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Tag: Public Health Agency of Canada

Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

Sudbury researcher disappointed Ontario ends COVID-19 wastewater surveillance

Published June 10, 2024

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Published by: CBC News
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A researcher in Sudbury, Ont., says he’s disappointed the province is ending its wastewater surveillance program to track COVID-19 and other viruses in municipal systems.

“I would be lying if I said that I don’t feel sad to let the people go,” said Gustavo Ybazeta, a researcher at the Health Sciences North Research Institute.

Ybazeta said six people work at the lab, testing local wastewater for COVID-19 and other viruses like influenza and even sexually transmitted diseases like gonorrhea and chlamydia.

While they will continue to conduct research on ways to monitor for viruses in wastewater, losing the surveillance program means at least half of those scientists will lose their jobs, he says.

Ybazeta said there are a dozen labs across Ontario that face the same fate.

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Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

Ontario’s wastewater testing program to be replaced by a federal program that is significantly smaller

Published June 6, 2024

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Published by: Ottawa Citizen
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By Elizabeth Payne

When Ontario’s wastewater surveillance program is shut down next month it will be replaced by a significantly smaller federal program. That potential information gap worries some researchers and public health experts, especially at a time when COVID-19 cases are starting to tick up and avian influenza is spreading rapidly.

Ontario’s wastewater testing initiative, considered a world leader, currently tests wastewater for signs of infectious diseases including COVID, influenza, RSV and more at 58 locations across the province. The provincial government plans to pull the plug on the program at the end of July, saying it wants to avoid duplication with an expanding pan-Canadian wastewater surveillance program.

That new federal program includes plans to conduct wastewater surveillance in five Ontario cities. Four of the five cities have not yet been selected.

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Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

Small towns likely to be big losers when Ontario stops monitoring wastewater, expert says

Published June 6, 2024

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Published by: CBC News
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By Kate Dubinski

Small towns and rural communities are likely to see the biggest impact when the province stops paying scientists to monitor wastewater for COVID-19 and other illnesses, an expert says.

Also likely to suffer is the scientific community’s ability to learn from rich, robust data that is currently being collected but won’t be after the provincial surveillance program wraps up at the end of July, said Chris deGroot, the lead researcher at the Western University lab that monitors the wastewater in this region.

“It’s safe to assume that with the transition to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), there will be a reduction in the total number of sites and that we’re most likely going to see the sites be in larger urban centres,” deGroot said.

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Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

Ontario is a ‘world leader’ in wastewater surveillance for COVID. The province’s decision to close testing sites will end that, experts say

Published June 5, 2024

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Published by: Toronto Star
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By Megan Ogilvie

Researchers are warning that Ontario’s decision to shut down its wastewater surveillance program that proved crucial in tracking COVID-19 will limit the province’s ability to rapidly respond to infectious disease threats, including new COVID variants, respiratory viruses and bird flu.

A key member of the waterwater surveillance program says Ontario has been a “world leader and now we’ll probably be one of the passengers” by the scale-back that will also stifle research.

Cancelling the provincial surveillance system — the largest in Canada — will drastically reduce the number of testing sites in the province, experts say. They also caution that shuttering the program will mean that monitoring may no longer take place in smaller communities and in rural and northern areas, potentially missing vulnerable populations.

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Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

‘I was shocked’: Ontario to cancel widely used wastewater surveillance program

Published June 4, 2024

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Published by: Ottawa Citizen
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By Elizabeth Payne

The Ontario government is shutting down the wastewater surveillance program that has provided early warning for incoming waves of COVID-19 and a growing list of other infectious diseases since it was developed.

By the time it ends on July 31, the program that got its start in Ottawa early in the pandemic will be one of the biggest in the world to monitor the spread of infectious diseases through wastewater. Researchers were told of the decision to end funding last week.

Its closure comes at a time when COVID-19 is again beginning to spread through the world after a lull and when the United States and other countries are ramping up wastewater surveillance programs to warn about the possible spread of H5N1 avian influenza.

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Topic: pro-virus policiesView all posts for the topic: pro-virus policies

Video | Feds to stop providing free COVID-19 rapid tests

Published May 23, 2024

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Published by: Global News
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The federal government, which spent billions on COVID-19 rapid tests during the height of the pandemic, says it will stop supplying provinces and territories with those tests. Heidi Petracek explains the move, and the reaction from some provinces and doctors.

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Topic: avian fluView all posts for the topic: avian flu

Canadian officials considering ‘pre-pandemic’ vaccines as bird flu spreads through U.S. livestock

Published April 26, 2024

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Published by: Ottawa Citizen
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By Elizabeth Payne

As H5N1 bird flu spreads rapidly through livestock and other animals across the U.S., Canadian officials are exploring stockpiling “pre-pandemic” H5N1 vaccines as a precaution.

The highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) has not been detected in any Canadian livestock and the risk of transmission for the general public is considered low, but the recent rapid spread of the virus through livestock and elsewhere in the U.S. has public health officials around the world on high alert.

Health experts are urging people not to drink raw, unpasteurized, milk and to make sure meat is thoroughly cooked, but they say the real potential risk from bird flu is not from food, but from the possibility that changes to the virus enable it to jump from animals to humans. That could create a potential influenza pandemic because human immunity to the virus is expected to be minimal.

