Canada's COVID-19 cases top 200,000

The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic pushed Canada's total case count past the 200,000 mark on Monday as tougher health restrictions took effect in some regions facing a surge in infections.

The latest numbers from Saskatchewan lifted the national tally over the bleak milestone as the province reported 66 new cases of the novel coronavirus, though other provinces reported significantly more new cases.

The development came just over four months after Canada reached the 100,000-case threshold.

The bulk of the case load has been concentrated in Ontario and Quebec, though numbers have been surging in much of the country.

The 200,000-case milestone isn't all that significant in and of itself but it does provide an opportunity to examine how the country is doing in grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, said Barry Pakes, a public health and preventative medicine physician with the University of Toronto's Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

Canada saw its first confirmed case of COVID-19 in late January and marked 100,000 cases in mid-June, about five months later.

That it took almost as long to double the caseload to 200,000 suggests public health measures slowed the virus's spread to some degree in that time, Pakes said.

“That's not how infectious diseases work — they double, and they go straight up on an exponential line, and when we put in proper public health measures we're able to dull that somewhat, so I think that's a testament to what we've been doing so far,” he said.

At the same time, milestones such as this one can sometimes serve as a reminder not to let our guard down, he said.

GRAHAM HUGHES / THE CANADIAN PRESS Potential patients socially distance as they wait on line outside a clinic in Montreal on Sunday. COVID-19's caseload is nearing the 200,000 mark in Canada, with the majority of new infections in Quebec this weekend.