Canada : Health official warns of rise in Omicron cases to cause strain on the health care system
Canada’s chief public officer on Friday said there has been no “explosive rate” of rise in serious illness in the country during the fifth wave of the Covid pandemic, driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant, but warned that the “enormous volume of cases” it is causing is expected to add an additional strain on the health care system.
During the period between Dec. 30 and Jan. 5, the latest data from the Public Health Agency of Canada showed that a daily average of 41,743 new cases and 3,646 hospitalisations were reported, up 65 percent and 91% respectively from the previous week.
Steven Hoffman, director of the Global Strategy Lab and a global health law professor at York University in Toronto, believes the impact on hospitals could be devastating in the weeks ahead if public health measures fail to slow the spread of Omicron.
