News

Federal health officials are extending the U.S. ban on cruise ships through the end September as coronavirus infections rise in most U.S. states, including Florida. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday that it was extending a no-sail order that had been scheduled to expire July 24.

lberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro says it's not true that doctors are quitting or withdrawing services in large numbers because of changes to fees and billing. Shandro says in a statement that the reports are nothing more than a bargaining tactic in the pay dispute between the government and physicians

Another record for monthly overdose deaths related to illicit drugs has been set in British Columbia, prompting the former provincial health officer to call for radical steps to reduce fatalities including access to pharmaceutical-grade heroin produced in Canada. Dr. Perry Kendall, now interim director at the BC Centre on Substance Use, said access to injectable diacetylmorphine needs to be ramped up after a sharp rise in overdose deaths four years after he declared a public health emergency.

Canada, Britain and the United States denounced Russian hackers on Thursday for trying to steal research on COVID-19 vaccines from organizations in all three countries and around the world. Thursday's joint declaration, led by Britain, said the hackers were almost certainly working for Russian intelligence and accused them of disrupting the global efforts to find a vaccine for the novel coronavirus.

Although the Canadian border has been closed since March 21 to limit the spread of COVID-19, the number of international travelers counted at Canadian airports has increased considerably in recent weeks. Between June 29 and July 12, 91,300 travelers entered Canada, according to the Canada Border Services Agency. About 40,000 of the 91,000 passengers were neither Canadian citizens nor permanent residents of the country.

Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro is escalating his pay dispute with doctors, asking the College of Physician and Surgeons to make rules to stop doctors from withdrawing services en masse. Shandro, in a letter dated June 18, says patients—particularly those in rural areas—have a right to timely access to care and that the college has to do more to make sure that happens.

The second in a video series from Dr. John Crosby

Eight COVID-19 cases have been identified among the several thousands of people who attended rallies in Calgary and Edmonton. Similar events were held around the world after the death of George Floyd, a Black man whose neck a Minneapolis police officer compressed with his knee for nearly nine minutes.