The figures are harsh and the heartache–both collective and personal–is likely worse than most Canadians ever imagined.
The coronavirus is relentless.
So are the repercussions and the crises the monster brings, and Canada has now passed a grim milestone.
Canada has now officially recorded more than 5,000 deaths connected to COVID-19.
A member of the Canadian Armed Forces looks down at flowers as she leaves Residence Yvon-Brunet, a long term care home in Montreal, Saturday, April 18, 2020, as COVID-19 cases rise in Canada and around the world. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes)
The threshold was passed when Ontario reported 56 more deaths on Tuesday, twice the national death count since the last weekend of April when the total reached 2,500 deaths.
Ontario and Quebec have recorded more than 4,730 deaths between them–more than 90 per cent of all Canadian deaths.
More than 1,720 people have died in Ontario so far, more than 3,010 people have died in Quebec.
A man walks past a COVID-19 alert sign in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside on March 26. The virus, which has turned life upside down in Canada, passed a grim milestone this week. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward)
It’s all happened in a little more than three months.
Things began going bad in late January when a man returned to Toronto from Wuhan, China, and tested positive.
The first Canadian death was reported six weeks later, on March 9, at a seniors’ long-term care home in British Columbia.
Signs indicating seats which are closed to promote physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic are pictured on a public transit bus in North Vancouver, B.C., Tuesday. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward)
It was a sign of things to come as the virus ravaged long-term care homes in many parts of the country, notably in Ontario and Quebec, accounting for at least half of the COVID-19 deaths in Canada.
Some places have managed to hold their own.
Five provinces and territories–New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Yukon, Northwest Territories–have yet to see any fatalities as a result of COVID-19.
Nunavut has not recorded a single case.
It appears there will be no letup to the pain. The Government of Canada has released modelling that anticipates 11,000–22,000 deaths over the course of the pandemic, assuming “stronger epidemic control.”
With files from CBC News, Radio-Canada
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