British Columbia's top doctor says 47 cases of COVID-19 variants have been identified in the province, including one believed to be linked to Nigeria. Dr. Bonnie Henry says 29 cases are related to a variant first identified in the United Kingdom, 17 are associated with South Africa and the latest one involves a person who travelled to Nigeria and returned to the Interior Health region. Dr. Henry says lab teams in B.C. are working with their counterparts across Canada and internationally to get a better understanding of whether the Nigerian variant that has been identified elsewhere is also ea

Strict new quarantine and testing measures for travellers arriving in Canada will begin Feb. 22. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the new measures are necessary to protect Canadians and help stop the spread of COVID-19, especially new variants. The government had previously announced incoming travellers will have to pay the cost of a 72-hour hotel stay and a COVID-19 test. More details of how that will work and who will be covered will come later today. Trudeau says there will be exceptions for some essential workers but says no one should be travelling for any non-essential reason right no

Homicide detectives confirm they are responding to a deadly attack in a residential area of southeast Burnaby, B.C. The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says in a social media post that a man was fatally shot just after 10 p.m. Thursday. No other details have been released and police have not said if the case is considered targeted. The shooting occurred near the same Burnaby park where 32-year-old Chris Kenworthy was found dead from gunshot wounds on Feb. 3. Kenworthy's slaying was one of two that occurred within 12 hours in Metro Vancouver, and investigators have said both those attac

British Columbia's top doctor and health minister say the overdose crisis is as important as the COVID-19 pandemic the province has been dealing with for over a year. Dr. Bonnie Henry and Adrian Dix say there's no vaccine to help end the deaths associated with toxic opioids that contributed to a record 1,713 fatalities in 2020. They say in a joint statement that another 1,278 people have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began last year. Nine more deaths have been recorded in the province and 449 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 72,305 cases. Dr. Henry and Dix say nearly 160,000 dose

RCMP say a south Okanagan man in his 40s and his dog died in yesterday's crash on the Coquihalla Highway just outside Hope that closed the route for 12 hours. Corporal Mike Halskov says the chain-reaction collision began when a semi-trailer stopped in the northbound lanes of Highway 5 in the S-curves and was hit from behind as the unnamed victim lost control of his pickup truck on the icy road. Halskov says about 50 people in at least two dozen vehicles, one of them a bus, were involved in the pileup and five people suffered significant injuries but only one person with broken bones remains i

Bombardier Inc. said Thursday it will reduce its overall workforce by about 1,600 jobs as it moves to cut costs.The company said it is making the cuts as it consolidates its Global aircraft completion work in Montreal and reviews options for underutilized hangar and industrial space at its Quebec facilities.``Workforce reductions are always very difficult, and we regret seeing talented and dedicated employees leave the company for any reason,'' Bombardier chief executive Eric Martel said in a statement.``But these reductions are absolutely necessary for us to rebuild our company while we cont

There's another 469 new cases of COVID-19 in BC. A joint statement from provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix says 230 people are hospital, 66 of those are in intensive care. There have been six more deaths for a total of 1,269 fatalities since the pandemic began. Dix and Dr. Henry are asking people to stay home this Family Day long weekend in an effort to stop the spread of the virus. To date, 157,797 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in B.C., 14,316 of which are second doses. There are 4,305 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. One new

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi says his country "will do its best" to help Canada get COVID-19 vaccines but stopped short of making any specific guarantee that India would ship doses to Canada.Canada is also not among 25 countries cleared by the Indian government to receive exported doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine this month, though federal officials indicated last week Canada's shipments weren't expected to start arriving until at least April.The Serum Institute of India has a contract with AstraZeneca to make at least one billion vaccine doses, and Health Canada is currently reviewing th

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government will provide nearly $15 billion for public-transit projects across the country — though most of the money won't arrive until later in the decade.Trudeau says the promised $14.9 billion in new public-transit funding will be spread over eight years, though most of the money won't start flowing until 2026.The government says the new funds will provide cities with predictable funding to plan for their long-term needs while helping Canadians move around easier and fight climate change.Trudeau announced the new funding during a teleconfere