Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world on Sunday
CBC
The latest:
Several provinces reported a jump in COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU admissions on Sunday, and Canada's chief public health officer warned those figures could increase even further in the coming days due to "an enormous volume" of Omicron variant cases.
Quebec is reporting a sharp jump in COVID-19-related hospitalizations Sunday, saying the figure climbed by 140 in the past 24 hours and now stands at 2,436.
The provincial health department says 257 patients are currently in intensive care, an increase of 12 from the previous day.
In neighbouring Ontario, the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units rose to 412 from 385 a day earlier.
Health Minister Christine Elliott says 2,419 patients are hospitalized due to the virus, which is down from the nearly 2,600 reported yesterday. Elliott noted, however, that not all hospitals report their numbers on the weekends.
Hospitalizations in New Brunswick stood at 79 on Sunday, down one from a record-high of 80 the day before. Sixteen people are in the ICU and 10 are on ventilators.
Dr. Theresa Tam, chief public health officer, attributes increasing hospitalizations and ICU admissions on the more transmissible Omicron variant, and expects those numbers to continue trending the wrong direction.
"While surveillance/recent studies indicate that risk of hospitalization is lower for #Omicron compared to Delta, [a] sudden acceleration [of] Omicron with an enormous volume of cases is driving up severe illness trends," Tam tweeted on Sunday.
"Given current daily case counts are already ~400% higher than the 3rd wave peak [on average 8,730 cases were reported daily at the mid-April 2021 peak], it is not unexpected we'll see further increases in hospitalisation trends," she added.
With lab-based testing capacity deeply strained and increasingly restricted, experts say true case counts are likely far higher than reported. Hospitalization data at the regional level is also evolving, with several provinces saying they will report figures that separate the number of people in hospital because of COVID-19 from those in hospital for another medical issue who also test positive for COVID-19.
For more information on what is happening in your community — including details on outbreaks, testing capacity and local restrictions — click through to the regional coverage below.
You can also read more from the Public Health Agency of Canada, which provides a detailed look at every region — including seven-day average test positivity rates — in its daily epidemiological updates.
In British Columbia, officials announced children will return to in-class learning on Monday under enhanced safety measures, despite a surge in transmission caused by Omicron.
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