Ottawa, (Samajweekly) As a second Covid-19 wave was underway in Canada, the country reported 1,812 new cases and 52 fatalities, which took the overall infection tally and the death toll to 164,302 and 9,461, respectively.
Saturday’s case figure came a day after the country reached a grim milestone of more than 2,000 infections reported in a single-day since the pandemic started in the country earlier this year, Global News Canada said in a news report.
Canada’s chief medical officer Theresa Tam said that the overall picture shows a continued spike in infections, which is a cause for concern.
“Our chance to prevent a large resurgence narrows with each passing day of accelerated epidemic growth,” Tam said in a statement on Saturday.
“Public health testing and tracing remains vital, but it is clear that without all of us making hard choices now to reduce our in-person contacts and maintain layers of personal protections at all times, it won’t be enough to prevent a large resurgence.”
Despite pleas from public health officials, new cases were spiking as Canadians continued to gather with those outside their household and in restaurants and bars across the country.
While addressing the nation on September 23, Prime Minister Justin Trudeausaid that a second coronavirus wave was underway in the country and that “we’re on the brink of a fall that could be much worse than the spring”.
The country witnessed a sudden spike in the number of coronavirus cases, from about 300 per day in August to a record high of 1,248 on September 22, Global News Canada reported citing health officials.