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Jacob Hoggard has begun serving prison sentence after appeal dismissed
Ontario’s top court has upheld the sexual assault conviction of Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard, the former frontman for the band Hedley.
More imported cases of a new mpox strain will appear in Europe in the coming weeks but the risk of sustained transmission remains low, the head of Europe's disease prevention agency said on Friday.
The agency raised its risk assessment for sporadic cases of mpox cladeI in Europe to moderate on Friday. The risk was high for travellers to affected areas in Africa in close contact with people there, and moderate for their contacts.
The risk for the general population has gone up from very low to low, the agency said.
"There will be more cases in the coming weeks. That's the expectation... But regarding the risk [for the] general European population, we have to say that our assessment is that the risk is very low at the moment," European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control director Pamela Rendi-Wagner said in an interview.
She called for European countries to step up preparedness and raise awareness to prevent further spread.
An outbreak of mpox in Democratic Republic of Congo caused by two different forms of mpox, an endemic form and a new offshoot called clade Ib, has caused global concern after it spread to more countries in Africa.
On Thursday, Sweden became the first country outside Africa to confirm a case of clade Ib. The WHO declared the outbreak a global health emergency on Wednesday.
The European CDC recommended that public health authorities plan and prepare for quick detection of any clade I cases that may reach Europe.
It predicts the impact from this strain of the virus will be low in Europe if proper surveillance and control measures are implemented, using the expertise garnered when another strain of mpox, clade II, spread globally in 2022.
During that emergency, the virus spread mainly among men who had sex with men, and behavior change as well as vaccines helped bring it under control in Europe.
Mpox is a viral infection that causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions, and while usually mild, it can be fatal in rare cases. It spreads through close contact, including sexual contact, and clade Ib appears to spread more easily among people than other forms of the virus, although there are many open questions about its severity and transmissibility, Randi-Wagner said.
Anyone with symptoms and travel history or a contact with travel to affected areas in Africa should immediately contact a doctor, she added.
"Test, test, test, in order to find the suspect cases in Europe as soon as possible and avoid further spreading," she said in recommendations to European public health authorities.
(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Angus MacSwan)
Ontario’s top court has upheld the sexual assault conviction of Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard, the former frontman for the band Hedley.
A small plane with a single pilot crash landed on a golf course near the Calgary International Airport on Friday afternoon.
A portion of Dundas Street West near Kensington Market has been completely closed amid concerns that a two-storey building could collapse, police say.
The federal government says procedural changes planned by the United States to tighten rules for asylum seekers coming from Canada are in line with the Safe Third Country Agreement.
Tiny air pollutants have been clearly linked to premature deaths, but there's at least one way to protect yourself, according to the lead researcher of a new study.
A boy accused of fatally stabbing a girl inside a Scarborough apartment last fall when they were both 12 years old has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, his lawyer confirms.
About 150,000 homes are under a boil-water advisory and multiple roads are closed after a massive water main break in Montreal's Ville-Marie borough sent water spewing several metres into the air, flooding streets and basements.
London, Ont.'s Tessa Virtue has welcomed her first child with husband and Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman, Morgan Rielly.
Jack Russell, the lead singer of the bluesy '80s metal band Great White whose hits included 'Once Bitten Twice Shy' and 'Rock Me' and was fronting his band the night 100 people died in a 2003 nightclub fire in Rhode Island, has died. He was 63.
A Regina man has been using his love of carving and games to create a unique treasure hunt in Wascana Park.
A volunteer firefighter and director of public security for the town of Harrington, northwest of Montreal, made a dramatic rescue of a couple trapped on a flooded roadway during heavy rain.
The Toronto District School Board this week revealed the three graduating Grade 12 students who scored the top averages across all public high schools in the city for the 2023-2024 academic year.
A Nova Scotia resident has been given an award for his selfless actions during a tragedy earlier this year on the other side of the country.
An Ottawa woman has been reunited with her dog after he was stolen nearly a year ago.
Hollywood legend Mark Hamill stopped by a Winnipeg recording studio to do some voice acting work while in the city.
Nathalie Meijer will never forget that night she was leaving a boring college party and happened to meet Juan Lucio, who was doing the same.
The town of Moosomin in eastern Saskatchewan plans to double its population by offering $30,000 cheques to those building a home in the community.
After posting about a recent trip to Jasper, Alta., actor Bryan Cranston heaped more praise on some of Alberta’s other majestic mountain destinations.