Montreal Public Health says hundreds of people may have been exposed to measles during a recent NATO conference in the city.
The agency says one of the participants in the military alliance’s parliamentary assembly, which took place in Montreal last month, received a measles diagnosis after returning to their home country and would have been contagious while they were in the city.
Comments closedhe president of the Montreal Police Brotherhood, Yves Francoeur, declared Friday on TVA Nouvelles that he is mandating his lawyers to find legal ways to force demonstrators to reveal their faces, describing the situation as unacceptable.
“Yes, citizens have the right to demonstrate, but why would someone need to cover their face, if it is not to do bad things?”, declared Mr. Francoeur. Moreover, his public comments come a week to the day after a demonstration against NATO that degenerated downtown.
Comments closedWhen COVID-19 first struck, Canada had a problem: It lacked domestic capacity to manufacture vaccines. Today, the government of Canada faces the opposite problem: It owns a factory that isn’t manufacturing vaccines.
The Biologics Manufacturing Centre (BMC) in Montreal was completed in 2021 at the cost of $126 million, and fully licensed by Health Canada in 2022. However, a 2021 deal with Novavax to produce their COVID-19 vaccine looks increasingly unlikely to produce a single dose. Indeed, despite annual operating costs around $17 million a year, the BMC has never produced anything.
Comments closedVaccine production is nearly three years behind schedule at a federally owned plant in Montreal and the future of a deal between Ottawa and an American company to make COVID-19 vaccines here is now under review.
Comments closedAt the height of the pandemic in February of 2021, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he had found a partner to make millions of doses…
Comments closedThere is a COVID-19 outbreak on the 18th floor of the Montreal General Hospital as Quebec and other jurisdictions see a rise in infections.
The hospital has implemented a mandatory mask policy for everyone on that unit and everyone on the floor is being monitored for symptoms.
Overall, the numbers for positive tests for COVID-19 in Quebec are up from 448 in April to 745 yesterday. That’s still far below the 3,000 we had a day in early January.
The 22 deaths reported by the province’s public health institute, the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) during the week of June 30 is still far below the 100 a week Quebec was seeing a year ago.
Comments closedQuebec appears to be winning its battle against the rising tide of measles after 45 cases were confirmed province-wide this year.
“We’ve had no locally transmitted measles cases since March 25, so that’s good news,” said Dr. Paul Le Guerrier, responsible for immunization for Montreal Public Health.
There are 17 patients with measles in Quebec currently, and the most recent case is somebody who was infected while abroad, he said.
Comments closedMontreal’s first family health clinic adapted to Indigenous people’s needs officially opened its doors on Friday morning.
The Native Montreal Family Clinic project, which was launched in 2021, is being led by Native Montréal to ensure the deployment and sustainability of health and social services adapted to the identity and specific needs of the Indigenous clientele in the metropolitan area.
Health Minister Christian Dubé made the announcement on Friday alongside the Minister responsible for Relations with First Nations and Inuit, Ian Lafrenière.
Comments closedA person with measles was on board a flight from Turkey that landed in Montreal on April 3, the Quebec Health Ministry and public health authorities…
Comments closedAs measles cases keep appearing in more parts of the country, new projections suggest there’s a high chance Canada may experience a “sizable outbreak” — with anywhere from dozens to thousands of people infected if the disease strikes communities with low vaccination rates.
As of Friday, at least 31 cases of measles have been reported so far this year across Canada, according to a CBC News tally of provincial and regional figures released by public health teams.
That’s already the largest annual total since 2019 and more than double the number of cases reported last year, as medical experts fear the number will rise while more Canadians travel in and out of the country this month for March break.
Comments closedNew data shows Quebec with 21 measles cases as of Friday 2 p.m., including 15 in Montreal.
According to the CIUSSS de l’Est, health centres in the eastern part of the island have responded by reinstating mask mandates and launching a vaccination campaign in elementary schools.
Notre-Dame and Sainte-Justine Hospitals are also among those requiring patients to wear masks to stop the spread.
“I feel like it’s necessary, especially to protect those who are more vulnerable,” said Montrealer Selena Ringwald. “Masking really doesn’t bother me, even as someone who has breathing issues after having COVID.”
Comments closedThe Quebec Ministry of Health reports on Thursday two more cases of measles, bringing to 12 the total number of confirmed infections in the province since the beginning of the year.
The Quebec Ministry of Health indicates that since the beginning of the year, two cases of measles have been reported in Laval, north of Montreal, and another in Mauricie–Centre-du-Québec.
The Direction régionale de santé publique de Montréal states that seven cases reported in its territory, including the two new infections, are due to transmission in the community. The other two cases are related to international travel.
The regional agency says it is intensifying its efforts to trace the contacts of infected people.
Authorities said last Monday that the number of cases in Quebec was worrying, noting that measles vaccination rates were sometimes as low as 30% in some schools in Montreal.
Comments closedQuebec public health officials are urging people to get themselves and their young children vaccinated for measles, a highly contagious disease that is making a comeback several years after its eradication.
Quebec’s public health director Luc Boileau, Montreal public health director Mylene Drouin, and pediatrician, microbiologist and infectious disease specialist Caroline Quach-Thanh are holding a news conference in Montreal Monday afternoon.
So far about 10 cases have been detected in the province, mainly in Montreal, but Boileau warns that it could be just the beginning.
Comments closedA study aimed at countering online misinformation finds that health measures taken by governments to protect against COVID-19 helped save lives and reduce the number of people hospitalized in 2020.
Comments closedInfectious diseases expert Dr. Donald Vinh on the high number of viruses circulating in Quebec right now and how people can avoid them.
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