'High degree of caution': Canada says foreign travel should raise alarm bells
CTV
COVID-19 cases in Canada have started to increase and severity trends could also rise, Ottawa warned on Friday, saying the rapid spread of the Omicron variant abroad should be a "serious alarm bell" for those wanting to travel.
"As we head into the winter months with a strained health system in many areas ... a high degree of caution is needed to minimize spread and impact, particularly during the upcoming holiday season," said chief medical officer Theresa Tam.
Canada has so far recorded 87 COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant, all of them asymptomatic or mild. Most of the initial cases detected were linked to recent international travelers or their close contacts.
Omicron has the potential to spread much faster than the highly transmissible Delta variant, which is responsible for most Canadian cases, Tam said.
"The trend in average daily case counts has shifted from decline to a gradual but steady increase," she told a briefing. "With daily new cases increasing, there is concern that national severity trends could begin to rise again."
