Fraser Health, BC Children’s Hospital, and the Surrey School District are working together to provide schools in Surrey with take-home COVID-19 Mouth Rinse/Gargle Sample Collection kits. This initiative will help ensure students who become symptomatic while at school have quick access to COVID-19 testing, while preventing COVID-19 transmission in the school environment. Beginning today, COVID-19 Mouth Rinse/Gargle Sample Collection kits will be available in all elementary and secondary schools in the Surrey School District. Each school has been provided twelve kits that will be utilized exc

Victoria police say they are investigating a suspected hate-motivated assault after a man was arrested for allegedly spitting at an Asian woman and her four children near an elementary school. Police say the incident happened Tuesday afternoon, with an off-duty officer intervening. The suspect was arrested shortly afterwards. Victoria police say although hate crimes directed toward Asian people have risen across much of the country, Esquimalt and Victoria have not seen a similar increase. Victoria police on Twitter: A man has been arrested & is facing recommended charges of assault &

A man out for a walk with his dogs has survived an attack by a grizzly bear on his property in British Columbia's southern interior. Conservation officer Tanner Beck says one of the two dogs ran into the bush and likely provoked the bear that lunged at the man in the community of Malakwa yesterday. Beck says the man ended up on the ground and kicked at the bear before being bitten twice. He says one of the dogs stepped in, allowing the man to escape and drive himself to hospital where he was stitched up and released. BC CO Service on Twitter: Grizzly Bear Attack | A man and his two dogs are n

Canada achieved a new milestone in its vaccination program Wednesday, surpassing the vaccination rate in the United States for the first time. The Our World in Data project that tracks vaccinations given around the world, says on May 5, the United States injected doses at a rate of 6.4 doses for every 1,000 people. Canada injected 6.6 doses for every 1,000 people. Canada has been inching closer to the U.S.'s rate for weeks now, as supplies of vaccines shipped into Canada increased in April, and the United States has been slowing, after getting at least one dose to 44 per cent of Americans, an

Under order by the Supreme Court, India's government has agreed to provide more medical oxygen to hospitals in the capital, potentially easing a 2-week-old shortage that worsened the country's exploding coronavirus crisis.Officials also denied reports that they have been slow in distributing life-saving supplies donated from abroad.The Supreme Court intervened in the supply of oxygen in New Delhi after 12 COVID-19 patients, including a senior doctor, died at a hospital when it ran out of oxygen for 80 minutes last week.On Thursday, the number of new confirmed coronavirus cases breached 400,00

Senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi will hold a meeting with the party's Members of Parliament in the Lok Sabha on Friday to discuss the prevailing COVID-19 situation in the country.The meeting will be held via video conference in the national capital with Lok Sabha MPs of the party at 11 am.Earlier, the interim Congress president had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging the new COVID-19 vaccination policy was not only 'discriminatory but also a complete abandonment of the youth' and urged the government to reverse the ill-considered decision."It is surprising that despite

Four people from a restaurant-cum-bar in Delhi's Lodhi Colony have been arrested in connection with black marketing of oxygen concentrators. Police recovered 419 oxygen concentrators, which were sold for over Rs 70,000. A case has been registered in the matter.

British Columbia youths aged 12 to 17 years old could soon be getting COVID-19 vaccines, and possibly before the end of the school year. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says they're looking at ways to immunize young people with their first dose by the end of June now that Health Canada has approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for those 12 and older. She says the province is looking at best ways to provide the vaccine to young people, including the option of running clinics in schools. Dr. Henry says she understands some people have concerns about vaccine risks, especially for those

As part of the British Columbia provincial ban on non-essential travel, the BC RCMP will be establishing COVID-19 Travel Restriction Road Checks at select locations starting on Thursday, May 6, 2021.The checks are part of the provincial enforcement actions that are meant to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 throughout the province by limiting travel between three regions: Lower Mainland/ Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island, and Norther/Interior.COVID-19 Travel Restrictions Road Checks will be located at:Highway 1 in the Boston Bar areaHighway 3 in the Manning Park areaHighway 5 in the Old Toll Bo