Four pedestrians were hit by an SUV while they waited for a bus in Surrey at around 5 p.m. Sunday. A tarp was seen in front of a grey Honda CRV but Surrey RCMP has confirmed no one was killed in the collision. Yellow tape closed off two lanes of 72nd Avenue near 122st Street for hours while Mounties investigated. Sgt. Kimberly Farlin tells NEWS 1130 the collision involved just one vehicle but didn’t provide details on injuries. ‘L’ and ‘N’ magnets, used to indicate a driver with a learners or novice licence, were seen on the SUV involved in the collision.
Seniors aged 78 and up in Vancouver Coastal Health, Fraser Health, Island Health and Interior Health can begin calling to book their COVID-19 vaccine appointments today. B-C announced a revised schedule last week that means everyone who is eligible for a vaccine in the province will be able to receive a first dose before July 1st. People over 77 can start booking tomorrow, while those over 76 can start calling on Thursday and seniors over 75 and Indigenous people over 55 become eligible Saturday. Eligibility varies by community in the Northern Health authority,
and some smaller communities in other health authorities are also on an accelerated schedule. Officials are set to provide an update today on case numbers for the past three days, after B-C reported 737 cases on Friday, the highest daily total since January.
AstraZeneca says a late-stage study in the U-S has found its COVID-19 vaccine provided strong protection against sickness and eliminated hospitalizations and deaths across all age groups. It says the vaccine shows it is 79 per cent effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 and 100 per cent effective against severe disease and hospitalization. The drugmaker says its experts did not identify any safety concerns, including no increased risk of rare blood clots identified in Europe.
Buckle up — Canada’s vaccination program is set to put the pedal to the metal. Big shipments of various vaccines are due this week, including almost 1.2-million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Moderna is sending two shipments, totalling 846-thousand doses over the course of the week. And by the end of the month, the U-S is expected to pitch in and loan 1.5 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
North Shore Rescue crews rescued two men on Cypress Mountain who’ve been missing since Saturday night. Search Manager Peter Haigh says around 11:30 p.m. the rescue team was contacted by the girlfriend of one of the men. She told crews the 38-year-old and 42-year-old did not return home. Haigh says the search has been “frustrating,” but thankful crews had a breakthrough when the pair used their phones Sunday. According to Haigh, both of the men’s phones were off since one 1:00 p.m. Saturday but at 7:00 a.m. Sunday they both attempted to make a call. Search crews have deployed a helicopter, “but we’re stuck with whiteout conditions and cloud, so we can’t get above about 500 meters.” The pair were found huddled under a tree in Tony Baker Gully around 5:30 p.m. Sunday. Haigh says both men were cold and hungry but were otherwise fine.
BC is reporting another one-thousand-785 cases of COVID-19 over the past three days as well as 16 more deaths. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says 166 new cases of COVID variants have also been confirmed, mainly the one first seen in the U-K but also including 20 cases of the Brazil variant. Henry says so far the province is not seeing any increased risk of hospitalization or death from the variants. She also says there was good news on the vaccine front with trials in the U-S showing the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to be 79 per cent effective in preventing COVID infections. Henry says having three approved vaccines in Canada means B-C can ramp up vaccinations on several fronts and is ahead of its original Schedule.
Police in Surrey say distracted driving may to be blame after an SUV drove up on a sidewalk and hit three people, including a five-year-old girl in Newton on Sunday afternoon. A Black Press freelancer at the scene said a four-door Honda SUV with “L” and “N” magnets ended up on the sidewalk at a bus stop at 122nd Street and 72nd Avenue in Strawberry Hill. RCMP said the driver of the vehicle is a Class 7 (learner) who was under supervision at the time of the crash. Police said one of the three people sustained multiple fractures and all were taken to hospital.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says there is no place in Canada for the kind of ignorance and inexcusable hate demonstrated by homophobic graffiti painted on the road in front of the home of Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson. Watson — who became Ottawa’s longest-serving mayor on Saturday — came out as a gay man in August of 2019. The Ottawa Police hate crimes unit is investigating.
All 275 units within the upcoming 30-storey Belvedere tower in Surrey City Centre were sold in pre-sale in under three days. The homes were released on Friday and by Sunday all units were sold, according to One Flat Fee realtor Mayur Arora.