The director of the World Health Organization’s Europe office said Thursday the continent is now entering a “plausible endgame” to the pandemic and that the number of coronavirus deaths is starting to plateau.
Dr. Hans Kluge said at a media briefing that there is a “singular opportunity” for countries across Europe to take control of COVID-19 transmission due to three factors: high levels of immunization due to vaccination and natural infection; the virus’s tendency to spread less in warmer weather; and the lower severity of the Omicron variant.
“This period of higher protection should be seen as a ceasefire that could bring us enduring peace,” he said.
As the winter subsides in much of Europe in the coming weeks, when the virus’s transmission naturally drops, Kluge said the upcoming spring “leaves us with the possibility for a long period of tranquility and a much higher level of population defence against any resurgence in transmission.”
Even if another variant emerges, Kluge said, health authorities in Europe should be able to keep it in check, provided immunization and boosting efforts continue, along with other public health interventions.
He said, however, this demands “a drastic and uncompromising increase in vaccine-sharing across borders,” saying vaccines must be provided to everyone across Europe and beyond. Scientists have repeatedly warned that unless the majority of the world’s population is vaccinated, any opportunities for COVID-19 to keep spreading means it could mutate into deadlier and more transmissible forms.
Numerous countries across Europe, including parts of Britain and Denmark, have dropped nearly all their coronavirus restrictions after saying that Omicron has peaked. Others, including Spain, are now considering whether to consider COVID-19 to be an endemic problem that might be handled more like seasonal flu.
Italy will soon announce a timetable to roll back its COVID-19 curbs, Prime Minister Mario Draghi said Wednesday, as a surge in cases fuelled by the Omicron variant started to slow.
At WHO’s Geneva headquarters, director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned this week that the world as a whole is still far from exiting the pandemic.
“We are concerned that a narrative has taken hold in some countries that because of vaccines — and because of Omicron’s high transmissibility and lower severity — preventing transmission is no longer possible and no longer necessary,” Tedros said Tuesday. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”
The agency has said even countries with high levels of vaccination should not succumb to political pressure and release all of their coronavirus measures at once.
Kluge noted that there were 12 million new coronavirus cases across WHO’s European region last week — the highest single weekly total during the pandemic. He said that spike was driven by the hugely infectious Omicron variant, but admissions to hospital intensive care units haven’t risen significantly.
-From The Associated Press and Reuters, last updated at 7:15 a.m. ET
What’s happening across Canada
WATCH | No clear end to Parliament Hill protest for police or residents:
No clear end to Parliament Hill protest for police or residents
13 hours ago
Duration 2:00
Six days into a protest paralyzing areas around Parliament Hill, residents are showing their frustration and Ottawa police say there is no clear way to end it. 2:00
With lab-based testing capacity deeply strained and increasingly restricted, experts say true case counts are likely far higher than reported. Hospitalization data at the regional level is also evolving, with several provinces saying they will report figures that separate the number of people in hospital because of COVID-19 from those in hospital for another medical issue who also test positive for COVID-19.
For more information on what is happening in your community — including details on outbreaks, testing capacity and local restrictions — click through to the regional coverage below.
In Atlantic Canada, the total number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in New Brunswick stood at 165, health officials said Wednesday — a fresh high in the province. Of those, 16 people were in intensive care units, the provincial COVID-19 dashboard showed. The province also reported four additional COVID-related deaths and 381 additional lab-confirmed cases.
In Nova Scotia, some hospitals were facing serious strain on capacity amid pandemic pressures, a health official said. The province, which provides some detail on different types of COVID admissions in its daily releases, said Wednesday that 92 people who were admitted because of COVID-19 were receiving specialized care in a dedicated unit, including 13 people in ICU. An additional 255 people were in hospital with COVID-19, health officials said, including people who were admitted for another reason but tested positive on arrival and those who contracted COVID-19 after being admitted. The province also reported six additional deaths and 395 lab-confirmed cases.
Prince Edward Island health officials said Wednesday that 15 people were in hospital due to COVID-19, including two people in the province’s ICU. “There are eight other people in hospital who were admitted for other reasons and were COVID positive on admission or tested positive after being admitted,” a statement from the province said. Health officials also reported 238 additional lab-confirmed cases.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, health officials said 20 people were in hospital with COVID-19, including nine people in critical care. The province also reported four additional deaths and 248 lab-confirmed cases.
In Central Canada, Ontario’s top doctor is set to hold a news conference on the pandemic later Thursday, his first since public health restrictions began to ease this week. Dr. Kieran Moore’s afternoon briefing comes after modelling from the province’s expert pandemic advisers predicted COVID-19 cases would rise after Monday’s partial reopening.
The Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table said relaxing public health measures aimed at controlling the Omicron variant would increase virus spread, but the experts couldn’t say by how much. The group said outcomes will depend partly on how many people have recently been infected, a number that is hard to determine because the province has limited access to PCR tests.
The province’s COVID-19 dashboard showed 2,939 hospitalizations on Wednesday — down by 152 from a day earlier — with 555 people in ICU due to the virus. The province also reported 72 additional deaths and 3,909 lab-confirmed cases.
Quebec, meanwhile, reported 2,730 hospitalizations — down by 122 from a day earlier — with 204 people in intensive care. The province also reported 50 additional deaths and 3,816 lab-confirmed cases.
In the Prairie provinces, Manitoba on Wednesday reported a total of 744 COVID-19 hospitalizations — up by seven from a day earlier — with 54 people in ICUs. The province also reported seven additional deaths and 526 additional lab-confirmed cases.
Manitoba’s chief public health officer said that data shows the province may have passed the peak of the Omicron-fuelled surge and restrictions on gathering sizes and people allowed at sports events will be relaxed beginning on Tuesday.
“The next few weeks will be critical as we monitor these trends and determine if it is appropriate to reduce additional restrictions over the longer term,” Dr. Brent Roussin said.
Saskatchewan on Wednesday reported a pandemic high of 372 hospitalizations on its COVID-19 dashboard — up by two from a day earlier — with 40 in ICUs. The province also reported four additional deaths and 611 lab-confirmed cases.
Health officials in Alberta on Wednesday reported a total of 1,598 COVID-19 hospitalizations — up by 13 from a day earlier — with 106 people in the province’s ICUs. The province also reported 14 additional deaths and 3,024 lab-confirmed cases.
Across the North, the public health state of emergency in Nunavut expires Thursday. The territory on Wednesday reported 22 additional cases of COVID-19. Yukon saw 18 additional cases, while the Northwest Territories reported 148 new cases.
In British Columbia, the province reported 988 COVID-19 hospitalizations — down by 47 from a day earlier — with 136 people in the province’s ICUs. Health officials also reported 18 additional deaths and 1,776 lab-confirmed cases.
-From CBC News and The Canadian Press, last updated at 7:15 a.m. ET
What’s happening around the world
WATCH | U.S. reports say Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine could get emergency authorization for children aged six months to five years by the end of February:
Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for kids under 5 could get approval in February: reports
1 day ago
Duration 2:05
U.S. reports say Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine could get emergency approval for children aged six months to five years by the end of February, much earlier than expected. 2:05
As of early Thursday morning, roughly 385.1 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported around the world, according to Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus tracker. The reported global death toll stood at more than 5.7 million.
In the Asia-Pacific region, a total of 55 new COVID-19 infections were found among Olympics-related personnel on Feb. 2, the chair of the Beijing 2022 medical expert panel said on Thursday — the highest daily tally so far.
New Zealand on Thursday announced a phased reopening of its border that has been largely closed for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but travel bodies said self-isolation rules need to be removed to revive the struggling tourism sector.
In the Americas, COVID-19 infections and deaths are still increasing, but the rise in infections seems to be slowing in places hit earliest by the Omicron variant, the Pan American Health Organization said.
Mexico, for example, topped five million total confirmed coronavirus cases on Wednesday, registering 42,181 new cases and 573 new deaths, according to health ministry data.
Employees of an assembly factory wait for a bus after receiving a booster shot of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine during a mass vaccination program for people over 50, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, earlier this week. (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)
Africa has not reached an endemic phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, the director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
Meanwhile, health officials in South Africa on Wednesday reported 4,502 additional cases of COVID-19 and 175 deaths.
In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia said Thursday that citizens will be required to take the COVID-19 booster shot to be able to travel abroad starting Feb. 9, state media reported. The kingdom is also requiring visitors to present a negative PCR result before entry.
Iran on Wednesday reported 59 additional deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, with 38,160 additional cases reported.
-From Reuters, CBC News and The Associated Press, last updated at 7:55 a.m. ET
LANGLEY, B.C. – Police in Langley, B.C., say one person is dead in a crash between a car and a motorcycle on Highway 1 that shut down the route for hours.
Mounties say their initial investigation indicates both vehicles were travelling east when they collided shortly before 4:20 a.m. near 240 Street on the highway.
The motorcycle rider died from their injuries.
Highway 1 was closed for a long stretch through Langley for about 11 hours while police investigated.
RCMP say their integrated collision analysis reconstruction team went to the scene.
