Canada surpasses 1 mil COVID-19 cases
04 April, 2021
Canada on Saturday crossed the threshold of one million coronavirus cases as the country faces a third wave of infections, forcing several provinces to tighten restrictions in recent days.
With 2,000 new cases of COVID-19 announced in British Columbia on Saturday evening, Canada topped one million cases because the start of the pandemic, according to figures reported by Canadian broadcasters.
Just over 23,000 persons have died.
Canada is grappling with a third wave of cases amid the rapid spread of variants, which are more contagious.
Both most populous provinces, Ontario and Quebec, headed into the Easter weekend tightening public health measures.
Ontario, home to more than a third of Canada's cases, stepped up restrictions for at least a month.
Non-essential businesses are held to 25 percent capacity, while others can accommodate 50 percent capacity.
Sports venues and hair salons are closed, though schools remain open and residents possess not been ordered to remain home.
The next worst-hit province, Quebec, strengthened restrictions in several regions while retaining a nighttime curfew imposed in early January that's unprecedented in Canada.
Meanwhile, vaccinations have already been slow to log off the ground.
An inoculation program launched in December has been suffering from delays in deliveries of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna doses from Europe. In addition, new age restrictions were imposed on the AstraZeneca jab, over safety concerns.
To date, 14.6 percent of the populace has received at least one vaccine dose, according to the COVID-19 Tracker Canada website.
Source: japantoday.com
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