COVID-19 cases, deaths climb despite restrictions
TORONTO • The unrelenting climb in COVID-19 cases in Canada continued Thursday amid tightening restrictions aimed at curbing the pandemic as experts warned against prescribing or using unproven cures for the disease that has killed 39 people and infected close to 4,000 others.
Despite the surge, Canada’s chief public health officer, Theresa Tam, said the health system had been coping but warned of the dangers facing seniors in nursing homes.
“The fact that Canada’s fatality rate is at one per cent indicates that the healthcare system is not currently overwhelmed,” Tam said. “These fatalities could be reduced further by preventing the illness in our most vulnerable population.”
New infections and deaths were reported across the country. A 91-year-old man in a seniors home became the eighth person in Quebec to succumb to COVID-19, authorities said. Premier Francois Legault reported 1,629 confirmed cases, up by 290.
Ontario reported 170 new cases, bringing its total to 858 — along with six deaths since Wednesday. Fifteen people have died and at least 12 of the new patients — including two in their 20s — were in hospital.
The grim situation was being seen around the globe, with more than half a million people identified as infected and about 23,000 deaths reported. Italy has seen more than 8,000 deaths and the United States has reported close to 70,000 cases, about 1,000 fatal. China, where the virus is believed to have originated, has gradually begun returning to normal.
COVID-19 is highly contagious and can strike anyone, although it is older people and those with less optimum health who are most at risk of succumbing to the flu-like illness, experts say. People can also infect others without showing any signs themselves.
Government and health authorities repeated their pleas for people to keep their distance from others and to wash hands frequently, with fines or jail threatened for those violating rules to self-isolate or avoid larger gatherings.
For those returning to Canada, a mandatory 14day quarantine is now in effect. Scofflaws face a maximum $750,000 in fines or six months in jail. Tam said random checks including home visits, would be done to ensure people abide by the quarantine law.