COVID-19 cases start to climb again as variants spread

Photo: The Canadian Press

Canada's chief public health officer says new COVID-19 cases are starting to tick back up after a month of decline.

The moderate increase at the national level noted by Dr. Theresa Tam is in keeping with models forecasting a spike in cases over the next two months unless strict public-health measures remain in place to combat more contagious strains of the virus.

Tam says there is an increase in new variants circulating in Canada, and no province has been spared — though several continue to ease anti-pandemic restrictions.

But Tam says more ground is being gained on the vaccine front every day with the authorizations of new vaccines that will all help fight the novel coronavirus.

Federal Procurement Minister Anita Anand says a half-million doses of the latest COVID-19 vaccine to be approved for use in Canada will arrive tomorrow.

She says the first shipment of the version of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India is on the way, part of about 945,000 total vaccine doses slated for arrival this week.