Canada's Covid-19 cases continue to rise

Alberta province, which has a population of 4.4 million, reported 1,718 new Covid-19 cases and 10 deaths on Thursday, reported on Friday.

Ontario, Canada's most populous province with 14 million residents, confirmed 864 new cases of the novel corona virus on Thursday, after it reported 600 new cases on Monday, 577 new cases on Tuesday and 593 new cases on Wednesday.

Thursday's report brought the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 577,253. The province recorded three new deaths on Thursday, bringing the total death tally in the province to 9,632.

Quebec, another populous province in the country, reported 782 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the cumulative total number to 400,625.

British Columbia announced 706 additional cases of Covid-19 and four deaths on Thursday. 

There have now been 177,186 confirmed cases and 1,877 deaths in the province with a population of 4.9 million.

Updated Canadian national data show that the Delta-driven wave is continuing to surge.

"Unless we can quickly reduce overall transmission rates, through accelerated vaccination and other measures where the virus is surging, continued expansion of the epidemic could lead to higher case counts than we have experienced thus far," Theresa Tam, Canada's Chief Public Health Officer has said.

The country's reported cases and severe illnesses are predominantly occurring among unvaccinated people.

"Likewise, with still close to seven million eligible people not yet fully vaccinated amid predominance of the highly contagious and more severe Delta variant, hospitalizations could exceed healthcare capacity in impacted areas," Tam added.

The average number of daily new cases reported in Canada is now over 4,300. On average, almost 1,950 people with Covid-19 are being treated in hospitals each day, including over 650 in intensive care units and an average of 25 deaths daily, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada on Thursday.

Increasing the vaccination rate overall and raising fully vaccinated coverage among young adults, aged 18-39 years in particular, could slow epidemic growth enough to reduce the risk of exceeding healthcare capacity or shorten the duration of seriously elevated hospitalisation rates through the winter, Tam said in the statement.