Parents and teachers in four provinces are bracing for students to return to the classroom on Monday, January 17, 2022, as the Omicron variant-fuelled wave of COVID-19 continues to spread and questions remain about how prepared schools really are for a full-scale return.
Experts and advocates are calling for governments to release some inmates in provincial jails and federal prisons as outbreaks of COVID-19 driven by the infectious Omicron variant spread through the country's correctional facilities.
Health professionals and provincial governments are drawing up battle plans to curb the spread of COVID-19 by bringing back restrictions, while speeding up booster doses as the highly transmissible Omicron variant washes over the country.
Large parts of Canada are starting to hunker down, with new restrictions coming into effect as a fifth wave of COVID-19 fuelled by the Omicron variant saw thousands of new cases across the country over the weekend.