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Summary
- Canada has suspended all passenger flights from India and Pakistan for a month as the countries face a surge in COVID-19 infections.
- India is in the midst of a high surge in COVID cases.
- The Canadian Parliament has also voted unanimously to ban non-essential flights from other COVID-19 hotspots like Brazil.
As the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic makes its way through Canada, many regions are returning to strict lockdown and public restriction measures once again. Meanwhile, the government has suspended all passenger flights from India and Pakistan for a month as the countries face a surge in COVID-19 infections.
Transportation Minister Omar Alghabra reportedly noted that this is a temporary measure and will be limited to passenger flights. Cargo flights will continue operating to ensure continued transportation of vaccines and other essential commodities. Mr Alghabra indicated that the flight ban might extend to more countries depending on the situation.
India is in the midst of a high surge in COVID cases, having registered some 300,000 infections on a daily basis over the past few days.
According to Health Canada, 18 flights from India and two from Pakistan had at least one COVID-19 positive passenger onboard in the past two weeks.
The Canadian Parliament has also voted unanimously to ban non-essential flights from other COVID-19 hotspots like Brazil. Currently, there are no scheduled flights between Canada and Brazil.
©Kalkine Group 2020
What's Happening In Canada?
Canada is said to have some 86,678 coronavirus infected patients at the moment, of which 1,312 are serious or critical, according to data platform Worldometer.
The government data suggests that as of Thursday, total number of COVID cases in Canada stood at 1.2 million.
The Public Health Agency of Canada is coordinating with World Health Organisation, provinces and territories to assess the sudden surge in daily infections. Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) is engaged in diagnostic testing for the coronavirus. Provincial and territorial public health laboratories are now testing for the lethal virus in collaboration with the NML.
©Kalkine Group 2020
According to the Canadian government, 19.18 per cent of the total population have received at least one dose of the vaccine, whereas 2.13 per cent of the population received two doses.
Returning To Lockdowns and Public Health Restrictions
Last week, Ontario imposed a 28-day lockdown and a stay-at-home order. It also closed in-store shopping for non-essential retailers.
Earlier in April, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described the third wave of the pandemic as a “very serious threat” to Canada, adding that other provinces could see a lockdown extension if the situation worsens.
