Ontario pauses non-urgent surgeries starting Jan. 5 to deal with Omicron surge
CTV
Ontario is pausing all non-urgent surgeries starting Jan. 5 in order to prepare for a rapid increase of COVID-19 hospitalizations.
The move to pause non-urgent surgeries was announced on Monday as part of sweeping new measures to blunt the surge of Omicron cases.
"With the numbers of hospitalizations increasing rapidly we will, unfortunately, need the bed spaces, as well as the staff, in order to be able to treat people with Omicron and whatever else comes in," Health Minister Christine Elliott said.
Elliott said Ontario is also facing staffing shortages in hospitals because many health-care workers are either infected with COVID-19 or are isolating.
She said the province added about 1,300 new health-care workers to the province's hospitals in past few months, but that won't be enough.
