According to reports, Canada’s third wave of COVID-19 is said to kill “faster and younger,” and is fueled by new variants of coronavirus.
According to an Insider Sunday report, the country’s third wave is affecting young people more severely than ever before, and health experts believe this is due to emerging strains of COVID-19 mutations.
The fast-growing wave is driving new lockdowns and coronavirus restrictions across the country.
What are the details?
On Saturday, Canada surpassed 1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, and hard-hit areas such as British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec are introducing new restrictions to reduce the spread of the deadly virus.
Dr. Theresa Tam, the country’s chief public health officer, recently announced a 64 percent increase in COVID-19 cases related to new coronavirus variants, of which 90 percent include the B.1.1.7 and P1 variants.
“Ontario, in particular, has reported an influx of much younger patients into ICUs,” the outlet added. “Nearly half of COVID-19 ICU patients in the county are under the age of 60, officials announced this week.”
This week, Adalsteinn Brown, senior science adviser to the government of Ontario, announced that the variants “kill faster and younger.”
“It is spreading much faster than before and we cannot vaccinate fast enough to break this third wave,” Brown revealed.
Ontario has put in place a month-long “emergency brake” in response to increasing infections, according to Insider.
“The new restrictions will close gyms, indoor dining and personal care,” the outlet reported.
Quebec, for its part, has implemented a lockdown in at least three cities, closing all schools and non-essential businesses, and British Columbia has imposed a temporary ban on indoor dining, church services and more.
Dr. Kashif Pirzada, an emergency services doctor in Toronto, told CNN the spread is downright alarming.
“It spreads quickly, and it is much faster than in the last two waves,” explained Pirzada. “The people who now fill the IC are all in their 30s, 40s and 50s.”
What else?
According to a Sunday report by CBC News, the federal government has administered 6 million COVID-19 vaccines at the time of this reporting.
Procurement Minister Anita Ananda told CBC on Friday, “We expect millions and millions of additional doses in the coming weeks and months,” and said at least 44 million doses of vaccine are expected to arrive by the end of June.
For comparison, the outlet reported, the United States administered at least 161,688,422 COVID-19 vaccine doses as of Saturday morning.