Canada Braces for Delta-Driven 4th Wave of COVID-19 Pandemic

• Canada is seeing an increase in new COVID-19 cases.
• Community-wide contact rates increase too quickly with ongoing reopening efforts.
• The epidemic trajectory may evolve through early September.

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Ndi Canada Chief Public Health Officer warned that the country is apparently at the start of the Delta-driven fourth wave of COVID-19 pandemic.

“The updated longer-range forecast shows how the epidemic trajectory may evolve through early September. It suggests that we are at the start of the Delta-driven fourth wave, but that the trajectory will depend on ongoing increases in fully vaccinated coverage, and the timing, pace and extent of reopening,” Theresa Tam said at a press conference in Ottawa.

“I think we are in a slightly precarious period at the moment, in between these people trying to get the vaccines in and reopening,” she said.

“As soon as that balance is tipped, and it wouldn’t take very much with a highly transmissible virus, you’re going to see an uptick in cases.”

After weeks of sustained decline in new cases of COVID-19, Canada is seeing an increase in new COVID-19 cases, and thousands more infections are predicted if contacts aren’t contained, according to national modelling released by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) on Friday.

The seven-day moving average of 594 new cases reported daily (July 22-28) showed an increase of 39 percent over the previous week, said the PHAC on Thursday.

The national modelling released by the PHAC on Friday showed the serious threat the highly contagious Delta variant is posing, and the risk that the unvaccinated may be to the country being thrust into the fourth wave.