Canada confirms nearly 25,000 new cases in weekly COVID-19 update

OTTAWA, July 15 (Xinhua) -- The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) on Friday confirmed a total of 24,872 new cases of COVID-19 for the week of July 3 to 9, pushing the number of total cases to nearly four million.

Nationally, both COVID-19 disease activity and severity indicators have increased in recent weeks, as the BA.5 sub-lineage of Omicron predominates in more areas across Canada, Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam said in a statement.

The Canadian lead public health professional said that compared to prior weeks, all indicators are increasing nationally, from weekly case counts and laboratory test positivity to average daily numbers of people with COVID-19 in hospitals in Canada.

"While the precise impacts are unknown, it is reasonable to expect that we could see a continued increase in case numbers over the weeks ahead, particularly as a result the BA.5 sub-lineage of Omicron increasing in proportion among sequenced viruses," Tam said.

According to the weekly update issued by the PHAC, the number of total COVID-19 cases and deaths reached 3,978,338 and 42,148 respectively. The daily percent positive during the week averaged at 14.8 percent.

Canada announced Thursday it authorized the use of the Moderna Spikevax COVID-19 vaccine in children six months to five years of age and also tightened the COVID-19 policy by resuming mandatory random testing as of July 19 for travelers who qualify as fully vaccinated, arriving in Canada by air to the four major airports, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto.