COVID-19

A lot of travel plans were disrupted over the holiday season, and that may continue to be the case in the near future.

A reported 171 Air Canada flights were cancelled during the week of Christmas due to the extreme cold conditions.

It looks like those travel woes will be extending into the new year.

Westjet's interim president & CEO Harry Taylor released a statement on Dec. 30 saying 15 per cent of scheduled flights between then and Jan. 31 have been cancelled.

The Province is reducing quarantine requirements for Albertans who are vaccinated.

Health minister Jason Copping says, starting today (Jan 3, 2022), people who've had at least two vaccine doses will have to isolate for five days instead of ten.

"If symptoms continue past five days then their isolation will need to continue until they are feeling better," he says. "For the five days following their isolation these individuals must wear a mask around others at all times when they're outside their home."

With surging cases of the Omicron variant, the Ontario government is taking further action to prevent the spread of COVID-19.  

Parents and guardians will have to adjust their schedules and day care plans as all publicly funded and private schools will move to remote learning starting January 5 until at least January 17.

With the number of cases of COVID-19 rising in Saskatchewan, the government is reminding residents to follow public health guidelines, get vaccinated, and use rapid testing at home. Meanwhile, the Opposition NDP says the government isn’t doing enough to prevent the spread of COVID-19. 

Manitoba is following the lead of other jurisdictions that are cutting isolation requirements in half for some positive cases, including if they are still symptomatic.

In a late-afternoon press release, the Province of Manitoba is announcing changes to self-isolation requirements.

“We have looked at data from Manitoba and other jurisdictions, and feel these changes will balance reducing the spread of COVID-19 while ensuring critical services can continue to operate," Manitoba's Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Brent Roussin says in the statement.

The Manitoba Teachers' Society president, James Bedford, is calling on the province to move all schools to Code Red.

According to the Manitoba Government website, the province would consider applying this alert level if there is extensive community transmission of COVID-19 and it is not contained, if there are widespread outbreaks and new clusters that cannot be controlled through testing and contact tracing, and if the virus is being transmitted at levels that public health and the health system deem concerning or critical.

The Province is reducing quarantine requirements for Albertans who are vaccinated.

Health minister Jason Copping says, starting Monday, people who've had at least two vaccine doses will have to isolate for five days instead of ten.

"If symptoms continue past five days then their isolation will need to continue until they are feeling better," he says. "For the five days following their isolation these individuals must wear a mask around others at all times when they're outside their home."

More than one-tenth of Manitoba's total COVID-19 case count from the past two years are cases that are currently active.

Manitoba continues to break COVID-19 records with cases totalling more than 80,000 as cases spike during the year's end.

There are 1,494 new infections being announced on Friday, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases to 80,096.

New cases by health region include:

Health Minister Jason Copping announced a change in isolation requirements during a COVID-19 update on New Year's Eve. 

 "Effective Monday, January 3rd, 2022, people who have previously received at least two doses of vaccines and test positive for COVID will be required to isolate for five days instead of 10 as long as their symptoms have fully resolved by that time. If symptoms continue past five days, then their isolation will need to continue until they are feeling better," Health Minister Copping said.

The provincial government has given its last update on COVID-19 for 2021.

Health minister Jason Copping announced a change to the isolation period for people with COVID-19 going forward. Those who have received two doses of the vaccine, and have the virus, will need to isolate for a minimum of five days (or anytime their symptoms clear up after the five days). It was previously 10 days. 

The decision was made in an effort to reduce the impact on the workforce and encourage more people to follow the isolation restrictions.