As public health measures lift Tam says COVID-19 case bump ‘not unexpected’

Canada’s top doctor Dr. Theresa Tam says increased COVID-19 transmission is “not unexpected” as public health measures are lifted and cases pick up internationally.

The Chief Public Health Officer says the number of new cases of the virus have started to level off after weeks of decline.

“Hospitalizations could certainly come up when cases go up. However, it is expected that increase in hospitalization would be less than what we just saw,” she said.

In Canada, the daily average number of people in hospital with COVID-19 declined by 11 per cent since last week, and the number of people in intensive care declined by 14 per cent.

The spread of COVID-19 abroad has been partially blamed on BA.2, a sublineage of the Omicron variant that has been dubbed “stealth Omicron.”

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Deputy chief public health officer Dr. Howard Njoo says the spread of BA.2 seems to be highest in places where booster vaccine coverage is low and fewer people were infected with Omicron in the last wave.

In Canada, Tam says BA.2 is spreading relatively slowly and does not appear to be more severe than other variants.

Currently only about 56 per cent of adults over the age of 18 have received a booster shot, according to the federal public health agency. Tam said there is a particular gap among people in their 50s.

“That would, I think, still be very relevant given the potential for an uptick as the public health measures are eased,” Tam said.

“We want Canadians to want to get it because it makes sense,” she said.