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Wuhan coronavirus: Confirmed cases top 20,000 as China marks deadliest day – CNN

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The total number of confirmed cases in China stands at 20,438 as of Tuesday morning, an increase of 3,235 on the previous day — an over 18% jump. The death toll is now at 425 in China, an increase of around 65 from Sunday.
Outside of China, the prevalence of the virus remains far lower, but more than 185 cases have been reported in over two dozen countries and territories. Two people have died outside mainland China since the outbreak began. One in the Philippines, and another in the semi-autonomous Chinese city of Hong Kong, which reported on Tuesday that a 39-year-old man who had traveled to Wuhan last month had died.
In a meeting with top officials Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called the virus outbreak a “major test of China’s system and capacity for governance,” as the extended Lunar New Year holiday and growing concerns began to take a toll on the country’s economy.
According to state media, Xi demanded “resolute opposition against bureaucratism and the practice of formalities for formalities’ sake in the prevention work,” adding that those who disobeyed would be punished. His comments could be an indication that frustration is growing over the failure to rein in the virus, and the slow initial response by Wuhan officials, some of whom have already offered to resign over their handling of the crisis.
Xi also called for an improvement in the country’s emergency management system, an “overhaul of environmental sanitation,” improvements to public health, and a “crackdown on illegal wildlife markets and trade.”

Worldwide crisis

Even as cases of the virus are reported worldwide, the majority of patients have a link to China, either tourists or people returning home from a visit to the country. Person-to-person transmission of the virus has been confirmed, however, including among some patients overseas, and countries are scrambling to ensure it does not spread further afield.
On Monday, authorities in Japan quarantined a cruise ship at a port in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, after an elderly male passenger on the vessel was found to be infected with the virus when he disembarked in Hong Kong in late January.
Japanese health authorities said around 2,500 passengers and some 1,000 crew members are on board the Diamond Princess, which returned to Yokohama after stops in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Taiwan, and the Japanese prefectures of Okinawa and Kagoshima. At least seven people on board said they feel ill, though none have been confirmed to have the virus.
All passengers will be checked, authorities said, with the results expected Tuesday evening.
Japan is one of around a dozen countries which have evacuated citizens from Wuhan, which remains on tight lockdown along with much of surrounding Hubei province. Italy repatriated 56 nationals on Monday, as the US said it would send additional flights to evacuate hundreds of Americans who remain in Hubei.
Closer to China, the semi-autonomous city of Macao announced on Tuesday that it will suspend operations of gambling and related industries for half a month in an effort to contain the virus.
The outbreak has had a devastating impact on tourism in the gambling enclave, which relies heavily on mainland Chinese visitors. Gambling is illegal on the mainland and Lunar New Year is usually a particularly busy time for Macao’s casinos. But not this year — tourism to the city has dropped 73.6% year-on-year, the Macao government announced on January 29.
The self-governing island of Taiwan said on Tuesday that it will implement entry restrictions for foreign nationals who have been to China starting on Friday.
The restrictions mean that any foreign national who has visited or lived in mainland China in the past 14 days will be denied entry to Taiwan, barring exceptions for those needing to enter for “special reasons,” according to the island’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Hong Kong on Monday announced further closures to its borders with the mainland. All but three crossings, including the two busiest land borders, are now closed.
The announcement by the semiautonomous city’s leader Carrie Lam came after health care workers began strike action Monday to demand the city be fully sealed off from the mainland. Memories of the deadly 2003 SARS outbreak run deep in Hong Kong, where many businesses have sent workers home to avoid spread of the virus. Unions said strike action will continue Tuesday unless further action is taken by Lam.

