Health
Ontario reports 2,336 new cases of COVID-19, 14 deaths, over 70,000 vaccinations – Burnaby Now
TORONTO — Ontario is considering additional restrictions to combat a surge in COVID-19 cases, Premier Doug Ford said Tuesday as he warned people against making plans for Easter weekend.
Ford would not specify what new measures his government is considering but said he’ll consult the province’s top doctor before making a decision.
“Everything’s on the table right now, so folks be prepared,” he said. “I’m asking you, don’t make plans for Easter. … I won’t hesitate to lock things down.”
Ford’s comments came hours after Ontario’s hospitals and science advisors warned that intensive care units in the province’s hospitals were facing a capacity crunch.
The province reported 2,336 new cases and 14 deaths on Tuesday, with 1,090 people hospitalized, 387 in intensive care, and 249 placed on a ventilator.
Late Monday, the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory group published a report that showed virus variants were sending more Ontarians to intensive care units.
It also showed that people infected with COVID-19 variants are more likely to be hospitalized and die, placing a “considerably higher burden” on the health-care system than during the second wave of infections.
The report looked at 26,314 people who tested positive for COVID-19 in Ontario between Feb. 7 and March 11.
More than 9,000 of them were infected with a variant of concern, and the study found those patients were 62 per cent more likely to be hospitalized, 114 per cent more likely to end up in an intensive care unit and 40 per cent more likely to die from the virus.
The report noted that as of March 28, more infectious variants of concern accounted for 67 per cent of all infections, and the variant known as B.1.1.7 that was first detected in the U.K. makes up 90 per cent of variant cases.
The study also found that 46 per cent of intensive care admissions between March 15 and March 21 were people aged 59 and younger, compared with 30 per cent of admissions between Dec. 14 and Dec. 20.
Researchers flagged that risk of severe outcomes from a COVID-19 variant infection is pronounced 14 to 28 days after infection, “which in turn will result in delays until the full burden to the health-care system becomes apparent.”
The president of the Ontario Hospital Association said 46 patients were admitted to intensive care on Monday – the highest one-day number of admissions in the second and third wave.
Anthony Dale said if the trend continues, patient transfers will be running “24-7” to ensure they receive life-saving care and more surgeries will be cancelled, adding to the current backlog of 250,000 procedures.
“I am very concerned about the breakdown in social cohesion and the understanding of the risk and the sacrifice that is still needed to get us all through this safely together and without unnecessary death and harm and further massive disruption to hospital care,” Dale said.
Ornge, the province’s air ambulance service, said Monday that between Jan. 1 and March 25, at least 601 patients were transferred to different hospitals to help address the pandemic capacity crunch.
Meanwhile, vaccine supply shortage forced a public health unit in a COVID-19 hot spot to close three vaccination clinics. York Region said the clinics – including the Canada’s Wonderland site that opened Monday – would close from April 2 to 5 due to delayed Moderna vaccine shipments.
Premier Ford blamed the shortage issue on the federal government.
“We’re putting these mass vaccination centers up, a ton of effort, a ton of resources, a ton of people going there, and all of a sudden, bang, now we have to close it down again, up at Wonderland,” he said in the legislature on Tuesday.
“When can we count on a consistent volume of vaccines from the federal government? That’s what it comes down to.”
Ontario received 466,830 Pfizer-BioNTech doses on Monday, and the government said a delayed shipment of 225,400 Moderna doses is expected on April 7.
It is also expecting 583,400 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from a shipment that arrived in Canada on Tuesday and is awaiting federal approval to be released to the province. Those doses will be distributed through pharmacies and primary care offices.
Halton and York Regions, two other Greater Toronto Area health unit, announced Tuesday they would move ahead with offering vaccinations to people aged 65 and older starting March 31, ahead of the provincial schedule.
In total, the province has so far administered 2,102,380 COVID-19 vaccine doses.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 30, 2021.
Shawn Jeffords and Holly McKenzie-Sutter, The Canadian Press
Health
RCMP warn about benzodiazepine-laced fentanyl tied to overdose in Alberta – Edmonton Journal
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Grande Prairie RCMP issued a warning Friday after it was revealed fentanyl linked to a deadly overdose was mixed with a chemical that doesn’t respond to naloxone treatment.
The drugs were initially seized on Feb. 28 after a fatal overdose, and this week, Health Canada reported back to Mounties that the fentanyl had been mixed with Bromazolam, which is a benzodiazepine.
Article content
Mounties say this is the first recorded instance of Bromazolam in Alberta. The drug has previously been linked to nine fatal overdoses in New Brunswick in 2022.
The pills seized in Alberta were oval-shaped and stamped with “20” and “SS,” though Mounties say it can come in other forms.
Naloxone treatment, given in many cases of opioid toxicity, is not effective in reversing the effects of Bromazalam, Mounties said, and therefore, any fentanyl mixed with the benzodiazepine “would see a reduced effectiveness of naloxone, requiring the use of additional doses and may still result in a fatality.”
From January to November of last year, there were 1,706 opioid-related deaths in Alberta, and 57 linked to benzodiazepine, up from 1,375 and 43, respectively, in 2022.
Mounties say officers responded to about 1,100 opioid-related calls for service, last year with a third of those proving fatal. RCMP officers also used naloxone 67 times while in the field, a jump of nearly a third over the previous year.
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Health
CFIA continues surveillance for HPAI in cattle, while sticking with original name for disease – RealAgriculture
The Canada Food Inspection Agency will continue to refer to highly pathogenic avian influenza in cattle as HPAI in cattle, and not refer to it as bovine influenza A virus (BIAV), as suggested by the American Association of Bovine Practitioners earlier this month.
Dr. Martin Appelt, senior director for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, in the interview below, says at this time Canada will stick with “HPAI in cattle” when referencing the disease that’s been confirmed in dairy cattle in multiple states in the U.S.
The CFIA’s naming policy is consistent with the agency’s U.S. counterparts’, as the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has also said it will continue referring to it as HPAI or H5N1.
Appelt explains how the CFIA is learning from the U.S. experience to-date, and how it is working with veterinarians across Canada to stay vigilant for signs of the disease in dairy and beef cattle.
As of April 19, there has not been a confirmed case of HPAI in cattle in Canada. Appelt says it’s too soon to say if an eventual positive case will significantly restrict animal movement, as is the case with positive poultry cases.
This is a major concern for the cattle industry, as beef cattle especially move north and south across the U.S. border by the thousands. Appelt says that CFIA will address an infection in each species differently in conjunction with how the disease is spread and the threat to neighbouring farms or livestock.
Currently, provincial dairy organizations have advised producers to postpone any non-essential tours of dairy barns, as a precaution, in addition to other biosecurity measures to reduce the risk of cattle contracting HPAI.
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Health
Toronto reports 2 more measles cases. Use our tool to check the spread in Canada – Toronto Star
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Canada has seen a concerning rise in measles cases in the first months of 2024.
By the third week of March, the country had already recorded more than three times the number of cases as all of last year. Canada had just 12 cases of measles in 2023, up from three in 2022.
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