In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday requested for allocation of an additional 50 metric tonnes (MT) liquid medical oxygen (LMO) to the state, amid the oxygen crisis due to surge in COVID-19.He also sought their immediate intervention for 20 additional tankers (preferably conducive to rail travel) for timely evacuation of LMO from Bokaro.The Chief Minister sent out separate letters to the prime minister and the home minister, as the number of COVID patients on varying levels of oxygen s

The expected arrival of more than one million COVID-19 vaccine doses this month has British Columbia health officials forecasting shorter waits between first and second doses for more people. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says the increasing vaccine shipments could see the estimated 16-week interval between the first and second shots reduced. But Dr. Henry says it's still too early to concretely estimate the possible difference in wait times other than saying all people in B.C. could get their first vaccines before Canada Day. She says B.C. expects to receive 1.1 million doses of

BC is conducting another test of the emergency alert system on your wireless devices to improve public safety in the event of an emergency. The test is this Wednesday at 1:55 pm after last year's test was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. If you want to make sure you'll receive such an alert, your devices need to be on and can't be on do-not-disturb or airplane mode. The alert will also be broadcast on radio and TV. Alert Ready is a Canada-wide system that allows government officials in each province and territory to issue public safety alerts through major television and radio broa

Liberal MLA Mike Bernier says he has tested positive for COVID-19, making him the first elected member of the legislature to report having the virus. Bernier, who represents the riding of Peace River South, posted on social media that he and his family are self-isolating at home after testing positive for COVID-19. Bernier was vaccinated for the illness last Monday but says he's been told he was exposed before then and was not infectious while working at the legislature between April 19th and 22nd. Bernier calls the diagnosis a shock and says he will be spending the next several days with his

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization says the Johnson & Johnson vaccine should be limited to people over the age of 30 who don't want to wait for Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna. The advice is almost identical to that issued for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine last month and comes as both are suspected of causing a new and very rare blood clotting syndrome. In Canada there have been seven known cases of vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia, or VITT, one of them fatal. As of April 24, 1.7 million people in Canada have been given at least one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. No

IHIT is investigating a homicide of a 19-year-old man who died of a gunshot wound in Surrey. On April 30, 2021 just after 1:30 p.m., a 19-year-old man arrived in a Surrey hospital with a gunshot wound and subsequently died of his injuries. This is believed to be an isolated incident with no further risk to the public. It does not appear to be related to any of the other recent acts of violence. No arrests have been made in connection with this case as of yet. IHIT on Twitter: IHIT is investigating a homicide of a 19yo man who died of a gunshot wound in Surrey. On April 30, the man arrived in S

The Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Training says it has temporarily shut down two British Columbia websites after both appear to have been compromised. The home pages of StudentAidBC and LearnLiveBC were altered Sunday and replaced with a statement allegedly from a hacker group. The affected sites offer application assistance or details about scholarships, grants, bursaries, loans and other financial programs for post-secondary students. A statement from the ministry says it has been alerted to the problem and is investigating, along with the Office of the Chief Information Officer

As of last week, more than 2,200 Canadians were diagnosed with COVID-19 at least two weeks after getting their first vaccination. The Public Health Agency of Canada says vaccinated individuals make up about 1.3 per cent of infections since vaccinations began in December. It says the percentage of breakthrough cases is small, and so far, there isn't enough data to understand the reasons behind the infections. It isn't clear if these cases involve one approved vaccine more than another. The National Advisory Committee on Immunization will hold a news conference later today to issue guidance on

One of the largest and most popular summer celebrations in Vancouver has been cancelled for the second year in a row. The Vancouver Fireworks Festival society says the three-day Honda Celebration of Light fireworks event has been called off for 2021, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In a statement, the society says the festival will be back in 2022, with dates already set for July 23, 27 and 30. In years past, roughly 400,000 people crowded the shores of Vancouver's English Bay each night of the festival to watch the fireworks. The event was also cancelled last year, which would have bee