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DEVELOPING Jasper updates: 'Significant loss' within Jasper townsite
One of two wildfires threatening Jasper National Park has reached the townsite.
The head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday that he's worried about the Omicron and Delta variants of COVID-19 producing a "tsunami" of cases between them, but he's still hopeful that the world will put the worst of the pandemic behind it in 2022.
Two years after the coronavirus first emerged, top officials with the U.N. health agency cautioned that it's still too early to be reassured by initial data suggesting that Omicron, the latest variant, leads to milder disease. First reported last month in southern Africa, it is already the dominant variant in the United States and parts of Europe.
And after 92 of the WHO's 194 member countries missed a target to vaccinate 40% of their populations by the end of this year, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged everyone to make a "new year's resolution" to get behind a campaign to vaccinate 70% of countries' populations by the beginning of July.
According to WHO's figures, the number of COVID-19 cases recorded worldwide increased by 11% last week compared with the previous week, with nearly 4.99 million newly reported from Dec. 20-26. New cases in Europe -- which accounted for more than half of the total -- were up 3% while those in the Americas rose 39% and there was a 7% increase in Africa. The global gain followed a gradual increase since October.
"I'm highly concerned that Omicron, being more transmissible (and) circulating at the same time as Delta, is leading to a tsunami of cases," Tedros said at an online news conference. That, he said, will put "immense pressure on exhausted health workers and health systems on the brink of collapse."
WHO said in its weekly epidemiological report that the "overall risk" related to Omicron "remains very high." It cited "consistent evidence" that it has a growth advantage over the Delta variant.
It noted that a decline in case incidence has been seen in South Africa, and that early data from that country, the U.K. and Denmark suggest a reduced risk of hospitalization with Omicron, but said that more data is needed.
WHO's emergencies chief, Dr. Michael Ryan, underlined that note of caution. He said it will be important in coming weeks to "suppress transmission of both variants to the minimum that we can."
Ryan said that Omicron infections began largely among young people, "but what we haven't seen is the Omicron wave fully established in the broader population. And I'm a little nervous to make positive predictions until we see how well the vaccine protection is going to work in those older and more vulnerable populations."
WHO officials didn't offer specific comments on decisions by the U.S. and other countries to reduce self-isolation periods. Ryan said "these are judgement calls that countries make" -- taking into account scientific, economic and other factors. He noted that the average incubation period to date has been around five to six days.
"We need to be careful about changing tactics and strategies immediately on the basis of what we're seeing" about omicron, Ryan said.
Tedros renewed longstanding warnings that "ending health inequity remains the key to ending the pandemic." He said that missing the target of getting 40% of populations vaccinated this year "is not only a moral shame -- it cost lives and provided the virus with opportunities to circulate unchecked and mutate."
Countries largely missed the target because of limited supply to low-income nations for most of the year and then vaccines arriving close to their expiry date, without things such as syringes, he said.
All the same, "I still remain optimistic that this can be the year we can not only end the acute stage of the pandemic, but we also chart a path to stronger health security," Tedros said.
One of two wildfires threatening Jasper National Park has reached the townsite.
Alberta has called in the Canadian Armed Forces to help assist with the worsening wildfire situation in the province.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday delivered a solemn call to voters to defend the country's democracy as he laid out in an Oval Office address his decision to drop his bid for reelection and throw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
Staff at a Barrie child care centre say they are frustrated by what they call a local MPP's inadequate response after a car crashed through a window in one of the toddler rooms.
The North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) intercepted two Russian and two Chinese bombers flying near Alaska Wednesday in what appears to be the first time the two countries have been intercepted while operating together.
An analyst and an assistant coach with Canada Soccer are being removed from the Canadian Olympic Team and 'sent home immediately,' according to the Canadian Olympic Committee.
After a handful of Australian water polo players tested positive for COVID-19 this week, questions have emerged around how the spread of the disease will be mitigated at the Summer Olympic Games in Paris.
A B.C. man who was hired to help a non-profit build a food hub but instead spent the money on personal expenses – including travel, restaurants, booze and cannabis – has been ordered to pay more than $120,000 in damages.
Two people are dead and two others suffered serious injuries following a shooting that police have described as a 'gun battle' outside a plaza in Scarborough, Ont. early Wednesday morning.
A local First Nations elder and veteran is helping to bring the Ojibwe language to a well-known film for the first time.
A cat who fled her Montreal home nearly a decade ago has been reunited with her family after being found in Ottawa.
A woman in Waterloo, Ont. is out thousands of dollars for a car crash she wasn’t involved in.
A swarm of bees living in a lamppost in Winnipeg’s Sage Creek neighbourhood has found a new home for its hive.
Around 100 acres of Manitoba Crown Land near the Saskatchewan border is being returned to the Métis community.
Nova Scotia is suspending the licensed Cape Breton moose hunt for three years due to what the province is calling a “significant drop” in the population.
A well-known childhood prank known as 'nicky nicky nine doors,' or 'ding dong ditch,' has escalated into a more serious game that could lead to charges for some Surrey, B.C. teens.
It's been more than a month since their good friend was seriously hurt in an accident and two teens from Riverview, N.B., are still having a hard time dealing with it.
Halifax bridges have collected thousands of coins from around the world.