(Reuters) – Cases of COVID-19 are on the rise across Canada’s most populous province of Ontario, thanks to the Delta variant, while Omicron “will hit us hard and fast” next year, an expert panel said on Tuesday.
Ontario reported 928 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, up from 887 cases reported on Monday.
The province has so far the found 21 cases of the Omicron variant, which was first detected last month in southern Africa and has since spread around the globe.
“COVID will almost certainly rise through January, even before Omicron hits us in full force,” a provincial advisory body said.
“We can’t predict Omicron precisely, but it will almost certainly hit us hard and fast.”
The experts said vaccine effectiveness was very high, but too many Ontarians were unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated and could end up in hospital.
The cases and number of people in intensive care units are likely to continue to rise through January, putting more pressure on already-burdened hospitals, the panel said.
Ontario accounts for almost 40% of Canada’s population of 39 million people.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
