Canada could witness most severe outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic by month-end: Authorities

Canada could witness its most severe COVID outbreak by the end of this month, health authorities warned as the country moves towards normalisation. In a model presented recently, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) urged authorities to ramp up their vaccination and other precautionary measures in order to avoid a surge in coronavirus caseload. This comes as the North American country reported 1,511,212 positive cases with 27,006 COVID related deaths, according to the latest tally by Worldometers. 

PHAC warned fresh cases could rise to 15,000 by the end of September if precautions are not observed. Substantiating its point, the federal agency disclosed that between August 27 and September 2, coronavirus cases averaged 3,486 which is almost six times the figure in July. On September 4, the country reported 4,127 cases with the provinces of Ontario and Quebec being the worst affected. 

"Today, I presented the results of updated #PHAC epidemiology & modelling analysis, which shows the Delta-driven 4th wave has continued to accelerate along the strong resurgence trajectory," Theresa Tam said. 

Image credit: Canadian Government 

Moderna vaccine for teens 

Canada on August 27 approved Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for adolescents 12 years of age and older. The government said in a statement on Friday, “Following Health Canada's authorization of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for adolescents 12 years of age and older, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) released updated recommendations on the use of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines in adolescents 12 to 17 years of age.”

It also noted that in May 2021, NACI had recommended vaccination of adolescents with Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine after regulatory approval and from Friday, it would also include the Moderna jabs mRNA-based jabs. The official statement added, “Clinical trial findings suggest the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccines provide very good protection against symptomatic COVID-19 infection and have a favourable benefit versus risk profile in adolescents 12 years of age and older.”

“Although a higher rate of myocarditis and/or pericarditis adverse events was recently reported after administration of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine compared to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, these events are still considered rare and verification of this potential difference is ongoing,” it said.

Image: AP