The National Advisory Committee on Immunization says the Johnson & Johnson vaccine should be limited to people over the age of 30 who don't want to wait for Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna. The advice is almost identical to that issued for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine last month and comes as both are suspected of causing a new and very rare blood clotting syndrome. In Canada there have been seven known cases of vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia, or VITT, one of them fatal. As of April 24, 1.7 million people in Canada have been given at least one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. No

IHIT is investigating a homicide of a 19-year-old man who died of a gunshot wound in Surrey. On April 30, 2021 just after 1:30 p.m., a 19-year-old man arrived in a Surrey hospital with a gunshot wound and subsequently died of his injuries. This is believed to be an isolated incident with no further risk to the public. It does not appear to be related to any of the other recent acts of violence. No arrests have been made in connection with this case as of yet. IHIT on Twitter: IHIT is investigating a homicide of a 19yo man who died of a gunshot wound in Surrey. On April 30, the man arrived in S

The Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Training says it has temporarily shut down two British Columbia websites after both appear to have been compromised. The home pages of StudentAidBC and LearnLiveBC were altered Sunday and replaced with a statement allegedly from a hacker group. The affected sites offer application assistance or details about scholarships, grants, bursaries, loans and other financial programs for post-secondary students. A statement from the ministry says it has been alerted to the problem and is investigating, along with the Office of the Chief Information Officer

As of last week, more than 2,200 Canadians were diagnosed with COVID-19 at least two weeks after getting their first vaccination. The Public Health Agency of Canada says vaccinated individuals make up about 1.3 per cent of infections since vaccinations began in December. It says the percentage of breakthrough cases is small, and so far, there isn't enough data to understand the reasons behind the infections. It isn't clear if these cases involve one approved vaccine more than another. The National Advisory Committee on Immunization will hold a news conference later today to issue guidance on

One of the largest and most popular summer celebrations in Vancouver has been cancelled for the second year in a row. The Vancouver Fireworks Festival society says the three-day Honda Celebration of Light fireworks event has been called off for 2021, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In a statement, the society says the festival will be back in 2022, with dates already set for July 23, 27 and 30. In years past, roughly 400,000 people crowded the shores of Vancouver's English Bay each night of the festival to watch the fireworks. The event was also cancelled last year, which would have bee

RCMP say a suspect is in custody following a shooting yesterday in Burnaby that seriously injured a 25 year old woman. Police say the 43 year old man was arrested hours after the incident and at a residence in Burnaby. They say they believe the shooting was targeted and isolated, and they have no evidence linking it to the Lower Mainland gang conflict. Police also say the woman is now in stable condition and her injuries are no longer believed to be life-threatening. Burnaby RCMP on Twitter: #BurnabyFrontline officers have arrested a 43-year-old Burnaby man in relation to this morning's shoot

A provincial corrections officer has been identified as the victim of a fatal shooting in Delta, B.C.The victim has been identified as Bikramdeep Randhawa, 29, of Surrey, B.C.Delta Police say in a news release they are considering the daylight shooting outside the Scottsdale Centre mall Saturday to be targeted based on behaviour by the suspects, but the motive is not known.They say investigators are looking at all angles, including that it was a case of mistaken identity, that it related to the man's personal life or that it was linked to his occupation.Police say they are in contact with oth

This is a victory for Bengal, said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the Nandigram constituency on Sunday. "I would like to thank everyone. Please adhere to COVID-appropriate behaviour. I request all to not take out victory processions. I urge everyone to go back to their homes now. Our first priority is to control the COVID outbreak. This is the victory of Bengal. Only Bengal can," Mamata told TMC supporters outside her Kalighat residence in Kolkata. She also walked on her feet instead of using a wheelchair that happened to her companion since March after sustaining injuries durin

Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, and Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, have issued a joint statement regarding updates on the COVID-19 response in British Columbia. "Today, we are reporting 740 new cases, for a total of 129,482 cases in British Columbia."There are 7,886 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, with 11,727 people under public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases. "Of the active cases, 511 individuals are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 174 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-