Ambulance offload delays, when paramedics wait in an emergency department for a patient to be transferred to the care of a hospital, have been exacerbated by the pandemic and have at times meant some regions are left with no available ambulances.
BA.2 was detected in Canada as early as December, according to Health Canada data, but a report last week from the B.C. COVID-19 modelling group suggests the newer Omicron strain could be spreading faster in parts of the country than the current dominant version, BA.1.
Doctors share moments, big and small, when things could have gone wrong but went right. Dr. Clover Hemans shared how in the brief encounter of giving a COVID-19 vaccine, many other patient problems get noticed.
Health officials say there are 49 people in hospital today receiving specialized care in a designated COVID-19 unit, a drop of four patients from Tuesday.
The sector has seen thousands of deaths since the pandemic began and the arrival of the highly contagious Omicron variant late last year raised fears of further devastation.
