Concerns over community spread of new Coronavirus variants in Canada, top doctor says | FULL

Canada's Chief Public Officer of Health Dr. Theresa Tam said she's concerned over the rapid spread of the new coronavirus variants in the country.

At Tuesday's coronavirus briefing, Tam said there are at least four Canadian provinces reporting evidence of community transmission and outbreak activity related to the variants.

Last week, Newfoundland and Labrador cancelled in-person voting for its provincial election in response to an alarming rise of COVID-19 cases in the province, related to the variant first detected in the U.K.

Chief medical health officer Dr. Janice Fitzgerald said Friday that the B.1.1.7. variant of the virus, which was first discovered in the United Kingdom, is behind the sudden spike in infections and accounts for all 248 new cases reported over the past seven days.

Canada added 1,157 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 18 new fatalities, as Canadians across much of the country celebrated Family Day on Monday.

The new cases bring the total number of infections in the country to 826,671, however, several regions did not release any new COVID-19 data due to the holiday.

To date, the virus has claimed 21,311 lives in Canada.

For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca/news/7641757/canada-coronavirus-third-wave-explainer/

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