In response to concerns about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of British Columbians, the BC Coroners Service has released preliminary data confirming there has been no increase in the number of lives lost to suicide sincethe pandemic was declared last year. From April 2020 to February 2021, there were 534 confirmed deaths by suicide in the province, 12% fewer than reported between April 2019 and February 2020. A total of 609 deaths by suicide were reported in the 2020 calendar year, an average of approximately 51 per month. That figure is consistent with the number rec

Canada's chief public health officer says COVID-19 disease activity continues to decline but there are areas of the country experiencing very high infection rates. Dr. Theresa Tam says over the past seven days, an average of 5,700 cases were reported daily and 3,600 people were treated in hospital each day, including over 1,300 in intensive care. She says there were an average of 43 deaths reported daily. But nevertheless, she says Canada is making steady progress with a 25 per cent decrease in reported active cases since the peak of the third wave in April. Canada crosses grim milestone on 2

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada is receiving 4.5 million vaccine doses this week, including a shipment from Pfizer-BioNTech that has been moved up ahead of the holiday weekend. He says it is the largest weekly shipment to date, and it will help keep Canada within the top of the G20 on daily vaccinations, where he says it has been for over two weeks. Trudeau also says Canada will receive 9 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in July. That means that between now and at least the end of July, Canada will continue to get over two million Pfizer doses a week. Prime Minister Just

A former British Columbia government cabinet minister who left politics almost a decade ago to work in the private sector says he's entering the Liberal party's leadership contest.Kevin Falcon announced his leadership bid Monday, saying he wants to rebuild, renew and rename B.C.'s Liberal Party, which has lost its way since the 2017 election.Falcon is the third candidate to enter the Feb. 5, 2022 leadership race, joining Ellis Ross, the Liberal member of the legislature for Skeena, and Gavin Dew, a Vancouver entrepreneur and former Liberal byelection candidate. Liberal transportation critic M

Amid concerns of a third wave of COVID-19 in the country, which according to many heath experts is likely to target children, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said a new COVID variant detected in Singapore is said to be deadly for children and may bring in third wave in the country.In this regard, the Delhi Chief Minister has requested the Central government to immediately suspend air services with Singapore and to work out vaccination options for children on priority.In a tweet today, Kejriwal said, "The new COVID variant in Singapore is being said to be extremely dangerous for

Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with doctors from across the country to take stock of COVID-19. Discussion regarding their learning and suggestions were held to tackle COVID wave. India today reported over 2.81 lakh new cases.

The Liberal government has tapped another military officer to take over Canada's vaccine rollout. Brigadier-General Krista Brodie will step into the role, after the sudden departure of Major-General Dany Fortin because of a military investigation. Brodie is a 30-year veteran of the military with extensive logistics experience, who had been working with Fortin since November. The Liberal government has given little details about why Fortin had been removed. The Canadian Press has confirmed the investigation relates to an allegation of sexual misconduct.

Health officials are reporting 1,360 new cases of COVID-19 over the past three days for an average of 453 each day. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says 14 more people have died, pushing the death toll in BC to 1,648. There are 350 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 132 in intensive care. Dr. Henry says more than 55 per cent of eligible people aged 18 and up have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine and all remaining adults need to book appointments as soon as possible. British Columbia's provincial health officer says those who received the first dose of the Ox

Federal Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole is blasting the Liberal government for not providing Canadians with more information about why the general overseeing Canada's COVID-19 vaccination campaign has been forced to step aside. The Department of National Defence issued a terse three-line statement on Friday evening announcing that Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin was leaving his role because of an unspecified ``military investigation.'' Some experts have since criticized the lack of details around the nature of that investigation given the importance of his position and recent concerns about a lack of