Rates of hospitalization, ICU admission from COVID-19 rising across Canada: Tam

OTTAWA – Canada's Chief Public Health officer says the latest national data shows an ongoing rise in severe illness from COVID-19 is continuing to strain the country's health-care systems and workers.

Dr. Theresa Tam says in a statement that average weekly rates of admission to hospitals, including intensive care units, continue to climb, even with a slight decline in overall new cases.

According to Tam's numbers, an average of 4,167 COVID-19 patients were being treated in Canadian hospitals each day during the week of April 16 to 22, marking a 22 per cent increase over the week before.

Tam says that includes an average of 1,268 people requiring intensive care each day, which is 21 per cent more than in the previous week.

In that same period, the average number of new cases reported each day fell by 2.6 per cent, which she says is a sign that public health enforcement and vaccination efforts are succeeding.

Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling once again for Ottawa to halt all non-essential travel across Canadian borders, after officials in his province reported 36 confirmed cases Friday of the B.1.617 variant first detected in India.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2021.