Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he has warned the premiers of the country’s 10 provinces that “impossible” choices will have to be made if they don’t lower their Covid19 caseloads soon.
Trudeau’s remarks on Friday came as the coronavirus pandemic shows no signs of easing up across Canada as the country’s provinces announced new lockdown measures and the government continues to urge the public to take the health crisis seriously, reports Xinhua news agency.
On Tuesday, he had warned the provinces and territories to “do the right thing” and impose restrictions to counter the recent rise in Covid-19 cases.
“One of the things that I did highlight is that our resources are not infinite at the federal government, whether it comes to support on contact tracing, extra support on (personal protective equipment), support through the military or the Red Cross.
“We are there to support the provinces as they handle this pandemic,” Trudeau said at a press conference here on Friday.
“But there is a threshold beyond which when the cases spike too much, we might have to make really difficult choices about where to deploy the limited resources we have.”
Trudeau’s comments followed a Thursday evening call between him and the premiers.
Trudeau said his government is not at the point of making those “difficult choices” yet.
“Controlling the virus now reduces the impossible decisions and choices we might have to make down the road.”
The Prime Minister said he has approved a request from Manitoba to provide support in the province’s long-term care facilities until January 15, 2021.
“Hospitals start to get overwhelmed in various parts of the country as resources start to grow thin, as people are giving up on contact tracing,” he said.
“The federal government can add more but not an unlimited amount.”
Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, said at the briefing that new modeling suggests the country is on track to record 10,000 new cases per day by early December.
“We are obviously working hard at vaccine preparations but that’s going to take time, so we need everybody to make an effort.”
Tam added that unless measures are taken now and the curve is flattened, the pandemic will affect Christmas gatherings.
“Right now, it’s not looking good. People have to like, really take everything seriously.”
Canada has so far reported 285,790 Covid-19 cases and 10,821 fatalities.
