'COVID is still here': Dr. Summers says after WHO declares COVID-19 still a global health emergency
'COVID is still here': Dr. Summers says after WHO declares COVID-19 still a global health emergency
Monday marks three years since World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus first declared COVID-19 to be a global health emergency.
At the WHO’s annual executive board meeting, Tedros said, “There is no doubt that we're in a far better situation now than a year ago” when the highly transmissible Omicron variant was at its peak.
But after days of deciding the status of the pandemic internationally, the WHO announced that COVID-19 continues to be a global health emergency.
On Monday, the advisory panel found that the pandemic may be nearing an “inflection point” due to higher levels of immunity which could reduce the number of deaths related to COVID-19.
Three years after the virus was first declared a global emergency, many Canadians have returned to lpre-pandemic life without masking or restrictions in place in Ontario.
“COVID is still here and it continues to make an impact across the globe,” said Dr. Alex Summers, medical officer of health at the Middlesex-London Health Unit.
“The message from the WHO is to continue to vaccinate, to continue to be vigilant for emerging variants is really important for us, even here in southwestern Ontario,” he said.
The severity of getting COVID-19 has shifted, however, “This isn't a benign infection, this isn’t something to ignore, it’s still worthwhile to avoid getting sick with this virus,” said Summers.
Despite the number of hospitalizations in Ontario falling after a recent uptick, Peter Bergmanis with the London Health Coalition told CTV News London the health care system is still under strain.
“If there’s anything we should’ve been doing it's starting to properly fund the hospital system so that we wouldn’t have such a crisis that we’re in now,” Bergmanis said. “In hospitals and nursing homes staff are still off with COVID and we’re not even doing the most basic things to prevent the spread.”
Tedros explained that there is still concern about the impact of the virus, “Since the beginning of December we had reported deaths rising. In the past eight weeks more than 17,000 people have lost their lives due to COVID-19."
In a statement, the WHO said, “The committee acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic may be approaching an inflection point,” explaining that higher levels of immunity due to vaccination or infection may limit the impact of COVID-19 on “morbidity and mortality.”
Cape Breton University has more than doubled in size by enrolling thousands of international students, and critics say the campus and community weren't ready. Watch the documentary 'Cash Cow' on CTV W5, Saturday at 7 p.m.
In a choice forced upon them by the Canadian government, four mothers have made the agonizing decision to forfeit an opportunity to repatriate their children from open air prisons in northeast Syria.
Statistics Canada has released its new report about the Canadians level of confidence in Canada’s institutions, finding that recent immigrants are more likely to express confidence in the media and parliament.
A new Canadian study of 4.8 million people says a daily alcoholic drink isn't likely to send anyone to an early grave, nor will it offer any of the health benefits touted by previous studies, even if it is organic red wine.
Lawyers representing Toronto MP Han Dong served Global News with a libel notice on Friday over reports that alleged he spoke to a Chinese diplomat in February 2021 about delaying the release of the two Michaels, and that he was a 'witting affiliate' of Chinese interference networks – allegations that Dong denies.
A recent report from Royal LePage is predicting a drop in prices for Canadian cabins and cottages this year as demand softens from economic uncertainty and low housing stock.
Interim RCMP commissioner Michael Duheme says he would support the Criminal Code changes recommended in the Mass Casualty Commission report to implement stricter gun laws.
Windsor city council will debate the 2023 budget on Monday, and ratepayers are looking at a much higher than normal property tax increase, but not if some councillors get their way.
By day’s end Friday, the COVID-19 assessment clinic at Windsor Regional Hospital (WRH) will close, more than three years after opening at the height of the pandemic.
Tourism Barrie brought a report from a consulting firm to council, recommending upgrades to the arena, including additional seats, modern concessions, and an open grand entrance on the building's north side. The proposed renovations would cost approximately $40 million but could bring significant economic benefits to the city.
Sigfrid Stahn walked out of the Barrie courthouse Friday a remorseful man one day after a jury found him guilty of impaired driving, causing a collision on Highway 12 in July 2020 that killed a 77-year-old Midland man.
A northern Ontario man has been banned from licenced hunting and fined $5,000 after pleading guilty to having more than six times the legal limit of grouse and obstructing conservation officers.
Cape Breton University has more than doubled in size by enrolling thousands of international students, and critics say the campus and community weren't ready. Watch the documentary 'Cash Cow' on CTV W5, Saturday at 7 p.m.
Ontario's guns and gangs team says with the help of police in Sudbury and Durham, it has disrupted a large drug trafficking operation, seizing 2.7 kilograms of cocaine and arresting six.
Police say the bodies of eight migrants have been retrieved from the waters off the Mohawk Territory of Akwesasne, straddling the Canada - U.S. border. The people whose bodies were recovered Thursday and Friday consisted of two families of Romanian and Indian origins who were likely trying to enter the U.S. illegally, police said Friday.
The leader of Ontario's new democrats says she's removed long-time party member Michael Mantha from caucus amid an independent investigation into alleged workplace misconduct.
In one day, Ontario midwife Manavi Handa saw three patients who will have to pay thousands of dollars to be able to schedule a C-section beginning on Sunday.
Akwesasne Mohawk Police say they are working with Immigration Canada and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to confirm the identities of the eight migrants whose bodies were pulled from the St. Lawrence River this week.
April Fools' Day -- better known as poisson d'Avril in Quebec -- is upon us. Some of the province's familiar faces got into the spirit Saturday with a few light-hearted social media pranks.
After the RCMP commissioner admitted he didn't read the Mass Casualty Commission’s final recommendations, family members of those killed in the April 2020 tragedy say they have doubts the force will change.
A doctor named in a lawsuit after a Nova Scotia woman died in hospital following a long wait to see a physician has denied allegations from the family that he failed in his duties.
Officials in Vancouver said they plan to meet with the artist and volunteers who are keeping vigil on a children's shoe memorial on the steps of the city's art gallery in an effort to end the tribute to children who didn't return from residential schools.
