TORONTO – A new week is starting but the scenario is the same as the previous one: Canada split in two with Ontario and Quebec holding the bump of the fourth wave, while Alberta and Saskatchewan are in full emergency. 

Ontario today recorded 653 new cases of Covid-19 (and 6 deaths), up from 640 on Saturday but down from 715 a week ago. The seven-day moving average of new cases therefore continues to decline, reaching 620, down from last Sunday (709). And with 31,063 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the positive rate across the province drops to 2% from 2.3% seven days ago. Of the new cases confirmed today, 499 are related to people who are not fully vaccinated or with an unknown vaccination status and 154 to those who are fully immunized. There are now 177 people receiving treatment in Ontario’s intensive care units, down five from last Sunday. The number of active cases in Ontario now stands at 5,591, down from last Sunday’s 6,396. Over 80% of eligible Ontarians have received vaccine doses.

The situation in Quebec was very similar, where 719 cases of Covid-19 and 2 deaths were reported today, with a positive rate of 2.4%, while the recent increase in hospitalizations stopped over the weekend. Since Saturday’s update, 31 other people have been hospitalized with symptoms of the virus. However, overall employment dropped to 297 with 35 fewer people. Of those in the hospital, 90 are in intensive care. Just over half of new hospital admissions take weeks to people who have not been vaccinated or who received their first dose two weeks ago. Healthcare professionals administered 14,844 doses of the vaccine, 10,785 of which were given as second injections. Of the eligible population (ages 12 and up), 84 percent are fully vaccinated and 89 percent have received at least one injection.

In Alberta, meanwhile, the emergency continues. After the 1,336 cases and 20 deaths last Wednesday, the province recorded 1,660 new infections and 17 deaths on Thursday and 1,651 new cases and 11 deaths on Friday with 1,061 people currently hospitalized, of which 243 in intensive care. The unvaccinated cases available to be the largest in the province’s active deaths (now 20,040) and serious outcomes, including deaths. Among Alberta residents (4,371,000 in total), 82.3 percent received a first dose of the vaccine and 73.4 percent received two doses. The next update of the Alberta data is scheduled for today, when the data collected from Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be released.

In Saskatchewan the cases continue to be too many compared to the population (1,174,000 inhabitants, against 14,570,000 in Ontario and 8,326,089 in Quebec): 460 cases and 7 deaths on Thursday, 528 infections and 5 deaths on Friday, 492 cases and 4 deaths on Saturday. There are currently 282 people in hospital with Covid-19, of which 61 are in intensive care. On Saturday, 5,017 doses of vaccines were administered and, at present, 727,357 residents are fully vaccinated.

In British Columbia, on Friday – latest available data – 743 new cases and 7 deaths were detected, more or less in line with previous days, but the province has reached an important milestone in terms of vaccination: according to the Ministry of Health, in fact , four out of five inhabitants (eligible for vaccination) of BC i.e. 3,709,554 people aged 12 and over received both doses of the vaccine while another 344,184 people received their first dose. The unvaccinated population continues to make up the majority of the group of infections and hospital admissions, despite now representing less than 22% of the province including children (therefore out of a total of 5,071,000 inhabitants) who are currently not eligible for any of the vaccines.

Photo by Jakayla Toney on Unsplash