Economic pain

With the virus outbreak in its third month with no signs of slowing, cities across China have announced further efforts to try and stop it.
Hangzhou, the capital of eastern Zhejiang province, on Monday reportedly announced some of the tightest quarantine measures outside Hubei. People returning to the city from outside Hangzhou could face up to two weeks in quarantine, while all public places will be closed for the foreseeable future, according to local media.
The stringent restrictions and extended holidays across much of China are beginning to impact the country’s economy, however. China’s stock markets posted major losses on Monday, their first day open following the Lunar New Year break.
The losses on the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets wiped out a combined $445 billion in value. Monday was Shanghai’s worst day since 2015, and Shenzhen’s worst since 2007.
The value of the Chinese yuan also fell, while global oil prices have suffered amid fears that the virus outbreak will destroy demand in China, the world’s largest crude importer.
Authorities in China have already announced a 1.2 trillion yuan ($173 billion) injection into Chinese markets to help maintain “reasonably ample liquidity” in the banking system and keep currency markets stable. The net amount of cash flooding into the market will be closer to 150 billion yuan ($22 billion), according to Reuters, as more than 1 trillion yuan worth of other short-term bond agreements matured Monday.
Hong Kong is also bracing for further difficulties. The city was already in a technical recession after more than six months of anti-government protests and the US-China trade war, and many analysts fear the effects of the virus could wipe out many businesses.
While the national economy is already suffering, it’s unclear how long Chinese workers can remain at home, with many facing several weeks out of work since the beginning of the Lunar New Year holiday. Many migrant workers will have traveled home for the festival, potentially leaving them trapped in their provinces and unable to return to the east coast, where most major manufacturing areas are.

Treating the virus

Amid all the misery, there are some small signs of hope.
Officials in Thailand said Monday that a second patient has been treated with a new combination of HIV and flu drugs, after doctors said the cocktail had been successful in treating a 71-year-old woman from China with the virus. Officials have yet to provide an update on the success of the treatment for the second patient.

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Thailand’s Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters that the 71-year-old had the most severe symptoms of all those in care in the country. While he cautioned against placing too much expectation on a tiny number of cases, Anutin said he hoped “other academic, medical or research institutions can take this treatment result and find more facts as much as they can do.”
“And if it turned out the dosage and method of treatment we applied could cure every case, it will be beneficial to humanity, ” Anutin added.
Gilead Sciences, a biopharmaceutical firm with an experimental antiviral drug called remdesivir that is used to treat the Ebola virus, said late Friday it is working with Chinese health authorities to see if the medication can combat the symptoms of coronavirus.
The company said in a statement that remdesivir has demonstrated some success in treating Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) — two viruses similar to the Wuhan coronavirus — in animals.
A purpose-built hospital dedicated to treating the virus also opened in Wuhan Monday. The institution was constructed in under a week, and a second is due to open Thursday. Both will only handle coronavirus patients, helping to take the pressure off the severely stretched Wuhan healthcare system.
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Kevin Neil Friesen Obituary 2024 – Crossings Funeral Care

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It is with heavy hearts that we announce the peaceful passing of Kevin Neil Friesen age 53 on Thursday, March 28, 2024 at the Bethesda Regional Health Centre.

A funeral service will be held at 2:00 pm on Thursday, April 4, 2024 at the Bothwell Christian Fellowship Church, with viewing one hour prior to the service.

A longer notice to follow.  

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Spring allergies: Where is it worse in Canada? – CTV News

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The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities such as Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.

Daniel Coates, director of Aerobiology Research Laboratories in Ottawa, expects the elevated amounts to continue next week for places, such as most of Ontario, if the temperature continues to rise. Aerobiology creates allergen forecasts based on data it collects from the air on various pollens and mould spores.

Pollens are fertilizing fine powder from certain plants such as trees, grass and weeds. They contain a protein that irritates allergy sufferers.

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Although pollen levels declined after a cold spell in some places, he said they are soaring again across parts of Canada.

“So the worst is definitely British Columbia right now, followed by Ontario and Quebec and then the Prairies and Atlantic Canada for the upcoming weeks,” said Coates in a video interview with CTVNews.ca. “We are seeing pollen pretty much everywhere, including the Maritimes.”

He said pollen has increased over the past 20 years largely due to longer periods of warm weather in Canada.

Meanwhile, the Maritimes is one of the best places to live in Canada if you have seasonal allergies, in part because of its rocky territory, Coates said.

With high levels of cedar and birch pollen, British Columbia is the worst place for allergy sufferers in Canada, he added.

“British Columbia is going strong,” Coates explained, noting the allergy season started “very early” in the province in late January. “It has been going strong since late January, early February and it’s progressing with high levels of pollen, mostly cedar, but birch as well, and birch is highly allergenic.”

