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PPC leader Bernier admits violating Manitoba COVID-19 public health orders

The leader of the People’s Party of Canada has been ordered by a Manitoba provincial court judge to pay more than $2,000 in fines, after he admitted to twice violating COVID-19 public health orders.

Maxime Bernier, 60, was charged June 11, 2021, after attending rural Manitoba rallies as part of his “Mad Max” tour in the run-up to the federal election, at a time in the pandemic when all public gatherings were banned.

The veteran Quebec politician, who held the Beuce riding for the Conservatives from 2006 to 2018 before leaving the Tories and founding the PPC, was given four tickets for his actions that day.

Two were for failing to self-isolate upon entrance to Manitoba (which were stayed by the Crown two weeks ago, as there wasn’t a reasonable likelihood of conviction). At the time, people who had not been vaccinated against COVID-19 needed to isolate upon arrival to the province, per the orders.

Bernier challenges ‘fake Conservative party’ at Portage byelection campaign rally

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE — People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier made his first local pitch in his bid to become the MP for Portage—Lisgar, with the Quebec politician telling a Manitoba gathering society has been “overtaken by evil” and flooded with “pervert ideas.”

Among talking points ranging from the “radical left” to “cultural Marxism,” Bernier promised he would come out on top of what he called a “two-horse race between the People’s Party and the fake Conservative party” in the upcoming byelection in the Tory stronghold riding.

“We are living in a completely different society, one overtaken by evil,” Bernier told a crowd of around 80 people Friday morning in a Portage la Prairie hotel.

“The worst part of that is as these pervert ideas are being pushed everywhere in Canada, there is not a single MP fighting against these in the House of Commons.”

Former Guess Who drummer on life support, family calls for return mask requirements at health-care centres

Last month, Vance Masters was at home, on a treadmill, exercising in preparation for his first evening out since the pandemic began.

Now, the 77-year-old internationally recognized musician is on life support in an intensive care unit, after contracting COVID-19 inside a health-care centre.

His family is speaking out about the lack of protection for vulnerable patients in Manitoba, particularly in the wake of rescinded mask mandates in hospitals and long-term care settings.

Bev Masters and the couple’s two adult children are in the process of making heart-rending decisions about how long to continue his life support.

Student absenteeism remains under educators’ microscope

There are early signs the worst of student absenteeism is in school board leaders’ rear-view mirrors, along with the COVID-19 pandemic, but record non-attendance levels remain a pressing issue.

The Louis Riel School Division’s winter absence rate, a figure calculated with data collected from December through March, is 12.5 per cent this year — a drop, albeit smaller than a single percentage point — from 2021-22.

There appears to be a “leveling off” of absences across all grades, said superintendent Christian Michalik, who noted non-attendance figures climbed in autumn, but new winter statistics mirror those recorded last year.

The Winnipeg division published a report on local absenteeism statistics, a follow-up to an autumn edition, this month. It acknowledges students typically miss more classes over the winter period, an annual occurrence linked to factors ranging from illness to weather.

Manitoba goes three weeks without COVID-19 death

No new COVID-19 deaths have been logged in Manitoba for three consecutive weeks — the longest stretch of time without any deaths since the first wave of the pandemic.

Manitoba Women’s Institute shares stories of pandemic’s daily impact

Annette Holowka kept a journal, Dorothy Braun devoted herself to caring for her mother, Sheena Letexier travelled the world without ever leaving her armchair and Debra Barrett collected stories.

Province urging high-risk residents to get spring COVID booster

COVID-19 boosters are available for high-risk Manitobans this spring, and most Manitobans will likely be eligible for their next booster in the fall.

Province, Winnipeg police seek court dismissal of proposed vax class action

The province of Manitoba and Winnipeg Police Service are seeking a court order to dismiss a proposed class-action lawsuit launched last year in response to the police service’s COVID-19 vaccination policy.

COVID vaccine clinic a well-oiled machine on final day

On the last day of the last provincially run COVID-19 vaccine clinic, it was smooth sailing.

Manitoba axes vax status checker app

In another milestone in the post-pandemic world, the province of Manitoba has ended service for its mobile application that allowed business and venue owners to verify a patron’s vaccination status.

Manitoba vaccine purchase plan axed in 2021

Manitoba’s plan to go it alone and buy COVID-19 vaccines directly from a Canadian company was officially nixed as soon as premier Brian Pallister’s successor took office.

HSC replaces access screeners with private security

Local health-care facilities have been phasing out COVID-19 screeners at their entrances over the past few months. At Health Sciences Centre, the move means 32 term employees will be out of work next week.

Boosters promoted as subvariant Kraken rears head

In the face of the most contagious COVID-19 subvariant yet, Manitobans need to get up-to-date on booster shots and wear masks to protect young children from respiratory viruses, the president of Doctors Manitoba says.

Change to how COVID death recorded causes spike in Manitoba stats

Manitoba recorded more COVID-19 deaths in 2022 than it did in the previous two years of the pandemic, but the province’s public health team advises against making such a comparison.

2 COVID-19 deaths reported in Beijing as virus surges

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese health authorities on Monday announced two additional COVID-19 deaths, both in the capital Beijing, that were the first reported in weeks and come during an expected surge of illnesses after the nation eased its strict “zero-COVID” approach.

China had not reported a death from COVID-19 since Dec. 4, even though unofficial reports of a new wave of cases are widespread.

With the latest reported deaths, the National Health Commission raised China’s total to 5,237 deaths from COVID-19 in the past three years, out of 380,453 cases of illness — numbers that are much lower than in other major countries but also based on statistics and information-gathering methods that have come into question.

Chinese health authorities count only those who died directly from COVID-19, excluding people whose underlying conditions such as diabetes and heart disease were worsened by the virus.

Thailand’s king, queen test positive for COVID-19

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's king and queen have tested positive for COVID-19, and so far have only mild symptoms, the royal palace said Saturday.

Doctors prescribed treatment for King Maha Vajiralongkorn, 70, and Queen Suthida, 44, and requested them to refrain from duties for a while, the Royal Household Bureau said in a statement.

Their symptoms are “very mild,” the statement said.

Earlier Friday and Thursday, the couple visited Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol at Chulalongkorn Hospital in Bangkok, where she was admitted after she fell unconscious due to a heart problem on Wednesday.

B.C. government continues the pandemic wage top-up for care home workers

VICTORIA - The British Columbia government is extending its COVID-19 wage top-ups for staff at seniors facilities, but the restriction that limited those workers to one work site has been lifted.

The province began the temporary wage increases for clinical staff in long-term care and assisted-living facilities shortly after the pandemic began.

John Horgan promised during the last election that the government would continue to spend more than $10 million a month on the level up for wages and make it permanent, if the NDP was re-elected.

However, the province says in a statement issued Friday that it is renewing its commitment to "temporarily fund the increases."

COVID-linked deaths seen in Beijing after virus rules eased

BEIJING (AP) — Outside a funeral home in eastern Beijing, dozens of people were bundled up in parkas and hats against the freezing temperatures Friday evening as workers in full protective suits wheeled out coffins one by one.

When an employee with a clipboard shouted the name of the dead, a relative trundled up to the coffin to examine the body. One of the relatives told The Associated Press their loved one had been infected with COVID-19.

Deaths linked to the coronavirus are appearing in Beijing after weeks of China reporting no fatalities, even as the country is seeing a surge of cases.

That surge comes as the government last week dramatically eased some of the world’s strictest COVID-19 containment measures. On Wednesday, the government said it would stop reporting asymptomatic COVID-19 cases since they’ve become impossible to track with mass testing no longer required.