Canada logs over 3K new COVID-19 cases as feds warn of ‘strong’ variant-fueled resurgence

Health

A+

Cases of COVID-19 in Canada surpassed 840,000 on Friday as new federal health modelling projected a possible third wave of the virus, sparked by new variants of the virus, could catapult the country’s daily caseload to over 20,000 by mid-March.

The modelling comes amid another 3,089 new infections on Friday, which pushed the national total to 840,591. Another 78 deaths linked to COVID-19 also brought the nation’s death toll from the virus to 21,576.

A total of 786,774 patients have since recovered from the virus however, while 23,907,900 tests and 1.4 million vaccine doses have been administered.

The modelling, released Friday and presented by Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam, painted a grim picture of the wave’s potential spread should the country not increase or maintain its public health restrictions.

Coronavirus variants could fuel Canada’s third wave

Coronavirus variants could fuel Canada’s third wave

Despite the declining trend in new cases across the country, Tam warned that the spread of the new variants could reverse all the progress Canada has made during the pandemic.

“With the emergence and spread of new variants of concern … unless we maintain and abide by stringent public health measures, we may not be able to avert a rapid resurgence of the epidemic in Canada,” said Tam during a virtual press conference Friday.

Despite the worst case scenario of 20,000 daily infections in March, the modelling suggested that the country could still see as much as 10,000 more cases a day by April should current public health restrictions remain in place.