BC's largest lab service provider is the latest to face staffing shortages as a result of the rapidly spreading Omicron variant of COVID-19. LifeLabs says it has been forced to close 11 of its 129 locations, and five will operate with reduced hours. It says employees from the closed sites will be redeployed to nearby locations. The company says it will be monitoring the situation and will provide an update in two weeks. BC is reporting two-thousand-859 new cases of COVID-19 and six new deaths for a total of two-thousand-455. It says 500 people are currently in hospital and 102 of those are in

B.C. is reporting 2,859 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 288,939 cases in the province.Note: The numbers of total and new cases are provisional due to a delayed data refresh and will be verified once confirmed.There are currently 36,641 active cases of COVID-19 in the province and 246,693 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 500 individuals are currently in hospital and 102 are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.The new/active cases include:982 new cases in Fraser HealthTotal active cases: 16,524697 new cases in Vanc

The City of Merritt says 266 properties remain under an evacuation order out of the 808 that were impacted by widespread flooding in November. Emergency Operations Centre information officer Jean Strong says there are also people who can't return home even though they're no longer under an evacuation order because their properties need repairs. Strong says a housing-needs assessment has identified two categories of affected residents, those who can rebuild and those who have been permanently displaced. She says she expects most people will be back home within six months but in the interim, th

Two brothers, who were separated during the India-Pakistan Partition in 1947 were reunited after 74 years in Kartarpur, local media reported on Wednesday. A video capturing the visibly emotional reunion of the siblings on Tuesday has been widely circulated on social media.The News International reported that Siddique, a resident of Pakistan's Faisalabad, met with elder brother Habib who arrived at Kartarpur from the Phullanwal area of Punjab in India via the Kartarpur Corridor that connects Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan to the border with India.Siqqique was an infant during the time of the

Jobs and Economic Recovery Minister Ravi Kahlon says the latest BC program aimed at helping businesses affected by BC's pandemic restrictions is up and running. Kahlon says the COVID-19 Closure Relief Grant has been fast-tracked and is ready to accept applications from businesses ordered to temporarily close due to newly announced public-health measures. Businesses that were ordered to fully close as of December 22nd, including certain bars, nightclubs and lounges, gyms, fitness and adult dance centres as well as some event venues, can apply for relief grants of one-thousand to ten-thousand d

A 62 year old man has been identified as the person found shot to death in a Surrey home on Sunday night. The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says Brian Chapman is known to them but has had no police history since 2020. Despite that, detectives say the shooting was not random, although they don't believe it is linked to Metro Vancouver's ongoing gang conflict. No arrests have been made and police say the homicide likely happened early Sunday but wasn't discovered for nearly 12 hours.

Vancouver Police are investigating a concerning incident in East Vancouver this past weekend and are looking for anyone with information to come forward.Two women were standing at a bus stop near Commercial Drive and Graveley Street at around 2:30 a.m. on Saturday, January 8, when two men in a black truck pulled up beside them and began cat-calling. The truck circled around and drove by the women a number of times.The passenger then exited the truck and started chasing the women, who ran to a place of safety and called police. The suspects drove off and have not been located."We know there was

Vancouver police say the BC Prosecution Service has approved a charge against a 39 year old man accused of defacing the monument marking BC's Komagata Maru incident. The waterfront monument includes the names of nearly 400 people who sailed to Vancouver aboard the Komagata Maru in 1914, but were denied entry to Canada due to racist policies of the day and were eventually forced to return to India. Someone defaced the monument and smeared paint on it last summer in what police initially described as a hate crime, and the VPD says a four-month investigation has identified a suspect. A BC wide w

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he needs to see more details before taking a stance on Quebec's plan to levy a financial penalty against people who are not vaccinated against COVID-19. Trudeau told reporters today in Ottawa he wants to see how the Quebec proposal balances people's rights with the state's goal of protecting them from the disease. Quebec Premier Francois Legault said Tuesday he planned to make the unvaccinated pay a ``significant'' financial penalty. Legault said people who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 occupy a disproportionate number of hospital beds and should be re