The government now advises against all non-essential international travel in the face of the rapidly spreading Omicron variant of COVID-19. Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos made the announcement Wednesday, following a Tuesday evening meeting between premiers and the prime minister. The health minister says the highly transmissible variant is now spreading in Canadian communities, and just about anywhere else in the world. Ottawa agreed to send shipments of booster doses and rapid tests to provinces and territories to quickly ramp up vaccination campaigns to combat the virus at home. Minister

Ontario and Quebec are reporting a jump in COVID-19 infections as the rapidly spreading Omicron variant of concern prompts varied public health responses across Canada. There are 1,808 new cases of COVID-19 in Ontario and 2,386 in Quebec. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announced an expansion to COVID-19 booster shot coverage and rapid testing, while also loosening gathering restrictions. Private indoor gatherings are still limited to 10 people but can now include more than two different households regardless of whether people are vaccinated or not. Rapid test kits are to be made available to al

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says people will have to be careful as they finalize their Christmas plans this year, now that the highly transmissible Omicron variant is spreading through Canada.The warning comes the morning after Trudeau met with his provincial and territorial counterparts to discuss potential measures to dampen the impact of the new variant. On the table were several options to limit international travel.When the threat of Omicron emerged late last month the government issued a travel advisory, urging Canadians to be aware that travel to an area with Omicron could hamper thei

B.C. is reporting 519 new cases of COVID-19, including eight epi-linked cases, for a total of 223,661 cases in the province.There are 3,171 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and 218,001 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 191 individuals are in hospital and 81 are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.In the past 24 hours, no new deaths have been reported, for an overall total of 2,386.There have been 44 cases of the Omicron variant of concern identified in B.C.:Fraser Health: 24Vancouver Coastal Health: 11Interior

British Columbia has detected 44 cases of the fast-spreading COVID-19 variant Omicron, with more than half of the cases identified in the Fraser Health region. The cases are included in new infection modelling released today that also shows overall COVID-19 cases rising on Vancouver Island, driven by outbreaks at the University of Victoria and a religious gathering in the northern part of the island. Data from November and December across B.C. show that unvaccinated people are seven times more likely than those with two doses of a vaccine to contract COVID-19. The unvaccinated are also 30 tim

Today marks one year since the first COVID-19 vaccine arrived in BC. Premier John Horgan says since then the province began the largest immunization program in its history and most people have stepped up and done their part. The government reports 91.5 per cent of eligible people 12 and older have received their first dose, 88.5 per cent have received their second shot and more than 5,89,000 people have received a booster dose. The BC Centre for Disease Control says residents who have not been vaccinated are 56 times more likely to end up in critical care due to COVID-19 than people who have

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland released a fall economic statement today that outlined a better-than-expected economic rebound, but also billions more in spending, including on the response to the Omicron variant of COVID-19. Here are some other measures outlined in the fiscal update: Immigration backlogs - The federal government plans to put $85 million into plowing through massive backlogs in processing immigration applications starting in fiscal 2022-23. The government acknowledged the pandemic dramatically slowed down the pace of processing immigration applications, and many resources

Fraser Health has opened a new overdose prevention site at Peace Arch Hospital in White Rock. The health authority says the site will provide people with a safe environment monitored by trained medical staff to consume their own substances. It says it will also provide people with overdose prevention education, take-home naloxone training and facilitate referrals to health and substance use services. It is the first overdose prevention site in White Rock and the sixth in Fraser Health.

The Canadian Press News Story of the Year is the discovery of unmarked graves at a former residential school in British Columbia's Interior.It came ahead of Canada's COVID-19 vaccine rollout and stories about climate change and severe weather in B-C in the annual survey of editors at media outlets across the country.The story broke in May when the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc Nation in Kamloops announced ground-penetrating radar found what were believed to be the remains of up to 215 children.