The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is currently advising Americans not to travel to Canada as the Omicron-driven Covid outbreak hits both countries.
The agency moved Canada to ‘Level 4’ of its Covid travel advisory recommendations on Monday., The highest level of danger a country can receive and recommend against traveling to this country.
It warns that people traveling to Canada should be fully vaccinated, and even those who still bear some risk of catching and spreading variants of Covid.
Canada joins more than 80 countries currently designated as ‘Level 4’ travel risk, including the UK, France, Italy and several other European and African countries.
Canada has been designated a ‘Level 4’ hazard by the CDC for US travelers. The agency is now advising Americans not to travel to the country currently experiencing a spike in cases. Pictured: A man in Toronto, Ontario, received a Covid test on June 15
Like the United States, Canada has suffered from a shortage of available tests amid a spike in demand. Many public checkpoints have seen long lines. Pictured: People line up outside a testing center in Toronto, Ontario, on December 29
America’s neighbor is currently suffering from the worst Covid surge, surpassing more than 40,000 new cases a day last week – breaking the previous record of about 9,000 a day. It has also cleared the sixth most Omicron cases of any country in the world, with 23,620 confirmed cases as of Monday afternoon.
In Canada, hospitals are being filled – and gradually overwhelmed – by the recent surge in cases.
Provinces in the east of the country, such as New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec, have been hardest hit.
Dr Bob Bell, Ontario’s Deputy Minister of Health, told Global News that this variant has hit the hospital system in his area hard.
He said lockdowns and other mandates may even be imminent as cases continue to increase.
However, there is still hope that this variant might sell out. After peaking last week at around 42,000, the daily number of new cases has dropped to 36,000 per day.
Schools across the country are closed for an extra week of winter break to control the pandemic situation.
Alberta and British Columbia, the nation’s two most westernized provinces, returned to school this week, and health officials are working to deliver thousands of tests to schools across the country to facilitate for reopening.
However, testing has become an issue for Canada, as well as in the US.
Rapid tests at home are in short supply and prices have skyrocketed amid growing demand.
Just like major cities in the US, places like Toronto and Montreal struggle with long lines at public construction sites due to high demand and low supply.
PCR tests, often considered the gold standard in Covid detection, are also in short supply and Quebec has even banned people without symptoms from testing.
Canada has a high vaccination rate, with 84 percent of residents having received at least one shot of the vaccine and 78 percent being fully vaccinated.
About 26 percent of the population has also received a booster shot.
Along with Canada, Curacao, a small island off the coast of Venezuela, was also added to the CDC’s list of Level 4 tourist destinations.
The addition of Curacao to the list makes it one of the first countries in the South American region to be added to the Level 4 list during Omicron’s recent surge.
Source: | This article originally belonged to Dailymail.co.uk
