We have been keeping our readers regularly updated with infographics, epidemiological data focusing on key trends when it comes to COVID-19, in Canada, USA and other countries including Pakistan and India.
With the rising number of cases, the United States is unlikely to be overtaken in the near future, with a total now approaching three million according to Johns Hopkins University figures. The United States, Brazil and India remain the top 3 countries reporting the most COVID-19 cases as to this day.
In lieu of an in-person update to the media, Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, issued the following statement today in which she stated: “There have been 105,536 cases of COVID-19 in Canada, including 8,684 deaths. 66% of people have now recovered. Labs across Canada have tested over 2,940,000 people for COVID-19 to date. Over the past week, an average of 39,000 people were tested daily, with 1% testing positive…“
Today, in the province of Ontario, there was no death reported in more than 3 months, and the number of cases being reported in Ontario remains below 200 cases per day.
Across the globe, it is rare to see neighbouring countries with such contrast when it comes to the number of active cases, like what we see below in this heat map we generated today from Johns Hopkins University.
If we compared this heat map and looked at the most densely populated regions in the world, including Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, we see the following picture below which is not as contrasting as we see between USA and Canada:
The government of Canada has currently restricted unnecessary travel between the US and Canada until July 21. However, there are growing calls on social media to keep the border closed for a much longer time given the rise in the number of cases the US is experiencing.
Several videos are being shared on social media with visuals of beach parties coming out of the US over the last few days. Twitter is flooded with those videos and people tweeting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Ontario Premier Doug Ford, to keep the border closed.
The graph below shows the total number of COVID-19 cases per million people and the doubling time of cases. A longer doubling time indicates a lower rate of transmission. The doubling time is less dependent on testing capacity as long as the capacity does not change over time—which it often does. We would consider a country with few confirmed cases and a long doubling time to be successfully containing the outbreak, although low testing capacity could still be a factor. In many cases a long doubling time may suggest that containment measures are starting to take effect. On the other hand, few cases and a short doubling time may suggest that the outbreak is spreading quickly, and the number of cases is set to increase.
Government of Canada has the travel restrictions and advisories posted at this link.
