Today’s announcement on COVID and Omicron update is being made by following Hon’ble Ministers in the given sequence starting with PM:
- Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau
- Deputy Prime Minister, Chrystia Freeland
- Minister of Public Services and Procurement, Carla Qualtrough
- Minister of Health, Yves Duclos
- Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam
- Deputy Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Howard Njoo
As per latest update, total COVID cases increased to 81,741 with Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland & Labrador reporting 10,804 new COVID cases today. Rest of the provinces are yet to provide today’s COVID update.
Click here to check the detailed COVID cases in Canada updated daily.
PM revealed that 6 members of his staff and security have been tested positive for COVID-19. He also took COVID test, but it was negative. “We are following all public health guidelines every step of the way. I have been taking rapid tests – so far negative – but following public health guidelines, I am being careful about everything that I do” Trudeau said.
Government of Canada announced temporary inclusion of workers impacted by capacity restrictions in the eligibility for the new Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit. Capacity limits have been reduced to 50% in most of the workplaces across Canada due to rising COVID cases. All the eligible affected workers will be getting $300 per week.
Furthermore, the federal government has also reduced the current monthly revenue decline threshold for wage and rent subsidies. All the eligible employers will be receiving wage and rent subsidies between 25 per cent to 75 per cent. Details on these two programs are available in Bill C-2.
As a matter of relief, there was no further restriction on international travel announced in today’s update. Even in previous update, Dr. Tam said vector is more towards controlling the domestic spread of COVID and it’s variants of concerns.
