At first, all of the cases of COVID-19 in Canada were connected to international travel but now there is almost an equal number of Canadians who have tested positive from community transmission.
Canada’s Chief Medical Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, says 48 per cent of the cases are now from community transmission and since last week, nearly 90 per cent of the new cases are from spread of the virus in the community.
She urges social distancing and maintaining a 2 metre barrier to stem the infection rate.
Dr. Tam explains that there are fewer flights coming in, so that means less transmission coming from out of the country and there have been a few outbreaks.
She points to a dental conference with at least 20 people infected and to long term care facilities in British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario.
Whether social distancing and the safety protocols put in place by the provincial and federal governments are working will be known in a few weeks by the results of how many new cases there are since these measures have been put in place.
Tam adds that although international data shows that age matters in terms of the more severe cases of COVID-19 as do underlying medical conditions, she cautions that younger age groups still have some more severe cases, so it should still be taken very seriously in any age group.