OTTAWA- As COVID-19 activity continues in Canada, we are tracking a range of epidemiological indicators to monitor where the disease is most active, where it is spreading and how it is impacting the health of Canadians and public health, laboratory and healthcare capacity. The following is the latest summary on national numbers and trends, and the actions we all need to be taking to maintain COVID-19 at manageable levels across the country.
Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 834,182 cases of COVID-19, including 21,435 deaths reported in Canada; these cumulative numbers tell us about the overall burden of COVID-19 illness to date. Though many areas continue to experience high infection rates, it is important to remember that the vast majority of Canadians remain susceptible to COVID-19. As well, the emergence and spread of certain SARS-CoV-2 virus variants is an additional cause for concern. Over the past week (Feb 7-13), there were on average of 101,072 tests completed daily across Canada, of which 3.1% were positive for COVID-19. As of February 17, all provinces have reported detections of variants of concern. Although it is normal for variants to emerge as viruses continuously evolve, some variants are considered "variants of concern" because they spread more easily, some may cause more severe illness, or current vaccines may be less effective against them. This is why we need to maintain the strictest vigilance in our public health measures and individual practices. This will help to prevent these variants from reaccelerating the epidemic and making it much more difficult to control.
From routine national surveillance data, we are observing a steady decline in COVID-19 activity. Currently, there are 32,986 active cases across the country. The latest national-level data show a continued downward trend in daily case counts, with a 7-day average of 2,886 new cases daily (Feb 11-17). Likewise, following the decrease in COVID-19 activity, severe outcomes continue to decline as expected for these lagging indicators. Provincial and territorial data indicate that an average of 2,461 people with COVID-19 were being treated in Canadian hospitals each day during the most recent 7-day period (Feb 11-17), including 578 of whom were being treated in intensive care units. During the same period, there were an average of 62 COVID-19-related deaths reported daily.
While these surveillance data and modelling forecasts suggest that community-based measures are having an effect and that our collective effort is continuing to make a difference, it is crucial that strong measures are kept in place in order to maintain a steady downward trend. With still elevated daily case counts, the risk remains that trends could reverse quickly, particularly in areas of the country where more contagious virus variants are spreading or where increased, unchanged or only modest declines in COVID-19 disease activity are being reported. Likewise, outbreaks in high-risk populations and communities, including hospitals and long term care homes, correctional facilities, congregate living settings, Indigenous communities, and more remote areas of the country remain a concern. Furthermore, outbreaks involving variants first identified in the United Kingdom and South Africa are increasing in Canada and have been reported in a wide range of settings. These factors underscore the importance of sustaining public health measures and individual practices and not easing restrictions too fast or too soon.
A range of public health measures and restrictions are already in place across Canada as we continue our collective effort to interrupt the spread of the virus, including limiting the spread of more contagious variants, while we buy critical time for vaccine programs to expand. Canadians are urged to remain vigilant and to continue following local public health advice as well as consistently maintaining individual practices that keep us and our families safer: stay home/self-isolate if you have any symptoms, think about the risks and reduce non-essential activities and outings to a minimum, avoid all non-essential travel, and maintain individual protective practices of physical distancing, hand, cough and surface hygiene and wearing a well-fitted and properly worn face mask as appropriate (including in shared spaces with people from outside your immediate household indoors and also outdoors where physical distancing is difficult to maintain). Aiming to have the fewest interactions with the fewest number of people, for the shortest time, at the greatest distance possible is an act of kindness that we can all apply to protect each other, while vaccine programs expand to protect all Canadians.
SOURCE Public Health Agency of Canada
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