The leader of Humber River Hospital’s mobile vaccination clinic, Ruben Rodriguez, is administering the first dose of Modner COVID-19 vaccine to an employee of the pharmaceutical company Apotex, as part of the coronavirus (COVID-19 vaccination campaign ), in Toronto, Ontario, Canada April 13, 2021. REUTERS / Carlos Osorio
The Canadian province of Ontario on Friday extended and expanded a home order, saying police will have new powers to stop and interrogate people leaving the home, as expert advisers have warned that new cases of COVID-19 will continue to rise, overwhelming hospitals.
Ontario also announced restrictions on non-essential travel from neighboring provinces from Monday, saying non-essential construction, including construction projects at shopping malls, hotels and office towers, will be shut down from Saturday to deal with a raging third wave.
“The reality is that there are few options left,” said Prime Minister Doug Ford. “The hard truth is that every social health measure we have left behind has a huge cost to people.”
New projections published by a provincial advisory group on Friday showed that new cases rose above 10,000 a day in June if ‘moderate’ public health measures remain in place for six weeks, and vaccination levels remain roughly the same. Ontario, home to 38% of Canada’s population, announced a record 4,812 cases on Friday.
Adalsteinn Brown, co-chair of the advisory panel, said the moderate scenario was tantamount to a home stay announced last week. The forecast showed that the number of patients requiring intensive care could be in May 2000, compared to 695 on Friday.
The serious prediction came when Moderna (MRNA.O) said it would reduce its next delivery to Canada by almost half to 650,000 doses, and Canada announced an agreement to buy another 8 million doses of Pfizer vaccine. read more
In recent weeks, Ontario has restricted schools, restaurants, in-store stores, and canceled elective surgeries because the survey threatened to overwhelm hospitals.
HOSPITALS UNDER PRESSURE
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said the Canadian government will help Toronto, the province’s capital and the country’s largest city.
“We are going to do what is necessary to help,” Trudeau told reporters. “Discussions are underway on additional healthcare providers, and we are ready to act.”
Trudeau said Canada had agreed to purchase 8 million extra doses of Pfizer’s vaccine, including 4 million to be delivered in May, which nearly doubled Pfizer’s shipment that month. Federal officials said earlier that most Canadians should receive a first dose by the end of June.
In northern Toronto, Sunnybrook Hospital is preparing to open a mobile health unit, effectively a field hospital, for next COVID patients so next week, a spokesman said in an email.
The city’s University Health Network (UHN) is installing tents at two emergency rooms to increase space.
The number of patients at UHN undergoing extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, an artificial lung treatment sometimes used to keep the sickest COVID patients alive, reached 23, including 20 with COVID. The hospital network said earlier it could treat up to 30 patients.
Separately on Friday, Health Canada said Pfizer and BioNTech had received an application to extend the use of the vaccine to children 12 years and older, by 16 years and older.
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