TORONTO (Reuters) – The Canadian province of Ontario on Thursday restricted COVID-19 testing as laboratories struggled to meet demand, and some doctors called for immediate restrictions on non-essential businesses as the country entered a wave of infections.
In a rare national confrontation Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada “is at a crossroads” when a wave of the disease emerges in 4 major provinces.
“While maintaining our province’s economy remains a priority, we are incredibly involved in the that, without action, the existing propagation rate will require a return to the general closure of businesses and non-essential schools for a build-up of hospitalizations” letter signed through 38 doctors and fitness experts.
The menu stated that Ontario imposed restrictions on restaurants and bars, nightclubs, gymnasiums, theaters and places of worship. Ask non-essential corporations to have paintings of their painters at home and ask colleges and universities to offer online courses whenever possible.
New cases in Canada exceeded 1,000 a day, after falling below 300 at the end of June. This increase, combined with school policies that require verification of minor symptoms, has surpassed control sites.
Ontario would refocus tests on others with symptoms, close contact with shown cases, and other high-risk groups, discouraging testing for others at low risk without symptoms.
“Doing this will help those who want access to the evidence, and help us save it and control the spread of COVID-19,” Barbara Yaffe, the province’s deputy health director, said at a briefing.
The new consultant indicates that other asymptomatic people at the site of rapid epidemics may be for asymptomatic testing, as well as high-risk populations such as domestic workers, citizens and visitors.
Canada has been slow to adopt new testing technologies widely found in the United States, from home sampling kits to immediate antigenic testing.
(Report via Allison Martell; edited through Jonathan Oatis)