Canadian COVID-19 cases surpass 1.5 million

Ottawa [Canada] September 1 (ANI/Xinhua): Canada reported 1,346 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the cumulative total to 1,500,520 cases, including 26,947 deaths, according to CTV.
Ontario, Canada’s most populous province with 14 million people, reported 656 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday with 13 additional deaths.
The province’s virus-related death toll came to 9,516 out of 566,206 patients. There were 339 patients in hospital infected with COVID-19. Out of the 339 patients, 163 were in intensive care units.
Of the total patients in ICU, 157 were unvaccinated, 14 were partially vaccinated and 36 were fully vaccinated.
Ontario had spotted a total of 10,543 cases of the Delta variant as of Wednesday.
As of Wednesday, 9,964,336 people had received both doses of vaccines and were considered to be fully vaccinated.
Quebec, another populous province, reported 690 news cases on Wednesday. Among them 503 of those had not received a vaccine, while 64 received one dose more than two weeks ago, and 123 received both vaccine doses more than a week ago.
Quebec’s VaxiCode passport for fully vaccinated citizens went into effect in the province for certain non-essential services on Wednesday.
Quebec’s total number of infections since the start of the pandemic stood at 389,914 with 373,897 of those reportedly having recovered from the disease.
The province also added two more deaths, bringing that total to 11,288 since March 2020.
There were 138 patients receiving care in the province’s hospitals. Of those, 40 people were in intensive care wards, an increase of four.
In total, 12,366,735 doses of vaccine had been administered in Quebec, and 92,036 Quebecers received their jabs out of province.
Of those eligible to receive a dose, 6,488,573 people, or 86 percent, had received one dose of vaccine, and 5,932,989, or 79 percent, had received two doses.
National data showed Canada’s western provinces are largely driving the country’s fourth wave of COVID-19 cases, and physicians have raised the alarm, saying lax and late public health measures have helped spark a rise in serious infections that are already putting pressure on hospitals and impacting patient care.
In British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, infection rates are high above the country’s average and far beyond every province in the east, including Ontario, whose population is larger than the three westernmost provinces combined.
The rate of cases in the last seven days in British Columbia was 93 per 1,00,000 people as of August 30, with Alberta’s rate at 159 and Saskatchewan’s at 135 – with no province in the east exceeding 43.
In terms of new case growth, Alberta currently has the newest infections in the country, with more than 7,000 cases reported in one week. (ANI/Xinhua)