By: Thomas I. Likness
Eagle News Service

(Eagle News) — Canada’s top doctor says the worst appears of the fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, driven by the omicron variant, appears to be over.

Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam sasy daily case numbers are dropping, as are positivity rates.

“This reassures us that individual efforts, including layering on personal protections like masking and limiting in-person contacts, together with population-based public health measures, are helping to slow transmission and mitigate severe illness trends,” Tam said Friday.

She says the seven-day average daily case count stands at more than 19,000, noting this is a 28% drop from a week earlier.

But while case numbers are down, the number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals remains at record levels.

Hospitals are struggling to keep up with the nearly 11,000 patients with COVID-19.

More than 1,200 of them are in intensive care units.

Tam again stressed the need for immunization adding it’s critical that all eligible Canadians get a booster shot.

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization is now recommending children aged five to 11 who are immunocompromised get a booster.
(Eagle News Service)