A World Health Organization team looking into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic has visited the food market in the Chinese city of Wuhan that was linked to many early infections.
The team members visited the Huanan Seafood Market for about an hour on Sunday. The market was the site of a December 2019 outbreak of the virus.
Scientists initially suspected the virus came from wild animals sold in the market. The market has since been largely ruled out but it could provide hints to how the virus spread so widely.
The WHO mission has become politically charged, as China seeks to avoid blame for alleged missteps in its early response to the outbreak.
“Very important site visits today — a wholesale market first & Huanan Seafood Market just now,” Peter Daszak, a zoologist with the U.S. group EcoHealth Alliance and a member of the WHO team, said in a tweet. “Very informative & critical for our joint teams to understand the epidemiology of COVID as it started to spread at the end of 2019.”
A World Health Organization team is briefed outside the Huanan Seafood Market on the third day of their field visit in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province on Sunday. (Ng Han Guan/The Associated Press)
Earlier in the day, the team members were also seen walking through sections of the Baishazhou market — one of the largest wet markets in Wuhan — surrounded by a large entourage of Chinese officials and representatives. The market was the food distribution centre for Wuhan during the city’s 76-day lockdown last year.
The members, with expertise in veterinary medicine, virology, food safety and epidemiology, have so far visited two hospitals at the centre of the early outbreak — Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital and the Hubei Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital.
What’s happening in Canada
As of 6 a.m. ET on Sunday, Canada had reported 775,048 cases of COVID-19, with 54,186 cases considered active. A CBC News tally of deaths stood at 19,942.
In British Columbia, some Whistler residents are calling for a ban on out-of-town visitors to the ski town amid a surge in cases, while others fear that doing so would adversely affect the community’s economy.
Restaurants and gyms will be permitted to reopen for in-person service on Feb. 8 in the province, but only if the number of people in hospital with COVID-19 stays below 600.
When it comes to gyms and studios, the province is allowing only one-on-one classes with a trainer and by appointment.
Also on Saturday, the province announced that 112 tickets have been issued to businesses and individuals in its COVID-19 inspection blitz so far this year.
People wear face coverings as they skate on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa on Saturday. (Olivier Plante/Radio-Canada)
Meanwhile, Premier François Legault said on social media on Saturday that he plans to announce changes to Quebec’s COVID-19 restrictions on Tuesday, adding that he hopes to be able to relax some restrictions, particularly those around retail stores, if the situation permits.
New Brunswick registered 12 new cases and an additional death on Saturday.
Meanwhile, most residents can now expand their number of close contacts as the government loosened rules for parts of the province under orange-phase restrictions. However, the Moncton region and the Edmundston and Grand Falls region remain in the red phase and are in full lockdown.
Nova Scotia reported three new cases. Officials say all three are related to travel outside of Atlantic Canada and are currently self-isolating.
Newfoundland and Labrador saw no new cases. Meanwhile, health officials say it is postponing its plans to vaccinate people 75 years and older because of the reduced supply of the Moderna vaccine.
Nunavut added a new case, but its caseload remained the same after also reporting one new recovery.
What’s happening around the world
As of Sunday morning, more than 102.6 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, with 56.8 million of those considered recovered or resolved, according to a tracking tool maintained by Johns Hopkins University. The global death toll stood at just over 2.2 million.
WATCH | CBC medical contributor answers your COVID-19 questions:
The CBC’s John Northcott puts your coronavirus-related questions to family physician and CBC medical contributor Dr. Peter Lin. 9:19
In the Americas, Peru has imposed new lockdowns in the capital and several other regions, starting Sunday and lasting until Feb. 15.
It’s the second time in 10 months that Peru has announced such rules. All non-essential shops will close and people are urged to work from home. Peru has also suspended inter-regional land and air travel and extended a ban on flights coming from Europe.
A worker measures a shopper’s temperature before entering a supermarket in Lima, Peru on Saturday. (Raul Sifuentes/Getty Images)
In Europe, Austria and Germany say they will provide medical assistance to Portugal as the country struggles with a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Sunday it will receive intensive care patients from Portugal, without specifying a number.
A driver shows an identity card to checkpoint personnel and Portuguese National Republican Guards at a checkpoint in the Portuguese-Spanish border crossing between Valenca and Tui on Sunday. (Miguel Riopa/AFP via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, the German military plans to send medical aid and doctors to Portugal in the coming days.
Portugal said on Saturday it only had seven vacant beds left in intensive care units set up for COVID-19 cases on its mainland.
The country has the world’s highest seven-day rolling average of cases and deaths per capita. It has so far reported more than 12,000 COVID-19 deaths and more than 711,000 cases.
In Asia, South Korea will extend its social distancing curbs by two weeks until the end of the Lunar New Year holidays as new COVID-19 infection clusters emerge in the country, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said on Sunday.
That means a continued ban on gatherings of more than four people and a restaurant curfew. South Korea reported another new 355 cases on Sunday.
In Africa, Tunisia has become the third country on the continent to register Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19.
To date Sputnik V has been registered in Russia, Belarus, Algeria, Argentina, Bolivia, Serbia, Venezuela, Paraguay, Turkmenistan, Hungary, the U.A.E., Iran and the Republic of Guinea. It has also been approved for use by the Palestinian Authority.
EDMONTON – RCMP say a second suspect has been arrested in the killing of an Alberta county worker.
Mounties say 28-year-old Elijah Strawberry was taken into custody Friday at a house on O’Chiese First Nation.
Colin Hough, a worker with Rocky View County, was shot and killed while on the job on a rural road east of Calgary on Aug. 6.
Another man who worked for Fortis Alberta was shot and wounded, and RCMP said the suspects fled in a Rocky View County work truck.
Police later arrested Arthur Wayne Penner, 35, and charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder, and a warrant was issued for Strawberry’s arrest.
RCMP also said there was a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Strawberry, describing him as armed and dangerous.
Chief Supt. Roberta McKale, told a news conference in Edmonton that officers had received tips and information over the last few weeks.
“I don’t know of many members that when were stopped, fuelling up our vehicles, we weren’t keeping an eye out, looking for him,” she said.
But officers had been investigating other cases when they found Strawberry.
“Our investigators were in O’Chiese First Nation at a residence on another matter and the major crimes unit was there working another file and ended up locating him hiding in the residence,” McKale said.
While an investigation is still underway, RCMP say they’re confident both suspects in the case are in police custody.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
RICHMOND, B.C. – The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says the 26-year-old son of a man found dead on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast has been charged with his murder.
Police say 58-year-old Henry Doyle was found badly injured on a forest service road in Egmont last September and died of his injuries.
The homicide team took over when the BC Coroners Service said the man’s death was suspicious.
It says in a statement that the BC Prosecution Service has approved one count of first-degree murder against the man’s son, Jackson Doyle.
Police say the accused will remain in custody until at least his next court appearance.
The homicide team says investigators remained committed to solving the case with the help of the community of Egmont, the RCMP on the Sunshine Coast and in Richmond, and the Vancouver Police Department.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, have broken off without an agreement following 15 hours of talks.
Joe McCann, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they stayed at the bargaining table with help from a mediator until 2 a.m. Friday and made “some progress.”
However, he says the union negotiators didn’t get an offer that they could recommend to the membership.
McCann says that in some ways they are close to an agreement, but in other areas they are “miles apart.”
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people who can’t navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last week, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
McCann asks HandyDART users to be “patient,” since they are trying to get not only a fair contract for workers but also a better service for customers.
He says it’s unclear when the talks will resume, but he hopes next week at the latest.
The employer, Transdev, didn’t reply to an interview request before publication.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