Causes of high pollen levels

Coates expects a longer allergy season if the warm weather persists. He notes pollen is increasing in Canada and worldwide, adding that in some cases the allergy season is starting earlier and lasting longer than 15 years ago.

He says tree pollen produced last year is now being released into the air because of warmer weather.

“Mother nature acts like a business,” he said. “So you have cyclical periods where things go up and down. … So when it cooled down a little bit, we saw (pollen) reduce in its levels, but now it’s going to start spiking.”

Along with warmer weather, another factor in higher pollen levels is people planting more male trees in urban areas because they don’t produce flowers and fruits and are less messy as a result, he said. But male trees produce pollen while female ones mostly do not.

Moulds

Coates said moulds aren’t as much of a problem.

“They’ve been mainly at lower levels so far this season,” he explained. “Moulds aren’t as bad in many areas of Canada, but they’re really, really bad in British Columbia.”

In B.C., moulds are worse because of its wet climate and many forested areas, he said.

Coping with allergies

Dr. Blossom Bitting, a naturopathic doctor and herbal medicine expert who works for St. Francis Herb Farm, says a healthy immune system is important to deal with seasonal allergies.

“More from a holistic point of view, we want to keep our immune system strong,” she said in a video interview with CTVNews.ca from Shediac, N.B. “Some would argue allergies are an overactive immune system.”

Bitting said ways to balance and strengthen the immune system include managing stress levels and getting seven to nine hours of restful sleep. “There is some research that shows that higher amounts of emotional stress can also contribute to how much your allergies react to the pollen triggers,” Bitting said.

Eating well by eating more whole foods and less processed foods along with exercising are also important, she added. She recommends foods high in Omega-3 Fatty Acids such as flaxseeds, flaxseed oil, walnuts and fish. Fermented foods with probiotics such as yogurt, kimchi and miso, rather than pasteurized ones, can keep the gut healthy, she added. Plant medicines or herbs such as astragalus, reishi mushrooms, stinging nettle and schisandra can help bodies adapt to stressors, help balance immune systems or stabilize allergic reactions, she said.

To cope with allergies, she recommends doing the following to reduce exposure to pollen:

  • Wear sunglasses to get less pollen into the eyes;
  • Wash outdoor clothes frequently, use outer layers for outside and remove them when you go inside the house;
  • Use air purifiers such as with HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) filters;
  • Wash pets and children after they go outside;
  • Keep the window closed on days with high pollen counts.

Mariam Hanna, a pediatric allergist, clinical immunologist and associate professor with McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., says immunotherapy can help patients retrain their bodies by working with an allergist so they become more tolerant to pollens and have fewer symptoms.

“Some patients will need medications like over-the-counter antihistamines or speaking with their doctor about the right types of medications to help with symptom control,” she said in a video interview with CTVNews.ca.

Coates recommends people check pollen forecasts and decrease their exposure to pollen since no cure exists for allergies. “The best is knowing what’s in the air so that you can adjust your schedules, or whatever you’re doing, around the pollen levels.”

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Do you need a spring COVID-19 vaccine? Research backs extra round for high-risk groups

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Recent studies suggest staying up-to-date on COVID shots helps protect high-risk groups from severe illness

New guidelines suggest certain high-risk groups could benefit from having another dose of a COVID-19 vaccine this spring — and more frequent shots in general — while the broader population could be entering once-a-year territory, much like an annual flu shot.

Medical experts told CBC News that falling behind on the latest shots can come with health risks, particularly for individuals who are older or immunocompromised.

Even when the risk of infection starts to increase, the vaccines still do a really good job at decreasing risk of severe disease, said McMaster University researcher and immunologist Matthew Miller.

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Who needs another COVID shot?

Back in January, Canada’s national vaccine advisory body set the stage for another round of spring vaccinations. In a statement (new window), the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) stated that starting in spring 2024, individuals at an increased risk of severe COVID may get an extra dose of the latest XBB.1.5-based vaccines, which better protect against circulating virus variants.

That means:

  • Adults aged 65 and up.
  • Adult residents of long-term care homes and other congregate living settings for seniors.
  • Anyone six months of age or older who is moderately to severely immunocompromised.

