Health officials to provide update on COVID-19, medicine shortages in Canada – National | 24CA News
The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is about to supply an replace Friday because the nation continues to grapple with new COVID-19 subvariants amid ongoing medication shortages.
The replace will come at 10 a.m. ET with federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, Chief Officer of Health Dr. Theresa Tam and Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Howard Njoo in attendance, a spokesperson for PHAC informed Global News Thursday.
Also current shall be Dr. Matt Tunis from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI).
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Apart from COVID-19, the replace will cowl analgesics shortages within the nation and the Canada Dental Plan, a profit aimed to assist decrease dental prices for eligible households, the PHAC spokesperson stated.
The replace comes at a time when the variety of confirmed instances of the XBB.1.5. subvariant has hit a complete of 42 infections.
According to PHAC, “Nationally, the number of new COVID-19 cases reported increased over the week of January 1-7.”
Ontario noticed the best variety of instances throughout the first week of January with a complete of seven,456, whereas Quebec got here in second with 5,469 infections.
In a press release to Global News final week, the company additionally stated the variety of instances associated to the XBB.1.5. variant is anticipated to rise within the coming weeks due to a “delay in reporting late December and early January detections from provinces and territories due to the holiday period.”
During the final PHAC replace, Tam famous that swirling respiratory viruses together with COVID-19 and RSV are “causing significant strain on our health care systems.”
“In Canada, variations in population level of immunity and current global trends suggest that an uptick in COVID-19 could occur in the New Year,” Tam stated, including that staying updated with advisable vaccines would supply an “important foundation” of safety.
XBB.1.5. is a sub-lineage of the Omicron subvariant XBB and has been deemed by the World Health Organization (WHO) because the “most transmissible” COVID-19 variant to date.
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The subvariant has been nicknamed “Kraken” and has unfold quickly in Asia and the United States.
Should there be a extreme surge in instances in Canada, docs say hospitals don’t have the capability to manage.
“We don’t have the capacity. Our health-care system is starting to look like a set of dominos that you’re starting to knock over,” Dr. Melissa Yuan-Innes, emergency doctor on the Hôpital Glengarry Memorial Hospital in Alexandria, Ont. informed Global News final week.
“People call the hospital the first line of defence. We’re actually the last line of defence. We’re there if everything else fails. So, we’re asking you to do your part,” stated Yuan-Innes.
According to authorities knowledge from Jan. 16, there have been 16,540 confirmed instances of COVID-19 in Canada from Jan. 1 to 7.
There had been additionally 279 COVID-19 deaths between that point.
— with information from Global News’ Aya Al-Hakim
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
