Toronto, January 5 Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the media in Ottawa on January 5 that he was “frustrated” at the country’s current slow progress in coronavirus vaccination.
Trudeau said at the first live press conference of the new year held in front of his residence on the same day that Canada should really accelerate the pace of vaccination. He will soon discuss the shortage of vaccinations with provincial administrators.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported that about 148,000 Canadians have been vaccinated. This is equivalent to about 0.39 percent of Canada’s 38 million total population.
Ontario, the most populous province, has been vaccinated since December 14 last year, but currently only 50,000 doses are vaccinated, averaging about 2,500 doses a day. At this rate, it will take more than 10 years to complete the vaccination for all adults in the province.
So far, Canadian officials have pre-ordered about 414 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from many pharmaceutical companies around the world, and it is expected that 6 million doses of vaccine will be received by the end of March 2021.
At present, the country has approved two vaccines and started vaccinations in various places. Trudeau said that Canada is expected to have enough vaccines for the country’s people by September.
Recently, the media have successively revealed that many politicians have traveled abroad for various reasons despite the Canadian government’s travel warnings.
Trudeau responded that the Canadian government strongly recommended that no “non-essential” travel should be carried out and no one should go abroad for vacation now.
At the same time, the Canadian government is improving the relevant regulations that outbound travelers for “non-essential” reasons will not be able to receive sick leave subsidies of up to 1,000 Canadian dollars.
Canada will implement new immigration epidemic prevention regulations from January 7. All air passengers aged 5 and above must hold their own negative COVID-19 PCR (nucleic acid) test report within 72 hours before boarding to Canada.
At present, the epidemic situation in Canada is serious. As of the evening of January 5, the cumulative number of reported cases exceeded 618,000 and more than 16,000 deaths.
The affordability of many medical systems has been in short need. Canadian media revealed that in London, southwest Ontario, the severe second wave of the epidemic saturated the 28-bed morgue of the local hospital system, and the hospital system had to temporarily store the body with a refrigerated trailer.
According to a new survey commissioned by the Canadian Press Agency, 50% of the more than 1,500 respondents across the country believe that Canada is experiencing the worst period of the epidemic, 61% are afraid of contracting the novel coronavirus, and more than 70% say they are willing to be vaccinated.
However, nearly half of the respondents admitted that they had visited relatives and friends during the holiday.
