The country's pandemic early warning system has issued only a handful of alerts — most of them unrelated to deadly variants of COVID-19 — since facing intense public scrutiny and criticism from Canada's auditor general, new federal documents show. It had been muzzled the year before by a series of internal decisions at the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). Last spring, Auditor General Karen Hogan criticized the federal government's pandemic preparedness and cited the PHAC changes which silenced GPHIN. WATCH: Auditor general says Canada was not well prepared for pandemicCanada's auditor general says country 'was not well prepared' to face the pandemic 3:05 Karen Hogan says the country's stockpile of emergency equipment should have been better managed. The public health agency said it has made changes since the auditor's report was released.

Source: CBC News October 07, 2021 08:00 UTC