Toronto (Canada), Apr 16 (EFE) .- Canadian authorities expressed their concern on Friday about the evolution of the pandemic, after the country this week set two consecutive records in the daily records of infections.
“Canada continues to face an incredibly dire situation with this third wave. Cases are increasing rapidly. In many places the numbers are higher than ever and too many hospitals are on the edge,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin warned at a news conference. Trudeau.
In Toronto, he said, “the numbers are constantly breaking records.” and he admitted that “there is no doubt that the largest city in Canada is suffering under the weight of the third wave.”
We will do whatever it takes to help, “he added.
On Thursday, Canada counted 9,562 new cases of covid-19, the highest number since the start of the pandemic and today it is expected to be higher.
In the past 24 hours, Ontario, the most populous province in the country, broke its record of infections, with 4,812 new cases.
Canada now has 231 COVID-19 cases per million people, compared to 212.9 in the US and 183 in Spain, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford announced new restrictions in addition to the confinement order that has been in effect since April 8.
Ford noted that travel between Ontario and other provinces in the country will be restricted to essential reasons, adding that, for the first time since the start of the pandemic, roadblocks will be established to prevent unauthorized travel.
That province also extended the emergency declaration in force since April 8 and will allow the Police to patrol the streets to verify that the population remains in their homes.
“We are losing the battle between variants and vaccines. The reality is that there are few solutions left,” Ford said to justify the new measures.
He also criticized the federal government for distributing vaccines to the provinces, noting that if Ontario could vaccinate 300,000 people a day, the spread of the disease could be controlled.
Canada has been suffering from problems with the supply of vaccines since February due to the difficulties of pharmaceutical companies to meet their commitments.
The Canadian government revealed today that Moderna will send only half of the doses planned for April (650,000 instead of 1.2 million) and that, in the second quarter of the year, the company will not be able to meet its forecasts either.
To compensate, Trudeau announced that the country has signed a new contract with Pfizer, for which it will receive eight million additional doses to those already committed: four million in May, two million in June and the rest in July.
With the new contract, Canada expects to receive 23.8 million doses of the vaccine from Pfizer in the second quarter of the year.
Canada is the only industrialized country that has decided to delay the distribution of the second dose of the vaccine until four months after the first in order to partially immunize as many people as possible.
So far, 22.13% of the Canadian population has received at least one dose of the vaccines and 2.26% both doses. EFE
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| K: SOC: SOCIEDAD-SALUD, SALUD |
| Q: SYS: en-ES: 07002000: Sanitation and health: Epidemics and pests |
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