Canadian officials to provide COVID-19 update as Omicron spreads – National | Globalnews.ca

The federal government is expected to provide an update on COVID-19 Friday morning as the Omicron variant continues to spread across Canada.

Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Infrastructure Dominic LeBlanc and Government of Canada officials will be attending the virtual briefing.

The update is scheduled to take place at 11 a.m. EST and will be livestreamed on globalnews.ca.

Omicron has been driving up COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations across Canada since its introduction to the country last month.

On Thursday, Canada reported 39,433 cases and 69 deaths. However, a number of provinces have restricted COVID-19 PCR testing due to overwhelming demand, so the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has cautioned that daily case counts would likely underestimate the total burden of the disease.

More to come…

— with files from Aaron D’Andrea

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