation station in Jackson, Miss., July 19, 2022. U.S. health officials are proposing a simplified approach to COVID-19 vaccinations, which would allow most adults and children to get a once-a-year shot to protect against the mutating virus. The new system unveiled Monday, Jan. 23, 2023 would make COVID-19 inoculations more like the annual flu shot. Americans would no longer have to keep track of how many shots they’ve received or how many months it’s been since their last booster. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)
New figures released show British Columbia passed the 5,000-mark for COVID-19 deaths since the start of pandemic in March 2020, but other metrics such as hospitalizations are trending down. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Grim milestone: British Columbia passes 5,000-mark for COVID-19 deaths

Other COVID-19 figures, influenza cases are trending down while RSV cases remain high

New figures released show British Columbia passed the 5,000-mark for COVID-19 deaths since the start of pandemic in March 2020, but other metrics such as hospitalizations are trending down. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
New Democratic Party Leader Jagmeet Jagmeet Singh and his wife Gurkiran Kaur Sidhu walk past hand sanitizer as they leave a campaign plane in St. John's, Saturday, Sept. 4, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Provinces look to cleanse storerooms of expired hand sanitizer sent by Ottawa

Hundreds of thousands being spent on repurposing or disposal of unused sanitizer

New Democratic Party Leader Jagmeet Jagmeet Singh and his wife Gurkiran Kaur Sidhu walk past hand sanitizer as they leave a campaign plane in St. John's, Saturday, Sept. 4, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld