As the highly transmissible BA.5 subvariant of Omicron continues to spread around the world, experts are urging Canadians who are travelling this summer to have health insurance, be up-to-date on their COVID-19 vaccinations, and to continue wearing masks in crowded spaces.
Dr. Don Vinh, an infectious diseases specialist at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), says there are several ways Canadian travellers can minimize the risk of catching the subvariant and getting severely ill.
He said travellers need to be familiar with the health system in the country they’re visiting and get health insurance to cover medical costs if they were to get hospitalized with COVID-19.
“If you were to get infected with BA.5 and fall sick in another country, how comfortable would you be to seek medical attention or be hospitalized?” Vinh said.
6:16 How the BA.5 subvariant is powering a new surge across Canada
How the BA.5 subvariant is powering a new surge across Canada
Another way to protect oneself against Omicron and its subvariants, according to Vinh, is by being vaccinated with at least three doses.
“The last dose needs to be taken within the last three months to protect you from getting severe disease,” said Vinh.
In Canada, a fourth COVID-19 dose is already being offered as the seventh wave takes shape in many parts of the country.
As of July 14 in Ontario, anyone aged 18 and older who had their first booster at least five months ago can book an appointment to get a fourth shot.
Other provinces and territories, like Quebec, Prince Edward Island, Nunavut and Yukon, have also opened up eligibility for second boosters — or a fourth dose — to anyone over the ages of 18, provided their last shot was at least three months prior.
Vinh also recommended that Canadians continue to wear masks while travelling, especially in crowded spaces.
“You can acquire BA.5 here locally. You don’t have to travel around the world to acquire it, but you don’t have to acquire it and unnecessarily get sick, so there are measures to prevent that,” said Vinh.
2:04 White House to prioritize boosters, testing for Omicron BA.5 subvariant
White House to prioritize boosters, testing for Omicron BA.5 subvariant
Dr. Earl Rubin, director of the infectious disease division of the Montreal Children’s Hospital, shared similar recommendations but added if a traveller is returning to Canada and has symptoms, they should not be out and about circulating the virus in the community.
“If there is an absolute, essential need to go out, make sure that you wear a mask and keep a two-meter distance,” said Rubin. “Avoid contact with vulnerable people.”
“I think that this is very important because public health is not tracking people (with COVID) like they did before, not enforcing (mandates). So we have to rely on people’s own sense of what is right and wrong,” he added.
The federal government announced plans Thursday to bring back random testing of travellers at Canada’s four main airports for COVID-19 next week, but intends to move the actual swabbing off-site.
Rubin said he believes random testing is now being put in place to detect any new variants that may enter the country.
“I think travel is a significant issue if there is a variant in the destination to where you’re going that we don’t have here,” he said.
For Vinh, this new testing strategy is just a “symbolic gesture to remind people that the pandemic is not over.”
“I think if perhaps the federal government has policies that remind us that the pandemic is not over, then from a federal perspective, it’s trying to protect or at least symbolically protect Canadians,” he said.
1:50 COVID-19: Canada to resume random mandatory testing at airports
COVID-19: Canada to resume random mandatory testing at airports
On July 12, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that COVID-19 cases are rising across the world as BA.5 spreads at a “very intense level.”
The spread of BA.5, which is now the dominant version of the virus globally, is of concern because it has a growth advantage over other sub-lineages of Omicron, said WHO COVID-19 technical lead Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove at Tuesday’s briefing.
“The virus is spreading at a very intense level at a global level and our ability to detect cases has reduced since the surveillance strategies have changed,” she told reporters.
The WHO has seen a substantial increase in reports of BA.5 cases over the last four weeks alone, Van Kerkhove said, adding that the trend is expected to continue around the world.
Canada’s Public Health Agency projects more cases in the coming months due to increases in the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-lineages of Omicron, according to its June 30 statement.
Some sobering figures from Canada’s COVID-19 Immunity Task Force released last week showed how quickly the Omicron variant of COVID-19 and its subvariants spread across the country at the end of 2021 and the first few months of this year.
An analysis of data from blood testing suggested that 17 million Canadians were infected in only five months, between December 2021 and May 2022.
– with files from Global News’ Saba Aziz and The Canadian Press
OTTAWA – The New Democrats confirmed Thursday they won’t help Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives topple the government next week, and intend to join the Bloc Québécois in blocking the Tories’ non-confidence motion.
The planned votes from the Bloc and the New Democrats eliminate the possibility of a snap election, buying the Liberals more time to govern after a raucous start to the fall sitting of Parliament.
Poilievre issued a challenge to NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh earlier this week when he announced he will put forward a motion that simply states that the House has no confidence in the government or the prime minister.
If it were to pass, it would likely mean Canadians would be heading to the polls, but Singh said Thursday he’s not going to let Poilievre tell him what to do.
Voting against the Conservative motion doesn’t mean the NDP support the Liberals, said Singh, who pulled out of his political pact with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a few weeks ago.
