Canada’s third wave of COVID-19 is reportedly “killing faster and younger,” and is driven by newer variants of the coronavirus.
According to a Sunday Insider report, the country’s third wave is affecting young people more severely than ever, and health experts believe it is due to emerging strains of COVID-19 mutations.
The burgeoning wave is causing new coronavirus lockdowns and restrictions across the country.
What are the details?
On Saturday, Canada surpassed one million confirmed COVID-19 cases, and worst-hit areas such as British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec are implementing new restrictions to mitigate the spread of the deadly virus.
Dr. Theresa Tam, the country’s public health director, recently announced a 64 percent increase in COVID-19 cases involving new coronavirus variants, 90 percent of which include B.1.1.7 variants. and P1.
“Ontario in particular has reported an influx of much younger ICU patients,” the outlet added. “Almost half of the COVID-19 ICU patients in the provinces are under 60 years old, authorities announced this week.”
This week, Adalsteinn Brown, senior scientific advisor to the Ontario government, announced that the variants are “killing faster and younger.”
“It is spreading much faster than before and we cannot vaccinate fast enough to break this third wave,” Brown revealed.
Ontario, according to Insider, has enacted a month-long “emergency brake” in response to rising infections.
“The new restrictions will close gyms, indoor dining rooms and personal care services,” the outlet reported.
For its part, Quebec has implemented a closure in at least three cities and has closed all non-essential schools and businesses, and British Columbia has temporarily banned indoor dining, religious services and more.
Dr. Kashif Pirzada, an emergency services physician in Toronto, told CNN that the spread is alarming.
“It is spreading rapidly, and it is much faster than in the last two waves,” Pirzada explained. “The people filling the ICU right now are in their 30s, 40s and 50s.”
What other thing?
According to a report Sunday by CBC News, the federal government administered 6 million COVID-19 vaccines at the time of this report.
Procurement Minister Anita Ananda told CBC on Friday: “We expect millions and millions more doses over the next few weeks and months,” and said at least 44 million doses of vaccines are expected to arrive by the end of June.
By comparison, the outlet reported, the United States administered at least 161,688,422 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Saturday morning.