omicron news, opinion and analysis

Quebec Director of Public Health Horacio Arruda at a news conference in Montreal, Jan. 5, 2022. (Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press)

Quebec’s public health director resigns

Politics Insider for Jan. 11: COVID cases continue to peak in Canada; the realities of long COVID; and Ontario will re-open schools

Experts are hopeful the Omicron wave will be short, but fear for health care capacity continues

Case counts are soaring and hospitalizations are rising. But things are very different now than they were in March 2020.

AFN Regional Chief Cindy Woodhouse picks up a pair of children’s moccasins she had placed on her desk at a news conference, Jan. 4, 2022 in Ottawa. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

Ottawa reaches $40 billion agreement to reform Indigenous child welfare

Politics Insider for Jan. 5: A landmark commitment to Indigenous child welfare; NORAD needs fixing; and a Canada-U.S. trade dispute settles

Volunteers speak with a family during a COVID-19 vaccine clinic at St. Lawrence College in Kingston, Ont. on Dec. 4, 2021 (Lars Hagberg/CP)

Caught flat-footed, Canada once again fumbles its pandemic response

Justin Ling: For the past 24 hours governments scrambled to come up with travel measures to address Omicron. Meanwhile, the wait for boosters and tests continues.

Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Marc Miller, rises during Question Period, Dec. 13, 2021 in Ottawa. (Fred Chartrand/The Canadian Press)

Federal government pledges $40 billion for First Nations child welfare

Politics Insider for Dec 14, 2021: Funds for Indigenous child welfare; Anand apologizes for military sexual misconduct; and Trudeau’s out of the Bill 21 fight for now

A security man stands guard outside a ward being prepared for the omicron coronavirus in Ahmedabad, India, on Dec. 6, 2021. (Ajit Solanki/AP)

Omicron variant will likely be worse than Delta, according to early research

Vaxx Populi: Omicron has a higher effective reproduction number than Delta, so can vaccines protect against more hospitalizations and deaths? Time will tell.

International travelers at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Mississauga, Ontario, on Nov. 28, 2021 (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua via ZUMA Press)

Canada announces new travel restrictions as the world braces for Omicron

Politics Insider for Dec. 1, 2021: Omicron sparks new restrictions; new vaccine questions; and a political challenge

Flight cancelations are seen on the information board at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan, Nov. 30, 2021. Japan confirmed on Tuesday its first case of the new Omicron coronavirus variant. (Shinji Kita/Kyodo News via AP)

Omicron cases start to climb as WHO warns the variant poses a ’high infection risk’

Politics Insider for Nov. 30, 2021: New cases in Canada; a military apology; and Steven Guilbeault’s bicycle

Families watch planes on the tarmac at Johannesburg's OR Tambo's airport, Nov. 29, 2021. WHO urged countries around the world not to impose flight bans on southern African nations due to concern over the new Omicron variant. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Omicron: Here’s what we know so far about the latest variant of concern

Vaxx Populi: From how vulnerable Canada is to what the vaccine makers are doing in response, here’s what we know about the newest variant of concern

Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos and Chief Public Health Officer Theresa on November 26, 2021 in Ottawa. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

The COVID-19 variant Omicron is in Ottawa; and WHO disputes travel restrictions

Politics Insider for Nov. 29, 2021: A worrying new COVID variant is here; an inflation fight; and some Ryan Reynolds