Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world on Tuesday
CBC
The latest:
Quebec — which started to reopen on Monday — will no longer proceed with a plan to impose a tax on people who aren't vaccinated against COVID-19.
Premier François Legault said during an afternoon briefing that he heard that there was opposition to the idea and he didn't want to cause further division.
"It's time to rebuild the bridges between Quebecers," he said in French. "I understand that this divides Quebecers.... Quebecers must remain united."
The premier announced on Jan. 11 he planned to make the unvaccinated pay a significant financial penalty because they were overrepresented in the health-care system.
About 10 per cent of people in the province's eligible population are unvaccinated.
Legault also announced that as of Feb. 14, sports and artistic activities will resume, and gyms and spas will reopen at 50 per cent capacity.
A situation report published by health officials in the province on Tuesday showed 2,852 hospitalizations — down by 36 from a day earlier — with 218 people in intensive care. The province also reported 63 additional deaths and 2,730 lab-confirmed cases.
In Ontario, which also began easing pandemic restrictions this week, health officials on Tuesday said hospitalizations in the province stood at 3,091 — up by 108 from a day earlier — with 568 people in intensive care units. The province also reported 63 deaths and 2,622 additional lab-confirmed cases.
Premier Doug Ford, who appeared at a news conference alongside his minister of long-term care on Tuesday, said the government is taking a "cautious" approach to reopening and pointed to its multi-phase reopening plan.
The premier's remarks came as the Ontario COVID-19 science advisory table put out new modelling to look at how that reopening might impact cases and hospitalizations.
Health Minister Christine Elliott said at the briefing Tuesday that Ontario does have capacity in its hospital system, noting that even if numbers do go up slightly the province will be ready to deal with it.
The province moved in early January to pause non-urgent procedures as Omicron surged, throwing many patients in limbo as they waited for word on when they would be seen. A plan is in place to resume some of the paused procedures, but concerns around backlogs remain after massive disruptions to the health-system caused by the lengthy pandemic.
-From CBC News and The Canadian Press, last updated at 1:30 p.m. ET
A decision over how the provincial government regulates moose hunting in a First Nation's traditional territory now rests with a Manitoba judge, whose ruling will be precedent-setting, lawyers in the case say.
A teenager diagnosed with bird flu in British Columbia is the first domestically acquired human case of H5N1 avian influenza, the Public Health Agency of Canada says.
The Manitoba government made a "political compromise" in its decision to issue a reduced number of moose hunting licences to non-Indigenous hunters in northern parts of the province earlier this year, a lawyer representing a First Nation in the area has argued in court.
If it weren't for a stem cell transplant — less than half a cup of blood from a stranger's umbilical cord — four-year-old Tristan Ford would almost certainly have died as an infant, his parents say.
A Métis saddle from the early 1800s is at the centre of an exhibit that opened last month at a Swiss museum, along with contemporary beadwork created by other Red River Métis artists.
A dome-shaped device floating in Halifax's Northwest Arm could easily be confused with a buoy, but it is actually a contraption meant to turn ocean water into fresh water.
As of Tuesday, there are limits on the number of bottles of spirits a person can buy at the B.C. Liquor store in Tofino, a move that leaders of the Ahousaht First Nation were pushing for.
This story is part of CBC Health's Second Opinion, a weekly analysis of health and medical science news emailed to subscribers on Saturday mornings. If you haven't subscribed yet, you can do that by clicking here.
Mohawk code talkers and their missions were so vital during the Second World War, that some believe without them, there was no way of winning of the war.
Two feisty ferret babies in Virginia are being hailed as a symbol of hope for the future of their species.
On day one of Donald Trump's presidency, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he'll be advising Trump to take fluoride out of public water. The former independent presidential hopeful — and prominent proponent of debunked public health claims — has been told he'll be put in charge of health initiatives in the new Trump administration. He's described fluoride as "industrial waste."