Zain Chagla: Latest News

Ontario doctors are advising people to keep up with vaccinations ahead of the fall, when illnesses including COVID-19 and influenza are expected to spread amid health system challenges.Physicians spoke at a virtual panel hosted by the Ontario Medical Association to for a lookahead discussion about the pandemic and other health-care issues in the coming months.Infectious diseases specialist Dr. Zain Chagla says other countries have seen influenza spikes this year and Ontario should brace for something similar, as well as a likely increase in COVID-19 cases in the fall.

World Health Organization declared the COVID–19 outbreak a global pandemic.Schools across the world shut down, workplaces turned remote and the fast-spreading virus revealed the fragility of many countries’ health-care systems. Since then, the virus has claimed close to seven million lives, of which more than 51,000 were Canadians.

COVID-19 variant have been discovered in Ontario, but experts say it doesn’t warrant significant concern.In a recent brief, Public Health Ontario says BA.2.20 represents an evolved form of the Omicron BA.2 subvariant that has been primarily growing in Ontario.It notes that the first case of BA.2.20 had a sample collection date of Feb. 14 and that there have been 996 cases confirmed in the province.Over the past four weeks, the percentage of BA.2.20 cases has remained stable, at approximately 5.5 per cent.Dr.

COVID-19 testing requirements for fully-vaccinated people that want to cross the border from the U.S. to Canada.Jim Diodati told Global News he’s a signatory to an open letter addressed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, asking for an end to testing guidelines.

Beth Potter, president of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, Dr. Dominik Mertz, division director of infectious diseases at McMaster University, and Dr.

COVID-19 pandemic.Leading the challenge are the Church of God in Aylmer and Trinity Bible Chapel in Waterloo, both of which have faced a variety of charges, including findings of contempt, for repeatedly defying restrictions.“It will be our submission that both the indoor and outdoor gathering restrictions are over-broad, unreasonable and arbitrary limits that violate the charter of rights and cannot be demonstrably justified,” said Lisa Bildy, one of several lawyers representing the churches, toward the beginning of the hearing.“Accordingly, we’ll ask this court to declare the restrictions to be of no force and effect and to set aside the restraining orders imposed to enforce them.” Woolwich pastor faces fine of up to $100,000 for Sunday service ignoring COVID-19 lockdown The multi-day hearing for the challenge is being held virtually by the Superior Court of Justice in St. Thomas with Justice Renee Pomerance presiding over the matter.

COVID-19 due to low supply during the current wave of the pandemic.St Joseph’s Healthcare Dr. Zain Chagla says Tocilizumab — an anti-inflammatory medication — is one of few drugs physicians can give to people when they get moderately or critically ill with COVID-19 to protect them from getting ventilated or dying.Chagla says Hamilton’s hospitals have “been very strict” in recent times since supply shortages have led to limiting doses and turning to alternative medications.“We look at patients to see whether or not there is an expected survival just for the sake of making sure that we give the drug to people where we think it’s going to derive the most benefit,” Chagla told 900 CHML’s Good Morning Hamilton.“We’ve had to bring in alternative medications which have similar efficacy, which is good, but … are expensive and have more drug interactions associated.” Ontario science table recommends limiting use of COVID drug due to supply shortage Ontario’s COVID Science Advisory Table recommended rationing the drug as far back as April 2021 as supply shortages coincided with the third wave of infections that sent more patients into intensive care than the first two.The agency suggested use be restricted for critically- and moderately-ill patients and that a second doses  — usually considered after 24 hours — be scrapped.Dr.

COVID-19 infections.On Tuesday, Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) updated its guidance and said vaccines can be safely mixed and matched in most scenarios.The recommendations suggest people who received a first dose of the viral vector-based AstraZeneca vaccine may receive an mRNA shot — Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna — for their second dose, with the advice of a physician. NACI recommends mixing AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna COVID-19 vaccines Dr.

COVID-19 pandemic.But experts warn that if kids go back before appropriate precautions can be put in place, it could just lead to a resurgence of COVID-19 in the community. Children can be COVID-19 long haulers but it is very rare, experts say “There are still liabilities in school that need to be dealt with, including class sizes, including ventilation, masking and distancing,” said Dr.

COVID-19 vaccinations were snapped up across Ontario on Tuesday morning after the province let anyone aged 18 and older book their first shot.Hamiltonians expressed their frustration on the city’s Twitter account on Tuesday with the provincial booking portal and vaccine hotline telling many there were no appointments available.Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious disease specialist at St.

COVID-19 variants circulating across the country, health officials are warning Canadians to stay vigilant, keep their distance and wear a mask.But what about gathering outside? Because the variants can be more transmissible, do people have to wear masks more frequently outdoors or keep more than two metres apart? Will the more deadly COVID-19 variants ruin our summer? Here’s what experts are saying Although experts are torn on this answer, there is one consistent message: gathering outdoors is still much safer than congregating indoors.According to Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious disease physician at St.

COVID-19 experts say, even if it’s hard to see it while more contagious virus variants plunge parts of Canada into the third wave of the pandemic.And while the route to a post-pandemic world may not be as linear as some may like, there’s still reason for optimism, said Dr. Zain Chagla, medical director of infection control at St.

Dr. Zain Chagla and Dr. Sumon Chakrabarti answer questions from viewers about COVID-19 vaccines.

COVID-19 mRNA vaccine could provide the same level of protection or higher in a person who has recovered from the virus than someone with no history of infection who has received both shots, a new study has found.If widely accepted, experts say it could be a pivotal part of the race to achieve herd immunity.“The reason why we get two doses of some of these vaccines is to prime our immune system and then boost our immune system after that priming,” said Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious disease specialist at St.

coronavirus pandemic began, when Ontario’s long-term care homes were walloped by the deadly disease over the course of several weeks, the effort to protect the province’s seniors has almost been Herculean by many frontline workers and officials.With the promise of a vaccine to protect Ontario’s most vulnerable residents set against a recent increase in cases at long-term care settings, questions continue to be asked about what more can be done to protect seniors not only in the coming weeks but also in subsequent years and decades.“Long-term care facilities are the ones that are going to bear the brunt of this infection disproportionately as compared to other health care and other settings entirely,” Dr.

COVID-19, some infectious disease experts in Canada think it’s time to offer a safer alternative to drinking in public.Cracking a cold one in a park may be a good substitution, they say, if only it wasn’t illegal throughout most of the country. Influenza rates at record low thanks to distancing during coronavirus, data suggests Drinking among friends in sprawling green spaces — where there’s much more room to physically distance — can keep people away from dangerously crowded indoor gatherings, says Dr.

For many Canadian infectious disease experts, the first inkling of the new coronavirus came in a New Year’s Eve email from the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases.