Health officials to provide update on COVID-19, medicine shortages in Canada – National | Globalnews.ca

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is set to provide an update Friday as the country continues to grapple with new COVID-19 subvariants amid ongoing medicine shortages.

The update will come at 10 a.m. ET with federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, Chief Officer of Health Dr. Theresa Tam and Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Howard Njoo in attendance, a spokesperson for PHAC told Global News Thursday.

Also present will be Dr. Matt Tunis from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI).

Apart from COVID-19, the update will cover analgesics shortages in the country and the Canada Dental Plan, a benefit aimed to help lower dental costs for eligible families, the PHAC spokesperson said.

The update comes at a time when the number of confirmed cases of the XBB.1.5. subvariant has hit a total of 42 infections.

According to PHAC, “Nationally, the number of new COVID-19 cases reported increased over the week of January 1-7.”

Ontario saw the highest number of cases during the first week of January with a total of 7,456, while Quebec came in second with 5,469 infections.

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In a statement to Global News last week, the agency also said the number of cases related to the XBB.1.5. variant is expected to rise in the coming weeks because of a “delay in reporting late December and early January detections from provinces and territories due to the holiday period.”

During the last PHAC update, Tam noted that swirling respiratory viruses including COVID-19 and RSV are “causing significant strain on our health care systems.”

“In Canada, variations in population level of immunity and current global trends suggest that an uptick in COVID-19 could occur in the New Year,” Tam said, adding that staying up to date with recommended vaccines would provide an “important foundation” of protection.

XBB.1.5. is a sub-lineage of the Omicron subvariant XBB and has been deemed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the “most transmissible” COVID-19 variant so far.

The subvariant has been nicknamed “Kraken” and has spread rapidly in Asia and the United States.

Should there be a severe surge in cases in Canada, doctors say hospitals don’t have the capacity to cope.

“We don’t have the capacity. Our health-care system is starting to look like a set of dominos that you’re starting to knock over,” Dr. Melissa Yuan-Innes, emergency physician at the Hôpital Glengarry Memorial Hospital in Alexandria, Ont. told Global News last week.

“People call the hospital the first line of defence. We’re actually the last line of defence. We’re there if everything else fails. So, we’re asking you to do your part,” said Yuan-Innes.

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According to government data from Jan. 16, there were 16,540 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Canada from Jan. 1 to 7.

There were also 279 COVID-19 deaths between that time.

— with files from Global News’ Aya Al-Hakim

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