Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world on Thursday
CBC
The latest:
British Columbia is delaying the full return to classrooms in January to allow public health officials to assess the impact of the COVID-19 Omicron variant and give school staff time to implement enhanced safety measures.
Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside said Wednesday staff and students whose parents are health workers, as well as those who need extra support, will return to schools Jan. 3 or 4. All other students will return to classrooms Jan. 10.
"We have to ensure we have the foundations in place to keep our schools safely open," Whiteside said.
British Columbia is not alone in adjusting the return to school. Officials in Newfoundland and Labrador said Wednesday that schools will shift to remote learning after the Christmas break, with the decision to be re-examined weekly.
Nova Scotia announced earlier this week that students will return to in-person learning, though they will be back in the classroom a few days later than originally scheduled. Manitoba had already announced a delay, saying before the Christmas holidays that a return to classrooms would be pushed back to Jan. 10.
The announcements in B.C., Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador come as students, teachers and parents in Ontario wait for word on the return to school.
-From The Canadian Press and CBC News, last updated at 7:50 a.m. ET
For more details on the situation in your province and territory — including the latest on hospitalizations and ICU capacity, as well as local testing issues — click through to the local coverage below.
In Atlantic Canada, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador all saw single-day COVID-19 case number highs on Wednesday.
In Nova Scotia, health officials reported 586 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, with 24 people in hospital.
Across the North, Nunavut's premier said Wednesday that his government is seeking help from the federal government as COVID-19 cases rise. The update came as the territory reported 37 additional cases, bringing the number of active cases to 74.
In the Northwest Territories, health officials said 68 new COVID-19 cases had been reported since Christmas Eve, while Yukon health officials reported 27 new COVID-19 cases in the same period.
In Central Canada, Quebec on Wednesday reported 13,149 cases of COVID-19 — a single-day high — and 10 additional deaths. Ontario, meanwhile, saw a single-day high of 10,436 cases of COVID-19 and three additional deaths.
For nearly four years, the city of Kramatorsk in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk has been a stronghold — a key logistics hub for the military, and for the population, a literal and symbolic fortress standing firm against a Russian push that continues to edge closer from the south and the east.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is ordering a blockade of all "sanctioned oil tankers" into Venezuela, ramping up pressure on the country's authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro in a move that seemed designed to put a tighter chokehold on the South American country's economy.
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U.S. President Donald Trump sued the BBC on Monday for defamation over edited clips of a speech that made it appear he directed supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol, opening an international front in his fight against media coverage he deems untrue or unfair.
At least 11 people were killed and more than two dozen injured in a shooting by two gunmen at a Jewish holiday event at Sydney's Bondi Beach on Sunday.
A shooting in the engineering building at Brown University on Saturday has left at least two people dead and eight critically injured, officials in Providence, R.I., said, as authorities continued to search for a suspect.
U.S. House Democrats released a selection of photos from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein on Friday, including some of Donald Trump, former U.S. president Bill Clinton and the former prince Andrew.
As part of a continuing crackdown on U.S. borders, the Trump administration is now considering placing stricter requirements for entry on citizens of some visa-exempt countries.
The United States is preparing to intercept more ships transporting Venezuelan oil following the seizure of a tanker this week, as it increases pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, six sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
The U.S. has seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, a move that sent oil prices higher and sharply escalated tensions between Washington and Caracas.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s new national security strategy appears to blow up some of the key principles behind 80 years of European collective defence, challenging the foundation of the continent’s relationship with the country.
The U.S. military flew a pair of fighter jets over the Gulf of Venezuela on Tuesday in what appears to be the closest American warplanes have come to the South American country's airspace since the start of the Trump administration's pressure campaign.
The federal government says it is keeping a close eye on lethal strikes by American forces on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean, while continuing with operations in the region.