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Topic: PaxlovidView all posts for the topic: Paxlovid

Paxlovid to no longer be provided to provinces for free

Published April 1, 2024

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Published by: CTV News
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By Charles Lefebvre

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is no longer paying for an antiviral pill used to treat COVID-19.

The PHAC said it will no longer procure Paxlovid, which is intended to be used after being diagnosed with COVID, for provinces and territories.

“The provinces and territories are responsible for determining how best to implement and manage the available supply of COVID-19 therapeutics, including Paxlovid,” a spokesperson for Health Canada said in a statement.

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Topic: measlesView all posts for the topic: measles

Le nombre de cas de rougeole en hausse au Canada

Published March 27, 2024

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Published by: La Presse / The Canadian Press
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By Nicole Ireland

The number of confirmed measles cases in Canada so far this year is more than three times higher than all infections recorded in 2023, the country’s public health official said, urging people to make sure their vaccines are up to date.

The Public Health Agency of Canada identified 40 confirmed cases across the country in 2024, its Chief Administrator, Dr. Theresa Tam, confirmed on Wednesday.

Tam expressed concern that an insufficient number of school-aged children have not been properly vaccinated against the highly contagious virus.

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Topic: measlesView all posts for the topic: measles

Measles cases in Canada are increasing, Canada’s chief public health officer warns

Published March 27, 2024

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Published by: CTV News / The Canadian Press
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By Nicole Ireland

The number of confirmed measles cases in Canada so far this year is more than three times higher than all infections recorded in 2023, the country’s chief public health officer said as she urged people to ensure their vaccinations are up to date.

The Public Health Agency of Canada is aware of 40 confirmed cases across the country in 2024, Dr. Theresa Tam said on Wednesday.

Tam said she is concerned that not enough school-aged children have been adequately vaccinated against the highly contagious virus.

“I strongly advise parents or caregivers to ensure that children in their care have received all measles vaccines according to schedule,” she said in an interview.

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Topic: CanadaView all posts for the topic: Canada

COVID PPE makers sue Ottawa for $5B, say feds broke promise

Published February 14, 2024

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Published by: Global News
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By Patti Sonntag

Fifteen Canadian mask and respirator manufacturers are suing the federal government for $5.4 billion in damages, claiming that Ottawa broke its promises to buy their products to fight the spread of COVID-19.

In a statement of claim filed in Federal Court last week, the companies and their industry association, the Canadian Association of PPE Manufacturers (CAPPEM), made “negligent misrepresentations” that prompted them to invest in personal protection equipment innovations, manufacturing and production.

The federal government will have an opportunity to file a defence to the unproven allegations as the court case proceeds.

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Topic: AlbertaView all posts for the topic: Alberta

Latest COVID-19 variant wrestles its way to the top in Alberta

Published January 10, 2024

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Published by: CBC News
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By Jennifer Lee

A new COVID-19 variant appears to be on its way to taking over in Alberta, with one expert predicting it likely already accounts for the lion’s share of the province’s cases.

JN.1 is an offshoot of BA.2.86, which has evolved, like many of its predecessors, to better evade our immune defences.

It is now the dominant strain in Canada. Data from the Public Health Agency of Canada shows it accounted for about 66 per cent of COVID-19 cases nationwide by the end of December.

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COVID test supplier received billions in pandemic contracts after submitting edited resultsPhoto of two white COVID-19 rapid tests, and a green box with the text Rapid Response COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test Device
Topic: rapid testsView all posts for the topic: rapid tests

COVID test supplier received billions in pandemic contracts after submitting edited results

Published December 21, 2023

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Published by: Global News
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By Patti Sonntag

A rapid test importer landed an estimated $2 billion in federal contracts in 2021 and 2022, despite giving regulators incomplete data about its product’s accuracy, Global News has found.

A year-long investigation into federal procurement revealed that BTNX, a small rapid test supplier based outside Toronto, deleted dozens of specimens, or samples, from a study it submitted to Health Canada. That evaluation showed how well the company’s test detected COVID-19.

The deletions made BTNX’s test appear more reliable and sensitive than it really was, according to researchers Global News consulted.

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Topic: influenzaView all posts for the topic: influenza

Flu season has officially started in Canada, public health agency says

Published December 1, 2023

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Published by: CTV News / The Canadian Press
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By Nicole Ireland

Flu season has officially begun in Canada, the federal public health agency said on Friday.

“At the national level, influenza activity has crossed the seasonal threshold, indicating the start of influenza season,” the Public Health Agency of Canada said in its weekly FluWatch report posted online.

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Topic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines

Canada has ‘sufficient supply’ of new COVID-19 vaccines amid ‘pandemic amnesia,’ experts say

Published November 9, 2023

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Published by: CTV News
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By Mitchell Consky

As doctors recommend new COVID-19 vaccine doses to combat the XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariant, a mutation of COVID-19 that has continued to spread despite misconceptions that the virus is in the past, officials say Canada has sufficient supply.

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Topic: hospitalizationsView all posts for the topic: hospitalizations

COVID-19 hospitalizations reach numbers not seen since last winter

Published October 17, 2023

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Published by: CTV News
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By Megan DeLaire

COVID-19 hospitalizations are on the rise across Canada as a wave of autumn infections sweeps the population, according to recent data released by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).

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