Whistler Blackcomb is one of the largest ski resorts in the world
A Canadian ski resort has closed after confirming an outbreak of the P.1 variant of the coronavirus, first identified in Brazil.
Canada faces a worsening pandemic, especially UK and Brazilian variants, with authorities calling it a “third wave” of covid.
Whistler Blackcomb, near Vancouver, is one of the largest ski resorts in the world. The establishment closed at the end of March by order of the provincial government of British Columbia.
The local authorities tested people in the community and traced the contacts. Variant P.1 has spread to other parts of the province from the complex, according to one of British Columbia’s top health authorities, Bonnie Henry.
The resort had previously been a hotbed of covid contagion and spread in January – as it attracts many tourists from across Canada – but this time the novelty is the variant.
“What we are seeing is that there are small chains of transmission in several areas. So this is community spread,” she said, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Whistler City Mayor Jack Compton said townspeople were “devastated” by the news of the closure. Other commercial establishments in British Columbia will also be closed until the 19th.
“We are a tourist town,” Compton told Canadian website Global News. “We exist to be able to welcome people here from across British Columbia and around the world.
Provincial Health Secretary Adrian Dix believes British Columbia has more cases of the coronavirus variant, according to the Wall Street Journal, because it performs more tests that identify variants compared to other provinces.
British Columbia has 9,574 active cases of covid-19, according to data released Friday (09/04) by the provincial government.
Of these, 4,111 are assigned to three variants. The most worrying is B.1.1.7, which appeared in the United Kingdom, which accounts for 74% of cases.
974 cases (23%) of covid-19 with the P.1 variant were identified. The remaining cases (55, or 1.3%) are of the South African variant.
Dix told the local Times Colonist newspaper that the government was concerned about the rapid spread of the variants in the province. In just four days earlier this month, the number of cases with the P.1 variant has doubled.
The growth of the coronavirus has also made the news on sports pages. The Vancouver Canucks hockey team was forced to postpone upcoming games after an epidemic struck 25 of the team’s players.
Canada’s covid infection rate is approaching – and could exceed – U.S. levels for the first time in this pandemic.
It comes at a time when Canada is struggling to contain these variants of covid-19 and to increase its vaccine distribution. Many provinces are enacting new restrictions and closures after a recent increase in hospital admissions.
Credit, Reuters
Ontario Premier Doug Ford Gets Vaccinated; vaccination in Canada has been slow
One of the reasons is the low vaccination rate in the country.
As of last week, the United States had fully vaccinated 19.6% of its population, compared to 8.5% in the United Kingdom and 2% in Canada.
“All over the world, countries are facing a very serious third wave of this pandemic,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned. “And now Canada too.”
Canada has recorded more than one million positive cases and 23,000 deaths from covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has recorded nearly 31 million cases and more than 559,000 deaths from covid.
Data from Johns Hopkins University shows that the covid-to-population ratio in Canada rose to 180 cases per million population on Tuesday. This means that there are around 180 new cases of the virus, per million people, every day.
The United States is now reporting about 196 cases of covid per million people – far less than the more than 700 cases per million reported in January.
“We have been somewhat blind to our global international performance because we are on the side of the United States and the catastrophe that has clearly been their experience during this pandemic,” said the president of the Association of Hospitals of the Ontario, Anthony Dale, to the National Post.
“They have clearly seen far worse results than Canada overall, make no mistake about it. However, it is the future that worries me and we are heading in a worrying direction compared to them when it comes to community contagion. “
Credit, Reuters
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his country faces third wave of covid
The variants represent 16,000 cases.
More than 90% of these cases involve the variant first identified in the UK, which now appears to have outgrown the original strain of the virus in some areas.
Cases of the variant first identified in Brazil doubled last week and nearly 300 cases of the South African variant have been discovered in provinces across the country.
The latest data comes as provinces across the country adopt new restrictions in a bid to curb the latest increase.
Ontario, the most populous province with 14 million people, institutes a four-week lockdown, closing all non-essential stores and schools in Toronto.
Quebec closed most stores on April 1 in its three largest cities.
Canada has guaranteed enough doses to administer 10 vaccines to every citizen. But the vaccination process was very slow.
The rapid spread of the new variants appears to have taken health officials by surprise, Andrew Morris, professor of medicine at the University of Toronto, told BBC News.
“We will not be able to vaccinate to end the pandemic here,” he said. Therefore, according to him, it will be necessary to adopt more containments.
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