Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says she’s cautiously optimistic about recent trends surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
Echoing comments made by Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam, Freeland says after weeks of growing COVID-19 case numbers, they’re beginning to see less.
Freeland says that suggests the curve is flattening.
“Every single Canadian has made a huge sacrifice already in fighting the coronavirus; that sacrifice is starting to pay off,” she says. “What is so essential for us all, is not to squander that achievement, we have all paid too high a price already to throw it away.”
Freeland says it isn’t time to stop yet, if we don’t keep up with public health measures, we could still cause a surge in cases, and all the sacrifices we’ve made will be wasted.
Meanwhile, Tam says there are now more than 31,000 positive cases of COVID-19 across the country, with more than 1,300 deaths. Over half a million people have been tested, and about six per cent of those tested positive.
Tam says deaths from COVID-19 will likely continue to rise before falling because it’s a slow disease that takes a long time to become fatal.