Canada is expected to move ahead of the United States today in at least one of the markers in the race to herd immunity against COVID-19. By the end of the day nearly 49 per cent of all Canadians should have their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, pushing slightly ahead of the U.S. at just over 48 per cent.Canada is set to get one dose to more than half the population before the end of the long weekend, but remains far back of the pack in the full-vaccination race, with fewer than four per cent of Canadians fully immunized.It is a marked turnaround for Canada, which just one month ago remaine

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday launched a COVID Care WhatsApp chatbot for self-care during home isolation, as a part of Mission Fateh.This WhatsApp chatbot will also have information on bed availability, vaccine centres, and more.Available in three languages- English, Punjabi, and Hindi, this chatbot would help Covid patients in home isolation to be monitored by experts, who would advise patients on the course of treatment based on their vital input in the chatbot. Chairing a high-level virtual meeting on the COVID situation of the state, the Chief Minister also revi

The British Columbia government is preparing to vaccinate youth aged 12 to 17 and will roll out its plan shortly. Premier John Horgan is joining Health Minister Adrian Dix and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry for the COVID-19 news conference on Thursday. A joint statement Wednesday says young people can register to receive their vaccine online and details on how they will be vaccinated will come on Thursday. The statement also says anyone who was immunized before April 15, prior to the online system launching, will need to register because while the system has their vaccine informat

A drug-filled dialer-bag pulled from the rectum of a drug trafficker provides Surrey RCMP with an opportunity to educate would-be gang associates of the reality of the gang lifestyle.On May 14, 2021 at 7:30 pm, officers from the Surrey RCMP Community Response Unit conducted a traffic stop with a rental vehicle in the area of 15200-block of 16 Avenue, to investigate an offence under the BC Motor Vehicle Act. During their interaction with the driver, officers observed evidence consistent with drug trafficking. The male driver and his passenger were arrested for possession for the purposes of tra

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are intruding into inflation calculations as Statistics Canada says the cost of living rose to its highest level in nearly a decade in April. Economists blame a record increase in the price of gasoline last month, compared with last April when gas prices plunged due to the pandemic, saying the jump pushed Canada's inflation rate up to 3.4 per cent from its 2.2 per cent setting in March. When compared with last April, gas prices soared 62.5 per cent, but number crunchers say if gas were removed from the equation, the national inflation rate would be 1.9 per

The latest person to be outed by police as a member of a Metro Vancouver-area gang is 22-year-old Naseem Mohammed. Surrey RCMP say Mohammed is a member of the Brother's Keepers gang and is wanted on multiple warrants but police don't know where he is and say he may have entered the United States illegally. In an effort to slow Metro Vancouver's deadly gang conflict, police have begun releasing photos of people they say are gang members who could be targeted by rival gangs putting anyone near them at risk. Vancouver police released six photos on Monday and yesterday the region's integrated gan

Vancouver Police are encouraging construction companies to take extra precautions to prevent crime, following a spike in thefts on the city’s west side. "As lumber prices have continued to rise, VPD has seen a significant increase in break and enters to construction sites this year," says Sergeant Steve Addison, VPD. "In many cases, the thieves have made off with thousands of dollars in plywood and other building materials. We’re encouraging site managers to take precautions to avoid future thefts." The most recent theft was reported May 10 at a construction site in Kerrisdale, when three

Patrol officers arrested a man after he stabbed a loss prevention officer (LPO) at a Victoria mall yesterday evening.Shortly before 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 18th, Patrol officers were called to a mall in the 1600-block of Hillside Avenue for a report that an LPO was in a struggle with a theft suspect. As officers were on their way to the call they learned that the LPO had been stabbed by the suspect while apprehending him for theft. After apprehending the suspect, the LPO recognized the extent of his injuries and applied a makeshift tourniquet on himself.Officers arrived and took custody of the

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have joined in a videoconference to initiate a series of nuclear energy projects, an event intended to display warming ties between two nations that are the chief geopolitical rivals to the United States. Chinese state media showed Xi and Putin greeting each other via video link and announcing the start of construction of Russia-designed reactors at two Chinese nuclear power plants. China has being seeking to reduce its reliance on coal for electricity, but the political aspects of the event were as important as the economic