Flu numbers dropped again over the last week, according to the latest data from Ottawa Public Health (OPH), and RSV trends did the same. Flu levels remain high and RSV’s are more moderate.
The COVID-19 picture remains generally high and stable.
Meanwhile, both the number of respiratory-related and overall emergency room visits in the city have dropped for three straight weeks.
Comments closedChina’s population dropped by 2 million people in 2023 in the second straight annual drop as births fell and deaths jumped after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, the government said Wednesday.
The number of deaths rose by 690,000 to 11.1 million, more than double last year’s increase. Demographers were expecting a sharp rise in deaths because of COVID-19 outbreaks that started at the end of the previous year and continued through February of last year. The total population stood at 1.4 billion, the statistics bureau said. China, long the most populated country in the world, dropped into second place behind India in 2023, according to U.N. estimates.
Comments closedCOVID-19 and the flu have killed at least 14 New Brunswickers in a week and hospitalized more than 100 people, including five children under four, the latest figures from the Department of Health show.
COVID-19 activity remains “moderate,” according to the Respiratory Watch report. “All indicators remained stable throughout the current reporting period,” Dec. 31 to Jan. 6.
Influenza activity remains “elevated,” it says.
Eight people died from COVID-19, up from six the previous week. They were all aged 65 or older.
Their deaths raise the pandemic death toll to at least 997. Only confirmed cases who die in hospital are counted.
Comments closedThe head of the U.N. health agency said Wednesday holiday gatherings and the spread of the most prominent variant globally led to increased transmission of COVID-19 last month.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said nearly 10,000 deaths were reported in December, while hospital admissions during the month jumped 42% in nearly 50 countries — mostly in Europe and the Americas — that shared such trend information.
Comments closedCOVID-19 has killed 17 more New Brunswickers, including six over the holidays, while influenza has claimed nine lives. These are the first flu deaths of the season and they include a child under four, the latest data from the province shows.
Dr. Yves Léger, the province’s acting chief medical officer of health, held a rare meeting with reporters Tuesday because of the rise in respiratory illnesses.
Comments closedRespiratory virus outbreaks in Ontario’s long-term care homes remains dominated by COVID-19, with nearly 16,000 cases of the virus reported in the last four months.
According to a newly released report by Public Health Ontario, there have been 850 confirmed outbreaks in long-term care homes since Aug. 27, 2023.
This is compared to 32 influenza outbreaks and 32 Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) outbreaks.
Comments closedThe number of active COVID-19 outbreaks in high-risk settings increased by more than 50 per cent this past week, according to the Waterloo Region public health unit’s weekly dashboard update.
There are 15 outbreaks in high-risk settings — up from seven last week — including two in congregate settings, such as group homes or shelters, one in hospital and 12 in long-term care/retirement homes.
One new death was reported. So far this year, COVID-19 has been a direct or contributing cause in 41 deaths reported by public health in the region.
Comments closedNova Scotia has reached a solemn milestone, surpassing 1,000 COVID-19 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
“A thousand people in a province of a million people is a lot of humans and families that are missing people,” said Dr. Lisa Barrett, an infectious diseases doctor and researcher at Dalhousie University in Halifax.
Data released in the latest weekly respiratory watch report shows an additional nine deaths for the week of Dec. 10-16, bringing the total to 1,004 in the province.
Comments closed📈 The COVID-19 wastewater viral signal for Ottawa has increased substantially (+1,735%) since a low on July 12, 2023. It is extremely high.
⚠️ The percent positivity is extremely high (16.27% in Ottawa; 27.2% in the Outaouais).
🏥 Confirmed COVID-19 patients in Ottawa hospitals: 158 ( decrease of 6).
In 2023, there have been 131 COVID-19 outbreaks at Ottawa’s hospitals so far, leading to 21 deaths and 1,061 known cases of COVID-19.
Comments closedCOVID-19 is still a “key contributor” to higher death rates as new data reveals Australia’s nationwide mortality rate is sitting at more than six per cent higher than expected.
The national excess mortality rate for the first eight months of 2023 shows deaths are estimated at 6.1 per cent above expected levels.
It marks a drop from 14.1 per cent higher than expected mortality rates during the same period in 2022, according to data released this week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Comments closedNew Brunswick reported two more deaths from COVID-19, a week-over-week jump in hospitalizations and nursing home outbreaks because of the virus, and an increase in flu cases and hospitalizations Tuesday.
Comments closedMore Ontarians have died of COVID-19 in a three-month span this fall than the number of people killed last year on Ontario highways — a comparison one researcher is using to illustrate the stark and ongoing toll of the virus.
Data from Public Health Ontario shows that 574 people died of COVID between Sept. 3 and Dec. 9. Last year, the Ontario Provincial Police reported that about 350 people died in motor vehicle crashes on OPP-patrolled roads.
Comments closedAn infectious disease researcher says COVID-19 cases in Newfoundland and Labrador are on the rise again — and that it comes at a time when the province isn’t showing the full picture when it comes to reporting statistics.
Tara Moriarty, a researcher and professor at the University of Toronto, told CBC News that COVID-19 cases are up across the country heading into the holiday season. And while Newfoundland and Labrador is in a slightly better situation, she said, her research indicates that about one in every 37 residents are infected by COVID-19.
Comments closedAnother 36 Albertans have died from COVID, according to the latest weekly data released by the province on Thursday.
That brings the death toll for the current season to 306.
Comments closedTen Ottawa residents have died of COVID-19 over the past week as the pandemic wave that began in the summer continues, fueled by new sub-variants and the busy season for social gatherings.
Ottawa Public Health reported the 10 new deaths in its latest update on COVID-19, published Wednesday. A total of 1,185 Ottawa residents have died of COVID-19 since the pandemic began nearly four years ago.
Comments closed📈 The COVID-19 wastewater viral signal for Ottawa has increased substantially (+2,069%) since a low on July 12, 2023. It is extremely high.
⚠️ The 7-day average of percent positivity is extremely high (19.28%).
🏥 Confirmed COVID-19 patients in Ottawa hospitals: 164 ( increase of 8).
In 2023, there have been 129 COVID-19 outbreaks at Ottawa’s hospitals so far, leading to 20 deaths and 1,027 known cases of COVID-19.
Comments closedThe number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in B.C. ticked up slightly this week, but remained well below the early-October high.
The B.C. Centre for Disease Control reported 182 test-positive patients in hospital Thursday, up from 174 at this time last week.
Comments closedIt’s been more than a year since Gwen Gilbert first raised questions about her daughter’s death at the hospital in Yorkton, Sask.
Teary-eyed, Gilbert echoed the same questions at the Saskatchewan Legislature on Wednesday.
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