National

COVID-19 side-effect: flu cases way down in Canada

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 31 Mar, 2021 04:58 PM

The 2021 flu season will go down in history as the epidemic that never was.

By this time of the year, Canada has normally logged an average of more than 43,000 confirmed cases of influenza.

But this year, the Public Health Agency of Canada says there was a total of just 66 confirmed cases as of March 20.

The federal agency says the case numbers are so low they haven't even met the threshold to declare the flu season as having begun.

There has been no evidence of flu spreading in the community, no confirmed outbreaks and the number of hospitalizations and deaths due to the flu is zero.

Canada's chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says the public health measures in place to slow the spread of COVID-19 have helped keep the flu at bay, but also other infectious diseases like measles — not diagnosed once in Canada in more than a year.

Prev Next

MORE National ARTICLES

One Arrested After Gasoline Poured On Tent, Occupants Threatened

The tent was occupied by a woman and her dog at the time of the incident. Patrol officers attended and located the suspect in Cecilia Ravine Park.

One Arrested After Gasoline Poured On Tent, Occupants Threatened

A look at the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine

On the one hand, Health Canada says Oxford-AstraZeneca’s vaccine has been deemed safe for seniors and points to emerging real-world data that shows it can protect older citizens against symptomatic infection.

A look at the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine

5.6M in funding for drug-dispensing machines

The machines, called MySafe, are similar to ATMs and allow drug users at risk of overdose to get hydromorphone pills dispensed to them after their palm has been scanned.

5.6M in funding for drug-dispensing machines

Ontario waits for guidance as B.C. delays 2nd dose

Alberto Martin, a University of Toronto immunology professor, says a published clinical trial showed the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine provided 60 per cent protection, but B.C. may have access to new or unpublished data.

Ontario waits for guidance as B.C. delays 2nd dose

Mounties who shot at other RCMP won't face charges

The Serious Incident Response team concludes the officers who fired their guns had been told the killer was driving a replica police vehicle and was wearing an orange vest, giving them grounds to believe the officer standing beside a patrol car was the murderer.