The first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have arrived in British Columbia and will start to be administered on Tuesday. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says the vaccine's arrival is "momentous" news, but warned it doesn't mean it's safe to break physical distancing restrictions. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is being used in the regions covered by the Fraser and Vancouver Coastal health authorities and will be given to workers in long-term care facilities. There were 2,146 new cases of COVID-19 over the last three days, bringing the total number of infections to 42,943 since the pande

President-elect Joe Biden says his Electoral College victory of the same magnitude as President Donald Trump's in 2016 is a signal that the current president should finally accept his own defeat in this year's election. Biden noted during a speech Monday in Wilmington, Delaware, that Trump called his 2016 tally of 306 electoral votes a "landslide." Biden says if that constituted a clear victory then, he wanted to "respectfully suggest" that Trump now accept Biden's victory this year. Trump has refused to concede defeat in the presidential vote, making repeated and unfounded allegations of wid

Quebec and Ontario have administered the country's first COVID-19 vaccinations to a health-care worker from a Toronto nursing home and a Quebec care home resident. Anita Quidangen, a personal support worker at the Rekai Centre, received the first dose at a hospital in Toronto. Her coworker Derek Thompson was also inoculated and he says the shots represent progress for all front-line workers in the province. Just shortly before that Quebec also administered its first Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines to residents of long-term care homes in Montreal and Quebec City. In Quebec City, Gisele Leves

A plan has been released to end the encampment in Vancouver's Strathcona Park as soon as possible. The park board says it's working with the city to find several short-term solutions on temporary indoor spaces while it looks for a longer-term fix. The board says in a statement that once indoor spaces have been found they'll enforce the bylaw prohibiting overnight camping in the park. A statement from the Vancouver Park Board says the city has identified several properties that can be used as temporary indoor spaces to bring people inside. Those properties include the Jericho Hostel as well a

Victoria police are warning business owners after two similar smash-and-grab robberies over the weekend. Police say on Saturday morning someone broke through the glass door of a business and took several hundred dollars from the register. On Sunday, officers received a similar report.Someone smashed the glass door of a business and took the cash register's float. Police say neither incident was captured on video and they're reminding business owners not to leave cash in their registers overnight.

Federal Procurement Minister Anita Anand says the government has hired five Canadian companies to deliver tens of thousands of kilograms of dry ice each week to keep COVID-19 vaccines cold. She says provincial governments will be able to order dry ice on demand to make sure vaccines that have to be kept at low temperatures stay usable. Anand says federal government has also ordered more than 400 freezers of various sizes and temperature capabilities. Canada is still finalizing how many doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine will arrive Federal Procurement Minister Anita Anand says Canada is still

The Public Safety Ministry is warning about the risk of holiday-related fires from festive lights and other items that may be kept close to heat sources. It says the Office of the Fire Commissioner reports 113 Christmas-related fires in BC in the last decade.These fires have caused multiple injuries, four deaths and 14.5 million dollars in damage. Jennifer Rice, the parliamentary secretary for Emergency Preparedness, says most of the fires over the holiday season are caused by decorative lights being left on, used improperly or being faulty. She says the fire commissioner also had reports of

RCMP have issued a 2,300 dollar fine to the organizer of a protest in Kelowna against COVID-19 restrictions. Police say the march through the city's downtown drew several hundred people on Saturday. Mounties are not releasing the name of the self-identified protest leader at this time. Police say officers attended the event to maintain the peace and help prevent any confrontations between demonstrators and others when the fine was issued.

Provincial health officer Doctor Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix are expected to provide more details today about the limited availability of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine starting this week. Dr. Henry has said staff at long-term care facilities and front-line health-care workers in hospitals are first in line for the vaccine at two locations, one in the Vancouver Coastal Health region and the other in Fraser Health. The Public Health Agency of Canada said some of the 30,000 initial doses of the vaccine were expected to touch down last night at 14 distribution centres in all 10 prov