B C reports low COVID-19 transmissions in schools as Kenney defends not prioritizing teachers for vaccines theglobeandmail.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theglobeandmail.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
For example, 846,000 doses that were due to arrive in Canada between March 22 and 28 were fully delivered only on April 2. And the shipment that was supposed to arrive last week got here on Tuesday. Officials have already said a delivery of 1.2 million doses set for the week of April 19 has been shifted to the next week.
The Globe and Mail first asked Moderna for an explanation of the delays on Saturday. As of Wednesday, no statement was provided.
Procurement Minister Anita Anand told a House of Commons committee the company is blaming a backlog in its quality-control processes that started last month, and it is not related to restrictions on vaccine exports the European Union imposed.
Kahlon, however, noted that restaurants (and other businesses) that have had their licences revoked due to non-compliance of COVID rules – including the latest circuit-breaker closure of dine-in operations province-wide – will not be eligible for the grant. “We are not going to be supporting bad behaviour,” Kahlon said. “Certainly, a number of them [who had licences revoked due to COVID violations] have been prominent in the news, and this grant will not be available to them.” The circuit breaker was introduced on March 31 due to B.C. experiencing a new spike in COVID-19 infection numbers, with daily new cases reaching its highest point during the pandemic and recording multiple days of 1,000-plus newly reported cases. The spike coincides with fears that new variants of the COVID virus may be taking hold in the province.
B C launches $50m circuit-breaker business relief grant princegeorgecitizen.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from princegeorgecitizen.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
JENNIFER GAUTHIER/Reuters
British Columbia will stop screening all positive COVID-19 tests for variants of concern, with medical experts saying the practice becomes less meaningful as variants drive case counts during the third wave of the pandemic, and one of them is poised to become the dominant source of infections in the province.
B.C. is now developing a strategy that will limit screening for variants largely to surveillance testing, which involves a sampling of the population, and will focus on health measures to prevent deaths and serious illness. It is expected to be implemented in coming weeks.
Mel Krajden, medical director of the BC Centre for Disease Control Public Health Laboratory, said it is unrealistic to stop the virus from spreading without “draconian” restrictions, and that efforts should instead be focused on protecting the population from their most serious harms.