Canada's weekly Covid-19 cases down

Ottawa, Oct 9 (IANS) Canada's latest national seven-day average of 3,745 new Covid-19 cases reported daily on October 1-7 is a decrease of 14 per cent over the previous week, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).

The updated longer-range modeling forecast suggests that at current levels of transmission, the Delta-driven fourth wave of the pandemic could decline in the coming weeks "if we maintain vaccine uptake and existing public health measures," Theresa Tam, chief public health officer, said in a statement on Friday.

This is a "significant improvement" over the previous trajectory presented in early September when a large resurgence was forecast, Xinhua news agency quoted Tam as saying.

Unfortunately, she said hospitalisation and critical care admission trends, primarily involving unvaccinated people, are still elevated across Canada.

Updated surveillance data show ongoing regional variation in disease activity, but overall, public health measures re-applied in heavily impacted areas have slowed the acceleration of the epidemic nationally.

Together with prolonged hospital stays, this continues to place a heavy strain on local healthcare resources, particularly where infection rates are high and vaccination rates are low.

The latest provincial and territorial data show that an average of 2,513 people with Covid-19 was being treated in Canadian hospitals each day on October 1-7, which is 2.5 per cent higher than last week.

This includes, on average, 769 people who were being treated in intensive care units (ICU), 3.2 per cent less than last week and an average of 38 deaths were reported daily on October 1-7.

As Canada is heading into Thanksgiving weekend, Tam urged Canadians to keep gatherings small and follow public health advice based on the local epidemiological situation.

"Keeping up with best practices in all our interactions this weekend and in the months ahead will help protect our progress and keep us safer, including by helping to prevent other respiratory infections during the winter months."

As of October 7, Canada has administered over 56 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines, with the latest data indicating that over 88 percent of people aged 12 years or older have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine and over 82 per cent are now fully vaccinated.

As more of Canadian activities move indoors this fall and winter, Tam pointed out that Canada must strive to have as many eligible people as possible fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as quickly as possible "to protect ourselves and others, including those who may not mount a strong immune response or who cannot get vaccinated."

As of Friday afternoon, Canada reported 2,087 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the cumulative total to 1,653,327 cases, including 28,165 deaths, according to CTV.