Ottawa Public Health recommends temporarily pausing indoor contact and team sports
CTV
Ottawa Public Health has asked sports organizations in the city to consider temporarily pausing indoor sports and team activities to help reduce the transmission of COVID-19.
A letter sent to organizations Friday says contact sports are considered high-risk activities when it comes to the transmission of COVID-19.
"Key risk factors for COVID-19 transmission include close contact, closed spaces, crowded places, prolonged exposure, and forceful exhalation, all of which are prevalent with indoor organized sport activities," the note says. "In addition, participants may be more vulnerable to COVID-19, as they are often children and youth, who may not be fully vaccinated, and often not wearing a mask or maintaining physical distance when engaging in physical activity."
This comes as Canada experiences a massive surge in COVID-19 transmission because of the Omicron variant. Case counts have skyrocketed, driving demand for testing even higher, leading Ontario to put limits on PCR testing. Anyone who can't get a test is asked to self-isolate if they develop COVID-19 symptoms.
Medical officer of health Dr. Vera Etches said in a year-end statement that residents should consider avoiding activities like indoor and team sports for the time being.
NDP House leader Peter Julian says there's more his party wants to do in Parliament before the next election, but if the current dysfunction continues it will become a factor in how they vote on a confidence measure.
Manitoba RCMP arrested a man after he allegedly pulled over two women on the highway pretending to be an RCMP officer.
A man is dead after he became trapped in a trench on Friday morning.
Waterloo Regional Police have laid charges after a car crashed into the side of a Kitchener home at 3:30 a.m.
A northeastern Ontario jury has started deliberating in Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard's sexual assault trial, we can now tell you what they weren't allowed to hear.
The owners of a North York condominium say they are facing a $70,000 special assessment to fix their building's parking garage. '$70,000 is a lot of money. It makes me very nervous and stressed out of nowhere for this huge debt to come in,' said Ligeng Guo.
According to police, officers responded to the 600 block of Tennent Avenue for a, "report of a possible stabbing" around 9 p.m. on Thursday.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to announce funding to support French-speaking African countries and initiatives to promote the French language in the Francophonie.
At least two people are dead and others are injured after a fire ripped through a century-old building near Montreal's City Hall, sources told Noovo Info.
Staff at Saskatoon's Royal University Hospital are calling for systemic changes just two days after its emergency room was more than three times above its capacity.
An Edmonton hot tub repairman who was the subject of a previous CTV News Edmonton report has been charged with fraud.