Provinces warn record COVID-19 cases reported are underestimations
Global News
Health officials across the country warned the latest case counts are an underestimation of what is yet to come and again urged people to rethink large gatherings.
Ontario and Manitoba reported record high COVID-19 case counts on Christmas Eve as Nunavut ordered a full lockdown to prevent further spread of the virus.
Health officials across the country warned the latest case counts are an underestimation of what is yet to come and again urged people to rethink large gatherings over the holidays.
Ontario had 9,571 new daily infections, which shattered Thursday’s record of 5,790 cases.
“Due to the highly transmissible nature of the Omicron variant, it was expected that case numbers would increase in the winter months,” Alexandra Hilkene, a spokeswoman for Health Minister Christine Elliott, said Friday.
“We expect they will continue to increase over the coming days and weeks, as other jurisdictions are seeing similar case rate increases per capita.”
Manitoba announced 742 daily cases, its highest yet in the pandemic.
Chief public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said the count is likely an underestimate, as the province’s testing system is at capacity and there’s a backlog of 10,000 tests.
“We’ve set a daily record so Manitobans need to prepare,” Roussin told a news conference.