Concern over the spread of COVID-19 has delayed some voting in the Newfoundland and Labrador provincial election, postponed school holidays in Ontario and prompted Manitoba to seek vaccine from a Canadian supplier.
With new and more contagious variants of COVID-19 escalating in Canada, provincial governments lifting lockdown restrictions must be ready to slam them back into place at a moment's notice, Canada's chief public health doctor said on Tuesday, February 9, 2021.
Several provinces began relaxing COVID-19 restrictions on Monday, February 8, 2021, amid what Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam described as “hopeful signs of declining COVID-19 activity."
Canada hit more unwanted firsts in its battle against the COVID-19 pandemic on Sunday, February 7, 2021, as Quebec became the first province to surpass 10,000 deaths and Toronto reported Ontario's first case of a variant first identified in Brazil.
The prime minister on Friday, February 5, 2021, sought to quell angst over delays in vaccine delivery while British Columbia extended restrictions on gatherings to stem the spread of new, more transmissible variants of the COVID-19 virus.
Canada crossed another disheartening threshold in the COVID-19 pandemic on Saturday, February 6, 2021, even as the country's top doctor said there are hopeful signs with case counts and hospitalizations gradually trending downward.
Canada has seen nearly a 30 per cent drop in active COVID-19 cases over the past two weeks, but chief public health officer says strict measures should remain in place as more contagious variants of the virus threaten to derail this downward trend.
Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says Canada is in "a very delicate period" as case counts for fast-spreading COVID-19 variants tick upward across the country, even while overall numbers of new coronavirus cases fall.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says "rare exceptions" to new travel restrictions will be made on compassionate grounds, but that more contagious COVID-19 variants now taking hold in Canada mean tough rules must be implemented in the next few weeks.