Alberta health officials to update COVID-19 situation Thursday afternoon

Alberta’s chief medical officer of health will hold her daily COVID-19 update on Thursday afternoon.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw is scheduled to update the province on the COVID-19 situation and the ongoing work to protect public health at 3:30 p.m.

Police officer, man injured in Sicamous, B.C., incident, police watchdog notified

The Independent Investigations Office of British Columbia has been notified of a recent incident in the province’s Southern Interior involving injuries to a police officer and a man.

On Thursday, B.C. RCMP said it notified the IIO of the incident in Sicamous on Tuesday.

Can UK cope with coronavirus lockdown extension?

On this edition of the Sky News Daily podcast with Dermot Murnaghan, we examine the decision by the government to keep restrictions in place for at least another few weeks.

We also look at the emotional and financial cost of the lockdown on people across the country.

China to release GDP figures as small businesses hurt most

World’s second-largest economy has slowed to a standstill because of the coronavirus outbreak, and small businesses are among the worst affected.

China is expected to release its latest quarterly GDP figures on Friday and analysts are not expecting good news.

The world’s second-largest economy has slowed to a standstill because of the coronavirus outbreak, and small businesses are among the worst affected.

Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu has this report from Beijing.

Surge in violence in Ituri region: Congolese army fights militias

Rights groups say at least half a million people have been displaced in recent years.

More than two dozen people have been killed in violence this week in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The attacks by ethnic Lendu farmers in Ituri province have mostly targeted Hema herders.

They have long been in conflict over grazing rights and political representation.

Al Jazeera’s Laura Burdon-Manley reports.

Canadian Blood Services sees increase in Alberta donations after call to action

Following an influx of cancelled donor appointments amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadian Blood Services said that donations are on the rise in Alberta.

Concern over the decline in donations prompted the organization to call on donors who are healthy to keep their appointments to prevent shortages.

Canada's First Nations: Indigenous communities counter outbreak

The government has promised more than $220m to help indigenous communities during the COVID-19 crisis.

As the number of COVID-19 cases in Canada continues to rise, the country’s First Nations communities are preparing for the worst.

But while many of them fear that the coronavirus will devastate the region, they have had an emergency plan ready to go.

Al Jazeera’s David Mercer reports.

Jeff Bezos drops $16M on another NYC apartment to create massive dream home

Jeff Bezos is adding to his Manhattan real estate empire.

The Amazon chief has just bought a $16 million, three-bedroom unit on the 20th floor of 212 Fifth Ave., according to city property records.

Bezos already owns $80 million worth of real estate in the building. Last June, he closed on a three-story penthouse and two apartments on the level right below it.

The properties on those four floors, plus the latest purchase, which is adjacent to the rest, will allow Bezos to create a massive dream home. The 55-year-old CEO is the wealthiest person in the world with a net worth of more than $125 billion.

“I think it is a boost of confidence that the richest man in the world is clearly doubling down on the most important city in the world — even though it is the coronavirus capital,” says top broker Dolly Lenz, who works with her daughter Jenny at Dolly Lenz Real Estate.

Bezos paid “more than market value” for the latest apartment, added Jenny Lenz, “but given that it is uniquely able to be attached to his units, the purchase makes sense.”

The penthouse alone has five bedrooms and 5 ½ bathrooms over 10,079 square feet. It first hit the market in 2017 for $73.8 million. Bezos paid around $58 million for it and about $22 million for the two adjacent units on the floor below.

Building permits were filed on Bezos’s behalf in the fall of 2019 to combine the units, but the work has not yet begun.

A spokesperson for Bezos did not return calls by press time.

Amazon gearing up to test all employees for coronavirus amid protests

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said Thursday that the company is on its way to building the capacity to test all of its employees for the coronavirus.

In a shareholder letter, Bezos said that the e-commerce juggernaut is on the cusp of being able to begin tests on employees in its warehouses, and will eventually be able to test all workers regardless of whether they have symptoms.

“We have begun assembling the equipment we need to build our first lab and hope to start testing small numbers of our front-line employees soon,” he wrote. “We are not sure how far we will get in the relevant time frame, but we think it’s worth trying, and we stand ready to share anything we learn.”

Amazon has faced harsh criticism in recent weeks for the conditions its warehouse workers have been forced to toil under during the pandemic.

The company’s warehouses in areas hit hardest by the coronavirus — including New York, Detroit and Chicago — have seen employee protests in recent weeks amid reports that dozens of warehouse workers have fallen ill.

At the same time, Amazon has been forced to hire 100,000 new workers at its warehouses around the country — and announced earlier this week that it plans on adding 75,000 more — as demand for its products surge.

Bezos last week made a surprise visit to an Amazon Warehouse and Whole Foods supermarket, greeting employees and thanking them for their hard work. Amazon also recently began taking workers’ temperatures when they show up for their warehouse shifts.