The various spring recommendations don’t focus on pregnancy, despite research (new window) showing clear links between a COVID infection while pregnant, and increased health risks. However, federal guidance does note that getting vaccinated during pregnancy can protect against serious outcomes.

Vaccinated people can also pass antibodies to their baby through the placenta and through breastmilk, that guidance states (new window).

What do the provinces now recommend?

Multiple provinces have started rolling out their own regional guidance based on those early recommendations — with a focus on allowing similar high-risk groups to get another round of vaccinations.

B.C. is set to announce guidance on spring COVID vaccines in early April, officials told CBC News, and those recommendations are expected to align with NACI’s guidance.

In Manitoba (new window), high-risk individuals are already eligible for another dose, provided it’s been at least three months since their latest COVID vaccine.

Meanwhile Ontario’s latest guidance (new window), released on March 21, stresses that high-risk individuals may get an extra dose during a vaccine campaign set to run between April and June. Eligibility will involve waiting six months after someone’s last dose or COVID infection.

Having a spring dose is particularly important for individuals at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19 who did not receive a dose during the Fall 2023 program, the guidance notes.

And in Nova Scotia (new window), the spring campaign will run from March 25 to May 31, also allowing high-risk individuals to get another dose.

Specific eligibility criteria vary slightly from province-to-province, so Canadians should check with their primary care provider, pharmacist or local public health team for exact guidelines in each area.

WATCH: Age still best determines when to get next COVID vaccine dose, research suggests:

 

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Age still best determines when to get COVID vaccines, new research suggests

It’s been four years since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, and new research suggests your age may determine how often you should get a booster shot.

Why do the guidelines focus so much on age?

The rationale behind the latest spring guidelines, Miller said, is that someone’s age remains one of the greatest risk factors associated with severe COVID outcomes, including hospitalization, intensive care admission and death.

So that risk starts to shoot up at about 50, but really takes off in individuals over the age of 75, he noted.

Canadian data (new window) suggests the overwhelming majority of COVID deaths have been among older adults, with nearly 60 per cent of deaths among those aged 80 or older, and roughly 20 per cent among those aged 70 to 79.

People with compromised immune systems or serious medical conditions are also more vulnerable, Miller added.

Will people always need regular COVID shots?

While the general population may not require shots as frequently as higher-risk groups, Miller said it’s unlikely there will be recommendations any time soon to have a COVID shot less than once a year, given ongoing uncertainty about COVID’s trajectory.

Going forward, I suspect for pragmatic reasons, [COVID vaccinations] will dovetail with seasonal flu vaccine campaigns, just because it makes the implementation much more straightforward, Miller said.

And although we haven’t seen really strong seasonal trends with SARS-CoV-2 now, I suspect we’ll get to a place where it’s more seasonal than it has been.

In the meantime, the guidance around COVID shots remains simple at its core: Whenever you’re eligible to get another dose — whether that’s once or twice a year — you might as well do it.

What does research say?

One analysis, published in early March in the medical journal Lancet Infectious Diseases (new window), studied more than 27,000 U.S. patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID, between September and December 2023.

The team found individuals who had an updated vaccine reduced their risk of severe illness by close to a third — and the difference was more noticeable in older and immunocompromised individuals.

Another American research team from Stanford University recently shared the results from a modelling simulation looking at the ideal frequency for COVID vaccines.

The study in Nature Communications (new window) suggests that for individuals aged 75 and up, having an annual COVID shot could reduce severe infections from an estimated 1,400 cases per 100,000 people to around 1,200 cases — while bumping to twice a year could cut those cases even further, down to 1,000.

For younger, healthier populations, however, the benefit of regular shots against severe illness was more modest.

The outcome wasn’t a surprise to Stanford researcher Dr. Nathan Lo, an infectious diseases specialist, since old age has consistently been a risk factor for severe COVID.

It’s almost the same pattern that’s been present the entire pandemic, he said. And I think that’s quite striking.

More frequent vaccination won’t prevent all serious infections, he added, or perhaps even a majority of those infections, which highlights the need for ongoing mitigation efforts.

Lauren Pelley (new window) · CBC News

 

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