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5:45 a.m. Three local officials in Shanghai have been sacked over a slack response to the COVID-19 outbreak in China’s largest city, where residents are complaining of harsh lockdown conditions leading to shortages of food and basic necessities.
An official notice Friday gave no details of the allegations against the three officials, but said their failure to fulfill their duties in epidemic prevention and control had allowed the virus to spread, leading to a “serious impact” on efforts to control the outbreak.
Shanghai announced more than 21,000 new local cases on Friday, of which only 824 had symptoms. Total cases in the outbreak that began last month in Shanghai have soared past the 100,000 mark, making it one of China’s most serious since the virus was first detected in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019.
Read more from The Associated Press.
5:36 a.m. A major British airport warned passengers on Friday to expect the delays plaguing travel to continue for months, as the U.K. aviation regulator told the country’s air industry to shape up after weeks of canceled flights and long airport queues.
The head of Manchester Airport in northwest England said passengers could face waits of up to 90 minutes to get through security “over the next few months.”
Travellers in Britain have suffered days of delays during the current Easter school holiday break, with British Airways and easyJet cancelling hundreds of flights because of coronavirus-related staff absences, and long lines building at airport check-in, security and baggage points.
Read more from The Associated Press.
5:30 a.m. Businesses across Canada are struggling to cope with an apparent sixth wave of COVID-19, as staffing shortages hamper sectors from health care to hospitality and retail — though the interruption remains more manageable than last winter’s Omicron variant surge.
Dr. Kevin Smith, chief executive at the University Health Network in Toronto, said Thursday that cases have shot up in the past few days, “so much so that staffing is challenging once again.”
Rachel Reinders, who heads administration at the Lieutenant’s Pump pub in Ottawa, says it shut down its lunchtime kitchen for a week in March because four cooks were on sick leave simultaneously.
Read more from The Canadian Press.
5:15 a.m. As a scientist and a mom, Julie Lajoie was “frustrated” to recently discover her daughter appeared to have been reinfected with COVID, the dreaded two lines showing up on a rapid test for the second time in only about a month.
“I am seeing my oldest, who is normally full of energy, asking for a nap and slowly fighting this virus — again,” Lajoie, a research associate at the University of Manitoba who holds a PhD in virology and immunology, said in an email, having lost her voice due to her own COVID infection.
More than two years into the pandemic, Lajoie’s little girl joins a growing number of people around the world who have contracted the disease twice, from Britain’s Prince Charles to White House press secretary Jen Psaki, whose second positive test since October made headlines as she was forced to cancel an upcoming trip to Europe with President Joe Biden.
Reinfections were once thought to be very rare. But that changed with the arrival of Omicron, which is different enough from the original virus that causes COVID and other variants to evade some existing immunity.
Read more the Star’s May Warren.
5 a.m. It’s too early to drop all COVID-19 restrictions, including proof of vaccination at indoor venues, as infections rise in British Columbia due to a “let it rip” approach for managing the virus, a retired emergency room doctor says.
Dr. Lyne Filiatrault said the end of the vaccine card on Friday after masks were no longer required earlier this month sends the wrong message as the highly transmissible BA.2 subvariant of Omicron is spreading quickly.
“We think there’s going to be another BA.2 wave and we don’t think it’s going to be any different than what other jurisdictions are seeing, like Ontario and Quebec, because we’re making the same errors,” said Filiatrault, who speaks for Protect Our Province BC, a group of health-care professionals, scientists and advocates calling for evidence-based policies.
Read more from The Canadian Press.
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