Transport Canada is halting all direct passenger air traffic from India and Pakistan for 30-days, starting at 11:30 tonight. Transport Minister Omar Alghabra says cargo flights will be allowed to ensure the continued supply of vaccines and PPE. Alghabra says passengers who depart from the two countries via an indirect route will need obtain a negative COVID-19 test at their last point of departure. The announcement comes just after MPs voted in favour of Canada suspending international flights from countries where COVID-19 outbreaks are raging.

The BC Centre for Disease Control and its public health lab are reviewing the genetic sequencing of what they are now calling a ``variant of interest'' that has made its way to this province. A statement from the Ministry of Health says 39 COVID-19 cases involving the B.1.617 variant first identified in India were found in B-C by April 4th, but the strain was not then considered a variant of concern or a variant under investigation. The statement says the ministry should be able to provide an update by later this week on the number and severity of cases linked to the latest variant. Quebec id

The man in charge of Canada's COVID-19 vaccine rollout is warning there will be more delays in the delivery of the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot before June. Major-General Dany Fortin says escalating case numbers in India mean shipments of the vaccine from that country are temporarily on hold. India is reporting a global record daily tally of more than 314-thousand new infections. Deputy Chief Public Health Minister Dr. Howard Njoo says Canada will be making adjustments at the border for incoming flights ``very soon.'' Njoo says the prime minister and the government are looking at COVID-19 data an

The Journal de Montreal newspaper is being criticized for running a photo from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's 2018 trip to India on its front page today to accompany a COVID-19 story. Trudeau is wearing traditional Indian clothes and holding his hands together in prayer beside a caption that reads, ``The Indian variant has arrived.'' The cover refers to Quebec's first case of a novel coronavirus variant that emerged in India, and it asks ``Justin'' whether ties with India will be cut quickly. Benoit Charette, the provincial minister responsible for fighting racism, said today on Twitter he f

More than 10 million Canadians have now received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. The milestone was passed this morning. There are, however, still fewer than one million people who have received both required doses of vaccine. Second doses are being delayed up to four months so more people can get their first dose earlier. Canada is vaccinating people more than twice as fast as it was a month ago, but the number of doses given each day slowed this week due to supply issues. In total more than 10.8 million vaccines have been administered throughout Canada.

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole says the federal government needs to immediately stop admitting flights from COVID-19 "hot spot" countries like India and Brazil. He says the move would buy time to figure out a better plan for stopping variants of concern from getting into Canada. O'Toole doesn't have specifics for what he thinks should happen to beef up border protections beyond not allowing flights to land from certain countries. Health Canada says about one per cent of arriving passengers are testing positive but can't say how many have tested positive after 10 days. Bloc Quebecois Leader

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge is expected to deliver her decision today over whether a man who stabbed two high school students is not criminally responsible because he had a mental disorder. Gabriel Klein was convicted last year for the murder of 13-year-old Letisha Reimer and the aggravated assault of her friend in the rotunda of Abbotsford Senior Secondary in 2016.Klein, who has schizophrenia, applied for a hearing over criminal responsibility as sentencing was set to begin in September and he later testified that he believed he was stabbing a witch and a monster.His lawyer has ar

Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on Thursday said that the return of the farmers to the home will not happen until the three agriculture laws are withdrawn. He reiterated that protest sites were now farmers' homes.While replying to the allegations that the coronavirus is increasing due to being in the group of farmers, Tikait said, "Farmers are at their home. Where else will we ask them to go? Is Corona spreading from here? We have been living here for the last five months, it's our home now."Tikait also said that many farmers are struggling to get the second dose of the COVID

Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rahesh Tikait on April 22 at Ghazipur border said that many farmers are struggling to get the second dose of COVID vaccine. "Farmers are at their home. Where else will we ask them to go? Is COVID spreading from here? We have been living here for last 5 months, it's our home now. Many farmers took vaccine but are struggling to get the 2nd dose. We have told officers to set up camp here," said BKU leader. Farmers have been agitating against farm laws at Delhi's border from past 5 months.