“I stand by my words, Trudeau has let you down,” Singh said in the foyer outside of the House of Commons Thursday.
“Trudeau has let you down and does not deserve another chance.”
Canadians will have to make that choice at the ballot box, Singh said, but he will make a decision about whether to help trigger that election on a vote-by-vote basis in the House.
The Conservatives mocked the NDP during Question Period for saying they had “ripped up” the deal to support the Liberals, despite plans to vote to keep them in power.
Poilievre accused Singh of pretending to pull out of the deal to sway voters in a federal byelection in Winnipeg, where the NDP was defending its long-held seat against the Conservatives.
“Once the votes were counted, he betrayed them again. He’s a fake, a phoney and fraud. How can anyone ever believe what the sellout NDP leader says in the future?” Poilievre said during Question Period Thursday afternoon.
At some point after those comments, Singh stepped out from behind his desk in the House and a two-minute shouting match ensued between the two leaders and their MPs before the Speaker intervened.
Outside the House, Poilievre said he plans to put forward another non-confidence motion at the next opportunity.
“We want a carbon-tax election as soon as possible, so that we can axe Trudeau’s tax before he quadruples it to 61 cents a litre,” he said.
Liberal House leader Karina Gould says there is much work the government still needs to do, and that Singh has realized the consequences of potentially bringing down the government. She refused to take questions about whether her government will negotiate with opposition parties to ensure their support in future confidence motions.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet hasn’t ruled out voting no-confidence in the government the next time a motion is tabled.
“I never support Liberals. Help me God, I go against the Conservatives on a vote that is only about Pierre Poilievre and his huge ambition for himself,” Blanchet said Thursday.
“I support the interests of Quebecers, if those interests are also good for Canadians.”
A Bloc bill to increase pension cheques for seniors aged 65 to 74 is now at “the very centre of the survival of this government,” he said.
The Bloc needs a recommendation from a government minister to OK the cost and get the bill through the House.
The Bloc also wants to see more protections for supply management in the food sector in Canada and Quebec.
If the Liberals can’t deliver on those two things, they will fall, Blanchet said.
“This is what we call power,” he said.
Treasury Board President Anita Anand wouldn’t say whether the government would be willing to swallow the financial implications of the Bloc’s demands.
“We are focused at Treasury Board on ensuring prudent fiscal management,” she said Thursday.
“And at this time, our immediate focus is implementing the measures in budget 2024 that were announced earlier this year.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
OTTAWA – Treasury Board President Anita Anand has been sworn in as federal transport minister at a ceremony at Rideau Hall, taking over a portfolio left vacant after Pablo Rodriguez resigned from cabinet and the Liberal caucus on Thursday.
Anand thanked Rodriguez for his contributions to the government and the country, saying she’s grateful for his guidance and friendship.
She sidestepped a question about the message it sends to have him leave the federal Liberal fold.
“That is a decision that he made independently, and I wish him well,” she said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was not present for the swearing-in ceremony, nor were any other members of the Liberal government.
The shakeup in cabinet comes just days after the Liberals lost a key seat in a Montreal byelection to the Bloc Québécois and amid renewed calls for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step down and make way for a new leader.
Anand said she is not actively seeking leadership of the party, saying she is focused on her roles as minister and as MP.
“My view is that we are a team, and we are a team that has to keep delivering for our country,” she said.
The minority Liberal government is in a more challenging position in the House of Commons after the NDP ended a supply-and-confidence deal that provided parliamentary stability for more than two years.
Non-confidence votes are guaranteed to come from the Opposition Conservatives, who are eager to bring the government down.
On Thursday morning, Rodriguez made a symbolic walk over the Alexandra Bridge from Parliament Hill to Gatineau, Que., where he formally announced his plans to run for the Quebec Liberal party leadership.
He said he will now sit as an Independent member of Parliament, which will allow him to focus on his own priorities.
“I was defending the priorities of the government, and I did it in a very loyal way,” he said.
“It’s normal and it’s what I had to do. But now it’s more about my vision, the vision of the team that I’m building.”
Rodriguez said he will stay on as an MP until the Quebec Liberal leadership campaign officially launches in January.
He said that will “avoid a costly byelection a few weeks, or months, before a general election.”
The next federal election must be held by October 2025.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he will try to topple the government sooner than that, beginning with a non-confidence motion that is set to be debated Sept. 24 and voted on Sept. 25.
Poilievre has called on the NDP and the Bloc Québécois to support him, but both Jagmeet Singh and Yves-François Blanchet have said they will not support the Conservatives.
Rodriguez said he doesn’t want a federal election right away and will vote against the non-confidence motion.
As for how he would vote on other matters before the House of Commons, “it would depend on the votes.”
Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos will become the government’s new Quebec lieutenant, a non-cabinet role Rodriguez held since 2019.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
— With files from Nojoud Al Mallees and Dylan Robertson
