New Delhi: Canada’s two largest Provinces – Ontario and Quebec have warned they may have to face another lockdown to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Quebec is a state where cases of coronavirus are more than 40 US states and it is epicentre of coronavirus in Canada. In Quebec State – where more than 5,000 cases are active and this is 71% jump from the beginning of August. The province is on the verge of closing bars and restaurants again in its two biggest cities, Montreal and Quebec City.
Canada’s largest state Ontario –where 700 new cases were reported on Monday, this figure was the most in a single day.
“It’s up to each of us. Together our collective actions will decide if we face a wave or a tsunami. We know that this wave will be more Complicated, more complex. It will be worse than the first wave we faced earlier this year” Premier of Ontario Doug Ford told the media.
“But what we don’t know yet, is how bad the second wave will be.”
Ontario’s chief medical officer of health – Dr. David Williams joined Ford and said “Ontario is on the upward slope of the second wave. There’s many factors that play in here looking at how this is rolling out in the province of Ontario, how it’s rolling out locally and regionally,”
A group of hospitals expressed tensions on coronavirus spread and called Premier Doug Ford’s government to revert to stricter stage two lockdown in Toronto and Ottawa. A group of hospitals request to close indoor businesses such as gyms, Movie Theaters and restaurants.
Provincial governments, which set the rules for most companies, allowed the vast majority of businesses to open up again, sometimes with capacity limits and new sanitation rules. In Toronto, the financial capital, many restrictions were lifted on July 31.
In an interview – the Health Minister of Quebec Christian Dube said that “What we’ll tell people is: Stay home. We’re going to ask for a considerable social sacrifice. There’s going to be difficult decisions for bars and restaurants. As Quebec City and Montreal are about to be declared a “red Zone”
An infection control epidemiologist at the University of Toronto – Colin Furness said “The greater concern is that Covid-19’s toehold is becoming a foothold just as the country begins its rapid slide through autumn to winter. This coronavirus survives and stays in the air longer in cold, dry weather,”
“If we focus just on the death rate, eventually everyone is going to say this is no big deal, so we should reframe our understanding of Covid as vascular disease that causes widespread brain damage in the population,” Furness added.
“If politicians do not have the political fortitude to reintroduce some restrictions, then our risk of sliding into something much worse — like the U.K. or Spain — that’s still on the table,” said Furness. Canada needs to implement rapid testing across the country, tighten definitions on “non-essential” travel and hold the line on 14-day quarantine periods for those who have been out of the country, he said.
_Vinayak.Barot