Ottawa sending 2 mobile testing units to GTA to help hospitals, ICU capacity
Posted January 22, 2021 1:00 pm.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared on Friday that Ottawa will send two mobile health units to the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), where COVID-19 is straining local hospitals.
He made the announcement outside his home in Ottawa this morning.
“This will provide up to 200 additional hospital beds and free up space for people who need ICU care,” Trudeau said.
According to data collected from January 11 through January 16, approximately 85 percent of public health units in Ontario reported a decrease in the rate of COVID-19 in the current week.
The latest epidemiological report points to a downward trend also reflected in the sharp decrease in the rate of disease among all age groups, as well as a decrease in the number of outbreak and outbreak-associated cases.
Ontario is reporting more than 2,600 new cases of COVID-19 today and 87 more deaths related to the virus. More than 1,500 people in the province are hospitalized with the virus.
Meantime, with the country and its many provinces scrambling following news that Pfizer will not send any new shipments next week, Trudeau says the C-E-O of Pfizer has assured him that Canada will get all of its promised doses of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine.
At the morning news conference, Trudeau told reporters he spoke with Albert Bourla on the phone yesterday.
The Prime Minister says Canada will also receive half-a-million doses of the Moderna vaccine in February.
As of January 20, and with the delays in consideration, Canada projects it will be able to vaccinate around 8 percent of the population by the end of March.
With files from The Canadian Press
