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COVID Cases Dropping But Too Early To Ease Restrictions: Tam
COVID-19 cases are beginning to decline across the country but the situation remains too precarious to ease restrictions, says Canada’s top doctor.
The hardest hit provinces, Ontario, Quebec and Alberta, reported a decline in cases over the last week. They all have strict lockdown measures in place, including a curfew in Quebec and closed schools in Ontario.
“While this suggests that community-based measures may be starting to take effect, it is too soon to be sure that current measures are strong enough and broad enough to maintain a steady downward trend,” said Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam in a statement Saturday.
Daily case counts remain high, with 65,750 active cases reported Saturday and more than 6,000 new cases on average over the last week — down from 7,672 cases a day at the beginning of the month. Outbreaks continue in hospitals, long-term care homes, correctional facilities, congregate living settings and Indigenous and remote communities, said Tam.
“We can expect to see ongoing heavy impacts on our healthcare system and health workforce for weeks to come,” she warned.
Everyday in the last week, on average, more than 4,500 people with COVID-19 were being treated in hospitals, 870 were admitted in intensive care units and 149 died.
Ontario and Quebec’s shutdowns are likely to continue until at least mid-February. Alberta eased some measures last week to allow up to 10 people to see each other outdoors and some businesses to reopen for appointments, such as hair salons and tattoo shops, but indoor gatherings remain banned.
Tam said the new virus variants could rapidly accelerate transmission.
“Stringent and consistent efforts are needed to sustain a downward trend in case counts and strongly suppress COVID-19 activity across Canada,” she said.
“This will not only prevent more tragic outcomes, but will help to ensure that new virus variants of concern do not have the opportunity to spread.”
