Canadian Total Of Coronavirus Cases Surpasses 1,000

TORONTO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st March, 2020) The number of confirmed cases of infection with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Canada now tops 1,000, updated government data reveals.

The latest public health data available on Friday shows that there are now 348 cases in British Columbia, 318 cases in Ontario, 195 in Alberta, 139 in Quebec and at least 52 other cases across the rest of the country.

There have been 12 deaths reported and a further 28 cases are listed as probable.

So far, the provinces of British Columbia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, and Manitoba have declared a state of emergency, while Alberta, Quebec and Prince Edward Island (PEI) have declared a state of public health emergency, as Canada struggles to contain the spread of the disease.

On Thursday, Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said that public health officials are increasingly seeing evidence of community spread and that Canadians must heed the advice of public health officials and do their part in stopping the transmission of the disease, noting that the window to contain the spread of the disease in the country is rapidly closing.

Earlier this month, the World Health Organization declared the spread of COVID-19 a pandemic. According to Johns Hopkins University, almost 260,000 cases of COVID-19 infections have been confirmed globally, while the number of fatalities has now eclipsed 11,000. More than 87,000 have recovered.