COVID-19 hospitalizations on the decline in Ontario, Quebec as protest jams Ottawa

COVID-19 hospitalizations are ticking down in Canada’s two most populous provinces, as hundreds swarmed Ottawa Saturday in vehicles and on foot to protest public well being restrictions and the Liberal federal authorities.

The variety of individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 in Ontario has steadily declined from 4,016 on Wednesday to three,439 on Saturday, amounting to a drop of 577 sufferers over three days.

The province reported that 597 sufferers had been in intensive care resulting from COVID-19, down by 10 from Friday.

Quebec marked its sixth straight day of declining hospitalizations linked to the virus.

The province reported 2,975 sufferers in hospital with the sickness on Saturday, down by 116 from the day earlier than.

The Well being Division mentioned intensive care circumstances rose by three to 231 after trending down over the previous week.

On the East Coast, Nova Scotia mentioned 87 sufferers had been hospitalized in COVID-19 items. Sixteen individuals had been within the ICU, officers mentioned.

Hospitals on Prince Edward Island had been treating 19 individuals for COVID-19, together with three ICU sufferers, the province reported.

In a tweet on Saturday, Canada’s chief public well being officer warned that COVID-19 severity developments proceed to rise, with a each day common of 10,766 individuals with COVID-19 in hospitals, together with 1,216 in intensive care.

Even because the Omicron surge has pushed reported case counts to document highs, Dr. Theresa Tam mentioned there are “some hopeful indicators” that the unfold of the virus is slowing nationally.

“This reassures us that particular person efforts ... along with population-based public well being measures to cut back contact charges are serving to to sluggish transmission and mitigate extreme sickness developments,” Tam tweeted.

In the meantime, crowds and idling autos jammed the arteries surrounding Parliament Hill on Saturday to sentence public well being measures in a rally that’s anticipated to draw as many as 10,000 individuals from throughout Canada this weekend.

Whereas the professed goal of the protest is to oppose vaccine mandates for truck drivers crossing the Canada-U.S. border, it’s develop into an outlet for an array of frustrations with COVID-19 restrictions and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s management.

This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Jan. 29, 2022.