Canada : Over 50% of the population expected to contract Omicron
More than half of Canadians (55%) say regardless of the precautions they take, they expect to contract Omicron. Notably, this sentiment rises to at least three-in-five among parents who have children in grade school.
Still, those who feel they can’t avoid an Omicron infection are split on whether it’s time to remove all public health restrictions. Among those who feel that they will be infected with the latest variant no matter what they do, half (48%) say that public health measures should be removed completely, and half (48%) disagree.
Hospitals across Canada have been forced to cancel and delay surgeries as Covid19 cases fill up hospital beds and strain resources, according to doctors working on the front lines.
Omicron was found in Nova Scotia wastewater weeks before it was discovered by the province and even before the novel Covid19 strain was reported by South Africa, according to new research from Dalhousie University in Canada.
Explaining the situation, Professor Graham Gagnon, director of the Dalhousie University Centre for Water Resource Studies, said that “Our team detected Omicron , retrospectively, in Nova Scotia wastewater in mid-November and will be able to provide further information in the future.”
