As many as 11,791 confirmed cases of coronavirus have been registered in China and the death toll reached 259 on Saturday, Sputnik reported citing Chinese authorities. On the other hand, 243 people have been discharged from hospitals. The virus originated in China's Wuhan city in December and has since then spread to various cities around the world. China has imposed quarantine and travel restrictions, affecting the movement of 56 million people in more than a dozen cities, amid fears that the transmission rate will accelerate as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel for the Lunar New Year.

Mayors in British Columbia's Lower Mainland have reached an agreement on an interim business licence for ride-hailing companies that want to operate in the region. Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum, who has previously resisted the idea, threw his support behind the interim licence, saying it takes a major step forward in addressing the ``unfair advantage'' ride-hailing companies have over taxi businesses. The mayors' council on regional transportation, made up of 23 mayors, endorsed the proposed bylaw covering Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and Squamish-Lillooet on Thursday, with the details rel

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government is going through a ``deliberate process'' to airlift nearly 200 Canadians out of the epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak in China. While other countries continue to get their citizens home.Speaking to reporters in Montreal, Trudeau said his government is doing what it has to do to ensure the risk to Canadians at home remains low.

The proposed ride-hailing Inter-Municipal Business Licence (IMBL) that is supported by virtually all of Mayors’ Council takes a major step forward in addressing the unfair advantage that ride-hailing companies currently have over taxi companies. The following was approved almost unanimously by the Mayors’ Council: Endorse the principles and framework for establishing and administering an interim Inter-Municipal Business Licence (IMBL); Urge municipalities within Region 1 to adopt the associated interim IMBL bylaw as quickly as possible; Urge municipalities within Region 1 to harmonize

The head of Ukraine International Airlines is thanking Canada for its part in investigating the crash of one of its planes outside Tehran in early January. In a long statement on the airline's website today, Yevhenii Dykhne also says the company expects the formalities for compensation to families of the 176 people killed will be "finalized in the immediate future." Iran admits an air-defence battery shot the plane down, hours after Iran launched missiles into Iraq in retaliation for the American killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani. The Iranian government says the operators of a missi

BC's provincial health officer says this province and the country are entering a critical phase in the global effort to halt the spread of a new type of coronavirus. At a news conference in Vancouver this morning, Henry says anyone who visited China and departed before that country imposed recent travel restrictions may be incubating the flu-like virus, and could begin showing symptoms now. She says testing is underway in BC to identify anyone who may be at risk of developing the illness, and 114 people have been checked so far, with testing expected to continue for at least another week.

Ontario health officials say the province now has a third confirmed case of the novel coronavirus, bringing Canada's total number of cases to four. Ontario's chief medical officer of health says the latest case is a woman in her 20s in London, Ont., who travelled to the affected area in China. Dr. David Williams says initial testing in Ontario showed the woman was negative for the virus, but tests at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg came back as ``weakly'' positive. Officials say the woman had no symptoms when she returned to Canada, only left her home to go to hospital, and s

Human trafficking related charges have been laid against four British Columbia residents following arrests in Saskatchewan.The four adults were taken into custody after an off-duty RCMP officer reported three vehicles, apparently in convoy, racing at more than 150 km/h on the Trans-Canada Highway toward Swift Current.Mounties pulled over the vehicles and while questioning a 36-year-old woman and 23-year-old man from Victoria and 19-year-old twins from Nanaimo, officers discovered two young women travelling with them.Neither teen carried identification and Swift Current RCMP say there were ind

Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne has spoken to his Chinese counterpart about the coronavirus outbreak, a day after the World Health Organization called it a global health emergency.A statement from Champagne's office today says he and China's Wang Yi also discussed the situation of the two Canadians imprisoned in China without access to lawyers or family members for more than a year.Canada is seeking Chinese approval to send a plane to the Chinese city of Wuhan to collect the 196 Canadians who have asked for help to leave. Champagne says Wang responded positively to that re