Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos and his counterparts from other G7 countries agreed Monday to closely monitor and share information about the highly mutated Omicron variant of COVID-19.

Quebec confirmed its first case of the Omicron novel coronavirus variant on Monday, and officials said 115 travellers who recently returned to the province from affected countries, primarily in southern Africa, have been told to take a PCR test and isolate.

Ontario has now confirmed a total of four cases of the new Omicron coronavirus variant in the province. Ottawa Public Health confirmed Monday evening that two more travellers have tested positive for the variant.

The number of First Nations people who died from opioid-related deaths in Ontario more than doubled during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

South African scientists identified a new version of the coronavirus that they say is behind a recent spike in COVID-19 infections in Gauteng, the country's most populous province.

Over 31,000 COVID-19 vaccination appointments for children aged five to 11 have been booked in Toronto so far, with city-run clinics, schools and pharmacies gearing up to administer vaccines starting tomorrow.

A French school in Etobicoke is the latest school in Toronto to be shut down due to a COVID-19 outbreak.

Ontario authorities are investigating reports of a possible security breach associated with the provincial COVID-19 vaccine booking portal.

The first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines for children has arrived in Canada.

Indoor birthday parties and maskless classrooms could be nearly within reach for kids now that Health Canada has approved the first COVID-19 vaccine for children aged five to 11.

The federal government says that as of Nov. 30, fully vaccinated Canadians and permanent residents who are visiting the United States for less than 72 hours won't need a costly molecular test for COVID-19 in order to return home.

Ontario is moving forward with a plan to conduct symptomatic COVID-19 tests inside neighbourhood pharmacies, as Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacy workers continue to express doubts about safety and other pharmacy chains refuse to participate or sit on the fence.

The federal government is set to announce Friday that Health Canada has approved the COVID-19 vaccine for children aged five to 11, then later detail plans to ease some of the pandemic-related measures at the border.

Ontario is preparing to send a pack of five rapid antigen COVID-19 tests home with every school child in the province in time for winter break, in a massive effort to screen kids over the holidays and prevent infected kids from re-entering schools in January.

Ontario's government defended its plan Wednesday to allow people with COVID-19 symptoms to get tested for the virus in pharmacies, even as opposition legislators and public health experts expressed safety concerns.

The federal government will announce changes to COVID-19 prevention measures at the Canadian border “very soon,” Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said Tuesday.

An Ontario health unit said Monday it would reinstate capacity limits and other public health rules amid a surge of COVID-19 cases, while another mulled a similar move.

Fewer than a dozen nursing homes needed staffing help from the Ontario government on Monday as the deadline for workers to get a first COVID-19 vaccine dose came due, according to the minister of long-term care.

Health Canada says a decision on whether to authorize a COVID-19 vaccine for children will come “in the next one to two weeks,” leaving open the possibility that some kids could be at least partially protected by Christmas.

Ontario’s publicly funded schools are reporting 95 new school-related cases of COVID-19.