Stockpile of ventilators up from 500 to 27,000

Canada's race to procure ventilators for COVID-19 patients in the early days of the pandemic had researchers, scientists, industry and a notable astrophysicist working "night and day"to design machines that could be quickly manufactured domestically.

Various efforts included a Montreal-based competition that drew global competitors and a group of scientists and engineers involving Queen's University professor emeritus Art McDonald, co-winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in physics.

McDonald said Cristiano Galbiati, a colleague and physics professor at Princeton University and an institute in Italy, contacted him from Milan during lockdowns in early 2020 to say the technology they had developed to detect dark matter could be adapted to produce a low-cost ventilator.

At the time, some countries were scrambling to get more ventilators, which pump oxygen through a tube in the windpipe and into the lungs of patients to help them breathe.

B.C. pharmacist suspended for faked vaccine

VANCOUVER - A British Columbia pharmacist has been disciplined for claiming to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and falsifying provincial health records to hide his unvaccinated status.

The College of Pharmacists of BC says on a post on its website that its inquiry committee has suspended Aftabahmed Shaikh for 30 days and placed a permanent letter of reprimand on his file.

In the post dated March 10, the college says Shaikh was practising in "various locations" in B.C. and admits to twice entering COVID-19 vaccinations into his PharmaNet record without receiving the shots.

The college says its inquiry also found that Shaikh altered the pharmacy's software to make his records more difficult to find.

Ignoring experts, China’s sudden zero-COVID exit cost lives

BEIJING (AP) — When China suddenly scrapped onerous zero-COVID measures in December, the country wasn’t ready for a massive onslaught of cases, with hospitals turning away ambulances and crematoriums burning bodies around the clock.

Chinese state media claimed the decision to open up was based on “scientific analysis and shrewd calculation,” and “by no means impulsive." But in reality, China’s ruling Communist Party held off on repeated efforts by top medical experts to kickstart exit plans until it was too late, The Associated Press found.

Instead, the reopening came suddenly at the onset of winter, when the virus spreads most easily. Many older people weren’t vaccinated, pharmacies lacked antivirals, and hospitals didn’t have adequate supplies or staff — leading to as many as hundreds of thousands of deaths that may have been avoided, according to academic modeling, more than 20 interviews with current and former China Center for Disease Control and Prevention employees, experts and government advisers, and internal reports and directives obtained by the AP.

“If they had a real plan to exit earlier, so many things could have been avoided,” said Zhang Zuo-Feng, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “Many deaths could have been prevented.”

Ignoring experts, China’s sudden zero-COVID exit cost lives

BEIJING (AP) — When China suddenly scrapped onerous zero-COVID measures in December, the country wasn’t ready for a massive onslaught of cases. Hospitals turned away ambulances, crematoriums burned bodies around the clock, and relatives hauled dead loved ones to warehouses for lack of storage space.

Chinese state media claimed the decision to open up was based on “scientific analysis and shrewd calculation,” and “by no means impulsive." But in reality, China’s ruling Communist Party held off on repeated efforts by top medical experts to kickstart exit plans until it was too late, The Associated Press has found.

Instead, the reopening came suddenly at the onset of winter, when the virus spreads most easily. Many older people weren’t vaccinated, pharmacies lacked antivirals, and hospitals didn’t have adequate supplies or staff — leading to as many as hundreds of thousands of deaths that could have been avoided, according to academic modeling, more than 20 interviews with current and former Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention employees, experts and government advisers, and internal reports and directives obtained by the AP.

“If they had a real plan to exit earlier, so many things could have been avoided,” said Zhang Zuo-Feng, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “Many deaths could have been prevented.”

Biden signs bill on COVID origins declassification

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan bill Monday that directs the federal government to declassify as much intelligence as possible about the origins of COVID-19 more than three years after the start of the pandemic.

The legislation, which passed both the House and Senate without dissent, directs the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to declassify intelligence related to China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology. It cites “potential links” between the research that was done there and the outbreak of COVID-19, which the World Health Organization declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020. The law allows for redactions to protect sensitive sources and methods.

U.S. intelligence agencies are divided over whether a lab leak or a spillover from animals is the likely source of the deadly virus. Experts say the true origin of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 1.1 million in the U.S. and millions more around the globe, may not be known for many years — if ever.

Biden, in a statement, said he was pleased to sign the legislation.

New COVID origins data point to raccoon dogs in China market

BEIJING (AP) — Genetic material collected at a Chinese market near where the first human cases of COVID-19 were identified show raccoon dog DNA comingled with the virus, adding evidence to the theory that the virus originated from animals, not from a lab, international experts say.

“These data do not provide a definitive answer to how the pandemic began, but every piece of data is important to moving us closer to that answer,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday.

How the coronavirus emerged remains unclear. Many scientists believe it most likely jumped from animals to people, as many other viruses have in the past, at a wildlife market in Wuhan, China. But Wuhan is home to several labs involved in collecting and studying coronaviruses, fueling theories scientists say are plausible that the virus may have leaked from one.

The new findings do not settle the question, and they have not been formally reviewed by other experts or published in a peer-reviewed journal.

COVID-19 pill Paxlovid moves closer to full FDA approval

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pfizer’s COVID-19 pill Paxlovid won another vote of confidence from U.S. health advisers Thursday, clearing the way for its full regulatory approval by the Food and Drug Administration.

The medication has been used by millions of Americans since the FDA granted it emergency use authorization in late 2021. The agency has the final say on giving Pfizer's drug full approval and is expected to decide by May.

A panel of outside experts voted 16-1 that Paxlovid remains a safe and effective treatment for high-risk adults with COVID-19 who are more likely to face hospitalization and death due to the virus.

“We still have many groups that stand to benefit from Paxlovid, including unvaccinated persons, under-vaccinated persons, the elderly and the immuno-compromised,” said Dr. Richard Murphy of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The rise and fall of Canada’s domestic PPE market

Most Canadian businesses that answered federal and provincial calls during the pandemic to build up a domestic sector for personal protective equipment have collapsed.

The association that represents Canadian PPE companies says 90 per cent of those businesses have been forced to close or pivot to other industries because the federal government and Ontario have given contracts to a massive American company and a Quebec operation.

"We've got an industry that is just running on fumes," Barry Hunt, the president of the Canadian Association of PPE Manufacturers, said in an interview.

"Most of them are out of business and the ones that aren't out of business are going out of business quickly."

China to reopen to tourists, resume all visas Wednesday

HONG KONG (AP) — China will reopen its borders to tourists and resume issuing all visas Wednesday as it tries to revive tourism and its economy following a three-year halt during the COVID-19 pandemic.

China is one of the last major countries to reopen its borders to tourists. The announcement Tuesday came after it declared a “decisive victory” over COVID-19 in February.

All types of visas will resume from Wednesday. Visa-free entry also will resume at destinations such as Hainan island as well as for cruise ships entering Shanghai that had no visa requirement before COVID-19.

Foreigners holding visas issued before March 28, 2020, that are still valid will be allowed to enter China. Visa-free entry will resume for foreigners entering Guangdong in southern China from Hong Kong and Macao. The notice didn't specify whether vaccination certificates or negative COVID-19 tests would be required, but Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters Tuesday that China had “optimized measures for remote testing of people coming to China from relevant countries," allowing pre-boarding antigen testing instead of nucleic acid testing.

Masks stay put in Japan as 3-year request to wear them ends

TOKYO (AP) — Japan on Monday dropped its request for people to wear masks after three years, but hardly anything changed in the country that has had an extremely high regard for their effectiveness at anti-virus protection.

Most commuters exiting Tokyo’s main train station in the morning were wearing masks as they headed to work. So were people on the streets. During a televised budget committee meeting at parliament, some lawmakers still wore masks, though Prime Minister Fumio Kishida wasn't wearing one when he arrived at his office Monday.

Baseball fans who gathered outside of the Tokyo Dome hours before Monday’s games Australia-Czech Republic and China-South Korea also had on masks. They'll also be able to cheer without their masks as that ban was lifted, too.

Dropping the mask-wearing request is one of the last steps Japan's government is taking in easing COVID-19 rules in public places as it tries to expand business and other activity.

COVID test requirement lifted for travelers from China to US

WASHINGTON (AP) — A requirement that travelers to the U.S. from China present a negative COVID-19 test before boarding their flights expired Friday after more than two months as cases in China have fallen.

The restrictions were put in place Dec. 28 and took effect Jan. 5 amid a surge in infections in China after the nation sharply eased pandemic restrictions and as U.S. health officials expressed concerns that their Chinese counterparts were not being truthful to the world about the true number of infections and deaths. The requirement from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expired for flights leaving after 3 p.m. Eastern time Friday.

When the restriction was imposed, U.S. officials also said it was necessary to protect U.S. citizens and communities because there was a lack of transparency from the Chinese government about the size of the surge or the variants that were circulating within China.

The rules imposed in January require travelers to the U.S. from China, Hong Kong and Macau to take a COVID-19 test no more than two days before travel and provide a negative test before boarding their flight. The testing applies to anyone 2 years and older, including U.S. citizens.

B.C. dropping vaccine rule as it launches boosters

VANCOUVER - British Columbia is rescinding its policy requiring provincial public servants to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and is planning a spring booster program that will focus on the elderly and vulnerable.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said the next round of boosters, expected to begin in April, will target people at the "highest risk" of severe illness.

She said those who should get another shot, six months after their last vaccine or infection, include people aged at least 80, Indigenous people aged at least 70 and long-term care residents.

Adults who are moderately to severely immunity compromised are also recommended to get a booster.

