Canada adds Ebola screening at airports

Canada has introduced enhanced screening measures at airports for travellers returning from African countries facing a deadly Ebola outbreak, Canada’s top doctor said Friday after confirming an individual being tested in Ontario is negative for the virus.

Dr. Joss Reimer said the testing was done proactively after the individual returned from Ethiopia and reported symptoms “consistent with a range of illnesses.”

“Both the initial testing that was conducted in Ontario as well as confirmatory testing at the National Microbiology Laboratory were negative,” Reimer said during a virtual news conference.

Read more to find out about the update.

These are the Canadian regions with the highest rates of breast cancer

A new Statistics Canada study has uncovered which Canadian provinces experience the highest breast cancer rates.

Between 2010 and 2020, rural regions in Quebec, Ontario and the Prairies, as well as in certain urban centers with large immigrant and racialized populations, were found to have the highest breast cancer risks.

Rates are lowest in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, alongside northern and remote regions with younger populations and large metropolitan areas.

Read more to find out about the study.

Increasing screen time for children a public health concern: U.S. advisory

Increasingly harmful screen time among children and teenagers has become a public health concern in the U.S., a new surgeon general’s advisory warned Wednesday, with negative mental and physical impacts that compound with age.

The advisory urges a whole-of-society approach to addressing the issue, from delaying kids’ access to devices and online platforms for as long as possible to instituting school bans, modelling healthy online behaviour and promoting physical activity.

It warns that exposure to screens — including phones, tablets, computers and video games — is often starting before a child’s first birthday and increases as they grow older, a trend that U.S. health officials want to disrupt.

Read more to find out about the advisory.