Canada’s top public health officer urges COVID-19 caution ahead of holiday season

Canada's top public health officer says the best way to ensure a safe holiday season during the COVID-19 pandemic is to limit gatherings and only go out for essentials.

Dr Theresa Tam is urging Canadians to be cautious amid what she describes as rapid epidemic growth across the country.

Her advice comes as Quebec and Ontario, the provinces with the most cases and deaths to date, recorded 1,154 and 1,534 new COVID-19 cases, respectively, over the past 24 hours.

Atlantic Canada is also experiencing a recent increase in cases, while numbers continue to soar in Nunavut.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, which reported three new cases today, Memorial University is postponing plans to bring some staff back to work next week and the small town of Deer Lake is asking residents to stay home and businesses to close.

Numavut reported 18 new cases today, taking the territory's total to 128 with the bulk concentrated in the community of Arviat.

In Ontario, new lockdown measures are coming into effect in Toronto and neighbouring Peel Region at midnight.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 22, 2020.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2020

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Kathy Michaels

Kathy Michaels has been an Okanagan-based journalist for more than a decade, working for community papers along the valley and beyond.
She’s won provincial and national awards in business, news and feature writing and says that her love for telling a good story rivals only her fondness for turning a good phrase.
If you have a story that deserves to be told in a thoughtful and compassionate manner, don’t hesitate to reach out.
To reach Kathy call 250-718-0428 or email kmichaels@infonews.ca.