Coronavirus (COVID-19) National News

OTTAWA — Officials believed in late summer that an economic recovery would not magically happen if lockdowns and public health restrictions disappeared, a newly obtained federal document shows.

MONTREAL — Pharmacies are pushing to get involved in Canada’s vaccination effort, pitching their expansive networks and experience with vaccine distribution as potential selling points. Nationwide chains Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. and London Drugs Ltd.

World Health Organization officials are predicting that the "destiny" of the COVID-19 virus is to become endemic, suggesting it could continue to spread through the population at a steady rate despite a global vaccination effort.

OTTAWA — The federal government is expected to provide details later today on its plan to make travellers test negative for COVID-19 before landing in Canada.

OTTAWA — The federal government says it plans to require air travellers to test negative for COVID-19 before landing in Canada in response to concerns that people vacationing abroad could bring the novel coronavirus home with them.

Ontario is planning to ramp up COVID-19 vaccinations after facing criticism for scaling down operations over the holidays, while Alberta acknowledges it over-estimated how quickly it would be able to get shots into people's arms. Retired Gen.

OTTAWA — A contagious new strain of the virus that causes COVID-19 has infiltrated two more regions of Canada, health officials said Sunday, a day after announcing the country's first cases of the variant had been detected.

Ontario on Saturday confirmed its two first cases of a variant of COVID-19 first identified in the United Kingdom, marking the first time the more contagious strain had been detected in Canada.

OTTAWA — Canada's employment minister says plans to revamp the employment insurance system have been put on a faster path thanks to COVID-19.

Advocates say inmates should have speedy access to the COVID-19 vaccine, given how susceptible prisons and jails have been to outbreaks and how prevalent chronic disease is in that population.