One of the most important cities, which is also the nation’s largest educational district with around 247,000 students, will move into remote classes until April 18. Toronto is following a similar move to that taken by another Ontario School Board on Monday.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned Tuesday of a “very dangerous” third wave facing the country, which is the increase in hospital admissions and the rapid filling of intensive care beds.
“All over the world, countries are facing a very dangerous third wave of this epidemic,” Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa. “And now, Canada, too.”
The North American country averaged about 5,200 new cases per day last week and recorded a total of more than 1 million positive tests and 23,000 deaths.
This new wave is affecting the very young, creating a growing demand for ventilators and a struggle to keep staff in critical care units.
Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, entered a limited lockdown on Saturday, but some officials are calling for more drastic measures. “We’re going to have more restrictions moving very, very quickly,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford told reporters.
The government has provided more than 10 million doses of coronavirus vaccines so far, and county health agencies are administering the injections, while authorities say 38 million Canadians who want to be vaccinated will be vaccinated by the end of September.
While vaccination is progressing slower than expected, according to official data released on March 28, new variants of the Coronavirus account for 67% of cases in Ontario, with the so-called British variant accounting for 90% of all variants. 46% of new Ontario ICU patients are under the age of 60, a 30% increase from December 2020.
