British Columbia's provincial health officer says she expects the province to catch up to Ontario in the proportion of variant COVID-19 cases that were first identified in the United Kingdom. Dr. Bonnie Henry says about a third of BC's cases are from that variant while the strain represents about 60 per cent of Ontario's new cases. But she expects BC to match that figure in about a month. Dr. Henry says the variants are worrying but of the three thousand, seven hundred and sixty six variant cases, only 266 are active. That represents about three per cent of all the active COVID-19 cases in BC

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says this is an especially difficult day for a lot of people as we mark three years since the terrible bus crash involving the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team. Trudeau says we remember 16 people who were taken much too soon. A virtual tribute is planned for today to mark the third anniversary of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash. Sixteen people died and 13 were injured when a semi-trailer ran a stop sign and into the path of the junior hockey team's bus near Tisdale, Sask., on April 6, 2018. The service from St. Augustine Catholic Church is to be livestreamed on

British Columbia is shifting into its next phase in the vaccine rollout, allowing people to book their appointments online. The provincial government wants people to register first to get a confirmation code, then book an appointment for a shot when they are contacted by email, text or phone.Starting today, people born in 1950 or earlier, Indigenous people 18 and older, and those who have certain medical conditions can book their appointments through the online portal.Those aged 55 to 65 and living in the Lower Mainland also have the option of booking at pharmacies to get an Oxford-AstraZenec

There have been more than four-thousand COVID-19 cases and 23 people have died over the last four days in British Columbia. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix also say there are three thousand 599 cases involving COVID-19 variants and almost 600 of those are still active. There are 318 people in hospital and the number of those in intensive care has grown to 95. More than 893 thousand doses of all three brands of the COVID-19 vaccine have been distributed. Starting tomorrow, people born in 1950 or earlier, those with certain medical conditions, and Indig

Health officials are urging British Columbia residents not to travel outside their community as the province set back-to-back records for the number of new COVID-19 cases recorded in a single day. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix say in a joint statement Saturday that B.C. had 1,072 infections in the last 24 hours, surpassing the previous highest daily total of 1,018 cases a day earlier. Henry and Dix say an easy-to-use provincial booking system for vaccinations is expected to be available starting next week as B.C. runs two parallel streams to ramp up

A train has barrelled into an unmanned truck that rolled onto the track in Taiwan. The National Fire Service said at least 51 people were killed and dozens injured in the island's deadliest rail disaster. Many passengers were crushed, while some survivors were forced to climb out of windows and walk along the train's roof to safety. The government's disaster relief centre said the truck's emergency brake was not properly engaged and the vehicle slid down a hillside. A Railways Administration official said the train's lead car then crashed into the truck. The crash occurred Friday, the first d

British Columbia is introducing new training requirements for commercial truck drivers that the government says will make highways safer.B.C. is the latest province to require mandatory entry-level training (MELT) for commercial drivers, requiring 140 hours of training.It says in a news release the mandatory entry-level training for new Class-1 commercial licence applicants exceeds national requirements.The training for applicants will be required before road tests, beginning October 18th and list of approved training providers will be released by mid-June, the province announced.Lawrence and

British Columbia has set a new record for daily COVID-19 cases and breached the 100,000 mark for total infections both on the same day. Health officials say in a statement that one thousand and 13 cases were confirmed, bringing the total since the pandemic began to 100,048. There are 7,405 active cases, while 304 of those are in hospital, including 80 in intensive care. Three more people have died, bringing the death toll to 1,458. Officials say a delay in sequencing analysis means new cases involving variants of concern identified in the last 24 hours are unavailable. More than 756,000 vacci

Pfizer Canada says it will be asking Health Canada to amend the authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine to extend to children between 12 and 15 years old. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has already been approved for people as young as 16. The initial clinical trials didn't include younger adolescents, but a follow-up trial in 2,260 kids 12 to 15 in the U.S. has been running since the fall. The company released preliminary data from that trial Wednesday, saying none of the kids who got the vaccine developed a COVID-19 infection, compared to 18 infections among the kids who were given a placebo. Ex