A BC Ferries spokesman says passengers should check for possible service disruptions before they arrive at a terminal because sailings have recently been cancelled due to staffing issues. Dan McIntosh says COVID-19 infections among employees, as well as seasonal cold and flu and winter storms could nix travel plans if vessels don't have enough employees to operate them as usual. He says staff have been cross-trained to do other duties and can be deployed on other routes, but that may not be enough if certain members of the crew, like the captain, or engineers, can't be on the job. Four sailin

Health Canada has approved Pfizer's antiviral treatment for COVID-19. The authorization posted to the Health Canada website this morning says the treatment is greenlighted for adult patients with mild or moderate COVID-19 who are also at high risk of becoming more seriously ill. Health Canada did not authorize it for use on teenagers. It is also not authorized for use on patients who are already hospitalized because of COVID-19.Paxlovid is a treatment that uses a combination of drugs to prevent the virus that causes COVID-19 from replicating once it has infected a patient.Clinical trials sho

A group representing truckers says drivers will stop delivering goods if the province doesn't ensure B-C's highways are cleared of snow and potholes are fixed. Ajay Toor, who speaks for the West Coast Trucking Association, says several drivers have been involved in serious crashes in recent weeks due to black ice and gaping holes that are dangerous. Toor says drivers who report problems to the DriveBC website are informed they should be emailing contractors, but it's impossible to figure out which of the 28 contractors are responsible for specific routes. The Transportation Ministry did not im

B.C. is reporting 2,275 new cases of COVID-19, including five epi-linked cases, for a total of 293,521 cases in the province.There are 35,943 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and 251,846 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 646 COVID-positive individuals are in hospital and 95 are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.The new/active cases include:813 new cases in Fraser HealthTotal active cases: 17,256523 new cases in Vancouver Coastal HealthTotal active cases: 9,397412 new cases in Interior HealthTotal active cases

Two more schools have declared functional closures in BC as illnesses and isolations due to the Omicron variant of COVID-19 leave a handful of elementary and secondary schools without enough staff to operate safely. Heritage Park Middle School in Mission is closed from today until next Thursday while Armstrong Elementary in Armstrong expects to reopen on Tuesday, as those two schools join Hazelton Secondary in northwestern BC and an independent Christian school in Surrey that declared functional closures earlier this week. BC School Trustees Association president Stephanie Higginson says, all

A section of Highway 1 through the southern Interior has reopened nearly two months after it was torn apart by slides and washouts. The 80 kilometre section between Lytton and Spences Bridge reopened this morning to general travel and some commercial traffic after it was damaged by severe storms in November. Parts of the route are cut to single lane travel and the Transportation Ministry is warning motorists to watch for advisories and expect delays. The Thompson Nicola operations manager for the Highways Ministry says the upgrades are far from over and work will continue through the winter a

Charges have been approved following the arrest by Metro Vancouver Transit Police of a suspect in the stabbing of a 67-year-old man on board a SkyTrain.As was previously reported by Transit Police, on December 4, 2021, shortly after 1:00 p.m., a man boarded an eastbound SkyTrain at Scott Road Station. As he attempted to sit down, he accidentally bumped into another man who was about to sit in the same seat. The victim ignored the accidental bump and moved to a different part of the train. Moments later, the suspect allegedly approached the victim, got close to his face and demanded an apology.

Tennis star Novak Djokovic faces deportation again after the Australian government revoked his visa for a second time. Immigration Minister Alex Hawke cited the public interest in revoking the 34 year old Serb's visa three days before the Australian Open begins. His lawyers are expected to appeal in a federal court as they successfully did last week on procedural grounds. Prime Minister Scott Morrison welcomed Djokovic's pending deportation, saying Australia had achieved one of the lowest pandemic death rates, strongest economies and highest vaccination rates in the world. Everyone at the Aus

COVID-19 modelling released by the British Columbia government shows the latest wave propelled by the Omicron variant may have already peaked in parts of the province. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says the wave has spread faster than previous ones and health officials believe the top of the latest surge was likely reached this past weekend. The modelling figures show a decrease in infections in two health authorities, Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health, with a levelling off on Vancouver Island and a slight rise in the Interior. The data also show actual infections could be thre