COVID-19 'steady' but not over in Canada, Tam says

Saturday marks three years since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, and Canada'a chief public health officer says the virus has reached a relatively steady state in this country.

Dr. Theresa Tam says in recent months, there have been no new variant-driven waves of infection.

Omicron subvariants continue to spread but hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths have stabilized

Tam says population immunity is high due to an overall high vaccine uptake combined with the immunity people got from infection.

House votes to declassify info about origins of COVID-19

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House voted unanimously Friday to declassify U.S. intelligence information about the origins of COVID-19, a sweeping show of bipartisan support near the third anniversary of the start of the deadly pandemic.

The 419-0 vote was final congressional approval of the bill, sending it to President Joe Biden’s desk. It's unclear whether the president will sign the measure into law, and the White House said the matter was under review.

“I haven't made that decision yet,” Biden said late Friday when asked whether he would sign the bill.

Debate in the House was brief and to the point: Americans have questions about how the deadly virus started and what can be done to prevent future outbreaks.

Pandemic 3 years later: Has the COVID-19 virus won?

On the third anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, the virus is still spreading and the death toll is nearing 7 million worldwide. Yet most people have resumed their normal lives, thanks to a wall of immunity built from infections and vaccines.

The virus appears here to stay, along with the threat of a more dangerous version sweeping the planet.

“New variants emerging anywhere threaten us everywhere,” said virus researcher Thomas Friedrich of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Maybe that will help people to understand how connected we are.”

With information sources drying up, it has become harder to keep tabs on the pandemic. Johns Hopkins University on Friday shut down its trusted tracker, which it started soon after the virus emerged in China and spread worldwide.

Report says long COVID could impact economy

A report released Thursday by Canada's chief science adviser says she considers COVID-19 the "head" of the pandemic but long COVID its "tail" as the illness inflicts significant harm on individuals, their families and potentially the country's economy.

Dr. Mona Nemer said about 10 to 20 per cent of people with COVID-19 develop long COVID after they have recovered from infection and struggle with a variety of symptoms ranging from high blood pressure and an irregular heartbeat to medically undefined symptoms such as chronic fatigue, brain fog, muscle pain and blurred vision.

"Some patients have not recovered two to three years after the initial infection and it is uncertain whether a proportion may ever fully recover," Nemer said of the condition that lacks consensus on a clear definition and diagnostic criteria, affecting claims for social assistance, disability supports and insurance by those who can no longer work.

"Future socio-economic implications for Canada may be far-reaching and require planning and monitoring," she said about the wider fallout of long COVID, also known as post COVID-19 condition or PCC.

COVID-19 impact on mental health limited: study

The first year of the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have taken a relatively limited toll on overall global mental health, Canadian researchers say in a new study published in the British Medical Journal.

Researchers reviewed 137 studies from around the world that measured people's overall mental health, as well as depression and anxiety levels, before the pandemic and then again during 2020.

They were surprised to find that there was minimal overall change at a population level.

Senior author Dr. Brett Thombs, a researcher at McGill University, said that coverage of the pandemic has mostly focused on snapshots of people whose mental health has deteriorated and people have generalized that to the overall population.

US to relax COVID testing rules for travelers from China

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is preparing to relax COVID-19 testing restrictions for travelers from China as soon as Friday, according to two people familiar with the decision.

The people, who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the administration has decided to roll back the testing requirements as cases, hospitalizations and deaths are declining in China and the U.S. has gathered better information about the surge.

The restrictions were put in place on Dec. 28 and took effect on Jan. 5 amid a surge in infections in China after the nation sharply eased pandemic restrictions and as U.S. health officials expressed concerns that their Chinese counterparts were not being truthful to the world about the true number of infections and deaths.

At the time, U.S. officials also said the restriction was necessary to protect U.S. citizens and communities because there was a lack of transparency from the Chinese government about the size of the surge or the variants that were circulating within China.

Manitoba’s former pandemic visitation pods face varied, uncertain future

As the province steps closer to getting rid of more than 100 shipping containers formerly used as long-term care home visitation pods amid heightened COVID-19 pandemic public health orders, one prominent architect is urging restraint.

Arkansas Tyson workers sue over lack of COVID protections

Thirty-four Tyson Foods employees, former employees and family members filed a lawsuit against the company Monday, saying it failed to take appropriate precautions at its meat-packing plants during the early days of the COVID pandemic.

In the lawsuit, filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court in Tyson’s home state of Arkansas, the plaintiffs said Tyson’s negligence and disregard for its workers led to emotional distress, illness and death. Several of the plaintiffs are the spouses or children of Tyson workers who died after contracting COVID.

A message seeking comment was left for Springdale, Arkansas-based Tyson.

Meat-packing facilities were early epicenters of the COVID epidemic in the U.S., with employees working closely together on the production line. At least 59,000 meat-packing workers contracted COVID-19 and 269 workers died in 2020, according to a U.S. House report issued in 2021.