Canada sees sharp increase in Covid-19 cases

Ottawa, Dec 12 (SocialNews.XYZ) Canada has reported 3,589 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the cumulative total to 1,831,344 cases, including 29,909 deaths, according to CTV.

Quebec province, which has a population of 8.4 million, reported 1,982 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday morning while Ontario, the most populous province with 14 million, confirmed 1,607 new cases. Both provinces have seen increased new cases daily over the past week, Xinhua news agency reported.

Of Saturday's new cases reported in Quebec, 1,010 people were not fully vaccinated. The province's cumulative total cases rose to 464,228, including 11,607 deaths.

Of Ontario's new cases, 743 cases involved people who were unvaccinated, partially vaccinated or their vaccination status was unknown. The remaining 864 infections involved people who were fully vaccinated. As of Saturday, Ontario's cumulative total cases rose to 630,671, including 10,070 deaths.

Medical experts said that the number of infections in fully vaccinated individuals would rise as more people get the vaccine.

Canada's daily case counts are on rise with high infection rates persisting in many areas.

During the seven-day period between December 3 and 9, an average of 3,450 new cases were reported daily, which was an increase of 22 per cent compared to the previous week, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada on Friday.

The national data issued on Friday showed that an average of 1,457 people with Covid-19 were being treated in Canadian hospitals each day on December 3-9, which was five per cent lower than last week.

This included, on average, 458 people who were being treated in intensive care units, 1.6 per cent less than last week and an average of 20 deaths were reported daily on December 3-9.

While Delta continues to represent the vast majority of recent Covid-19 cases in Canada, as of December 9, there were 87 Omicron cases reported in seven provinces and territories in the country.

The Public Health Agency of Canada released new modeling data on Friday, which showed Covid-19 levels could spike in the coming weeks amid an ongoing wave of Delta infections and the growing threat of Omicron as the holidays rapidly approach.

Omicron is ramping up the push for widespread boosters in Canada, shifting the conversation away from providing added protection to the most vulnerable and toward giving everyone eligible an additional shot to stave off the potential spread of the highly transmissible variant.

As of December 9, Canada had administered over 62.7 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine.

The data indicated that over 81 percent of the total population had received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine and over 76 per cent were fully vaccinated. Among children aged 5-11 years, 17 per cent received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine.

Source: IANS