CANADA’S OMICRON WAVE MAY HAVE PEAKED, BUT HOSPITALS STILL UNDER STRAIN

Sat 22 January 2022:

The fast-spreading Omicron strain of COVID-19 may have reached its peak in Canada, according to the country’s top health authority.

In a statement released on Friday, Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, said there have been “early indications that infections may have peaked at the national level, including daily case counts, test positivity, Rt (or effective reproduction number), and wastewater surveillance trends”.

But the country continued to detect a large number of Covid infections, with around 24,000 cases being detected on Friday.

According to Tam, the average case count has reduced by 28% compared to the previous week, but the 22% test positivity rate suggests that disease activity is still “widespread” across the country.

“We still have some difficult weeks ahead and potential for more bumps along the way,” Tam said.

With rising hospitalizations, several Canadian hospitals remained overburdened.

Several Canadian provinces, including Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia, have begun to relax restrictions put in place when the Omicron fueled the country’s fifth wave.

However, there could still be “some difficult weeks ahead and potential for more bumps along the way”, Tam said, adding that vaccinations and several effective treatments have led health authorities to “remain hopeful” these would change the nature of the pandemic to “reduce severity going forward”.

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, over 10,000 people were treated in hospitals on a daily basis over the last seven days.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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