Hospitals seeing influx of COVID-19 patients: Tam

Canada's chief public health officer says the number of patients being hospitalized for COVID-19 is on the rise as more contagious variants of the virus spread in many parts of the country.

Dr. Theresa Tam says hospitals treated an average of more than 2,500 patients with COVID-19 each day last week, a seven per cent increase compared to the previous week.

Tam says 860 of these patients were in intensive-care units, which is an increase of 23 per cent over the previous week.

Tam says these worrying trends are consistent with a strong resurgence of COVID-19, noting that the number of new cases linked to more contagious variants of the virus has doubled over the past week.

1/2 To date, ≥ 24,995 #VariantsOfConcern cases (↑8,131 since Apr.7), including 23,611 (↑8,112) B.1.1.7, 1,039 (↑16) P.1 & 345 (↑3) B.1.351 variants have been reported, with numbers highest in Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, & Quebec. https://t.co/IHyBa1lpr8

— Dr. Theresa Tam (@CPHO_Canada) April 9, 2021

She says an average of more than 6,800 new cases and 30 deaths reported were reported daily over the past week.