The Mounties are asking anyone who witnessed the crash or who may have dash-camera footage from the area to call them.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
WINNIPEG – A court has been asked to declare Lake Winnipeg a person with constitutional rights to life, liberty and security of person in a case that may go further than any other in trying to establish the rights of nature in Canada.
“It really is that simple,” said Grand Chief Jerry Daniels of the Manitoba Southern Chiefs’ Organization, which filed the suit Thursday in Court of King’s Bench in Winnipeg.
“The lake has its own rights. The lake is a living being.”
The argument is being used to help force the provincial government to conduct an environmental assessment of how Manitoba Hydro regulates lake levels for power generation. Those licences come up for renewal in August 2026, and the chiefs argue that the process under which those licences were granted was outdated and inadequate.
They quote Manitoba’s Clean Environment Commission, which said in 2015 that the licences were granted on the basis of poor science, poor consultation and poor public accountability.
Meanwhile, the statement of claim says “the (plaintiffs) describe the lake’s current state as being so sick that she is dying.”
It describes a long list of symptoms.
Fish species have disappeared, declined, migrated or become sick and inedible, the lawsuit says. Birds and wildlife including muskrat, beavers, duck, geese, eagles and gulls are vanishing from the lake’s wetlands.
Foods and traditional medicines — weekay, bulrush, cattail, sturgeon and wild rice — are getting harder to find, the document says, and algae blooms and E. coli bacteria levels have increased.
Invasive species including zebra mussels and spiny water fleas are now common, the document says.
“In Anishinaabemowin, the (plaintiffs) refer to the water in Lake Winnipeg as moowaakamiim (the water is full of feces) or wiinaagamin (the water is polluted, dirty and full of garbage),” the lawsuit says.
It blames many of the problems on Manitoba Hydro’s management of the lake waters to prevent it flushing itself clean every year.
“She is unable to go through her natural cleansing cycle and becomes stagnant and struggles to sustain other beings like animals, birds, fish, plants and people,” the document says.
The defendants, Manitoba Hydro and the provincial government, have not filed statements of defence. Both declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Daniels said it makes sense to consider the vast lake — one of the world’s largest — as alive.
“We’re living in an era of reconciliation, there’s huge changes in the mindsets of regular Canadians and science has caught up a lot in understanding. It’s not a huge stretch to understand the lake as a living entity.”
The idea has been around in western science since the 1970s. The Gaia hypothesis, which remains highly disputed, proposed the Earth is a single organism with its own feedback loops that regulate conditions and keep them favourable to life.
The courts already recognize non-human entities such as corporations as persons.
Personhood has also been claimed for two Canadian rivers.
Quebec’s Innu First Nation have claimed that status for the Magpie River, and the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation in Alberta is seeking standing for the Athabasca River in regulatory hearings. The Magpie’s status hasn’t been tested in court and Alberta’s energy regulator has yet to rule on the Athabasca.
Matt Hulse, a lawyer who argued the Athabasca River should be treated as a person, noted the Manitoba lawsuit quotes the use of “everyone” in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“The term ‘everyone’ isn’t defined, which could help (the chiefs),” he said.
But the Charter typically focuses on individual rights, Hulse added.
“What they’re asking for is substantive rights to be given to a lake. What does ‘liberty’ mean to a lake?
“Those kinds of cases require a bit of a paradigm shift. I think the Southern Chiefs Organization will face an uphill battle.”
Hulse said the Manitoba case goes further than any he’s aware of in seeking legal rights for a specific environment.
Daniels said he believes the courts and Canadians are ready to recognize humans are not separate from the world in which they live and that the law should recognize that.
“We need to understand our lakes and our environment as something we have to live in cohesion with.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
OTTAWA – MPs on the public safety and national security committee voted unanimously to launch an investigation into an alleged Russian ploy to dupe right-wing influencers into sowing division among Americans.
A U.S. indictment filed earlier this month charged two employees of RT, a Russian state-controlled media outlet, in a US$10-million scheme that purportedly used social media personalities to distribute content with Russian government messaging.
While not explicitly mentioned in court documents, the details match up with Tenet Media, founded by Canadian Lauren Chen and Liam Donovan, who is identified as her husband on social media.
The committee will invite Chen and Donovan to testify on the matter, as well as Lauren Southern, who is among the Tenet cast of personalities.
The motion, which was brought forward by Liberal MP Pam Damoff and passed on Thursday, also seeks to invite civil society representatives and disinformation experts on the matter.
Court documents allege the Russians created a fake investor who provided money to the social media company to hire the influencers, paying the founders significant fees, including through a company account in Canada.
The U.S. Justice Department doesn’t allege any wrongdoing by the influencers.
Following the indictment, YouTube removed several channels associated with Chen, including the Tenet Media channel.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
