{O/C} The Canadian public safety minister said on Monday that the country is against Republicans' meddling in the country's COVID protests.
What's more, as cases begin to plateau in neighbouring America, the governors of 5 states are planning to lift statewide mask mandates altogether.
{SOT}
Convoys of trucks remain on the streets of Ottawa, the mayor of which is pleading with the extra 2,000 police officers to quell the raucous nightly demonstrations staged by the "Freedom Truck Convoy". Demonstrations that have infuriated Canadians who live around downtown Ottawa.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today decided to condemn the protests with a vengeance in an attempt to stop the protests from wreaking further havoc on the embattled country.
{Soundbite} JUSTIN TRUDEAU, Canadian Prime Minister: We're all tired of this pandemic. This pandemic has sucked for all Canadians. But Canadians know the way to get through it is to continue listening to science, continuing to lean on each other, continuing to be there for each other.
But to no avail. Protesters honked their horns, with trucks left idling on roads throughout the entire night.
Protests erupted in the busiest border crossing between Canada and its neighbour, the United States. Demonstrators won't budge unless the Canadian government agrees to yield to their gripes that vaccine mandates and COVID restrictions should be dropped, and that Trudeau's government should be removed.
Prominent Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, in the United States rubbed salt in the wound, siding with protesters.
This had some Canadian officials castigating them for whipping up animosity towards the Canadian government.
Trump had earlier labelled Trudeau a far left fanatic who has destroyed Canada with his COVID edicts.
In the United States, the governors of four states -- Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey and Oregon -- are drawing up plans to lift statewide mask mandates in schools by the end of this or next month, citing tailing-off infections.
By the same token, California is due to end its indoor mask requirement for vaccinated people next week, albeit not for schoolchildren. Yet, masks are still mandatory for the unvaccinated after February 15. Additionally, everyone, regardless of vaccination status, will still have to wear masks in higher-risk areas such as public transit and nursing homes.
However, America is not off the hook yet. Cases increased by 348,000 today, with around 3,000 new deaths.
In Washington, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a moment of silence alongside members of the House of Representatives to mourn the deaths of more than 900,000 Americans due to COVID.
But to prove America's resilience truly knows no bounds, a member of the U.S. team at the Beijing Winter Olympics has set another world record.
Nathan Chen took Beijing by storm, scoring 113.97 points during his short program that pulverised the previous record set by longtime Japanese rival Yuzuru Hanyu, and is poised to sweeten the pill of his failure in the PyeongChang Winter Games back in 2018.
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