COVID-19: Trudeau says 'normal Christmas out of question', urges people to limit contacts

As Toronto, Peel Region prepare to enter into a lockdown due to an uncontrollable second wave infection surge, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau appealed to the citizens to stay-at-home despite the Christmas season around the corner. In a live-streamed address on November 20, the Canadian leader warned, people needed to immediately shrink the number of people they meet, halt nonessential movement, and work from home just as he will as the coronavirus cases across Canada were “spiking massively.”  Citing the overwhelming numbers of the confirmed COVID-19 cases that have strained the healthcare systems to the brink of collapse, Trudeau said, “ a normal Christmas" in 2020 was “quite frankly right out of question.”

Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, Theresa Tam, earlier at a press briefing reported that in the past 24 hours, Canada detected a record-breaking figure of 60,000 cases of novel infection. States of Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta were witnessing an alarmingly high rate of transmission, exceeding far more than the figures in  March and April. Meanwhile Ontario Premier Doug Ford hostile issued new home confinement orders in hotspot regions that prohibited indoor gatherings, with exemption to schools, grocery stores, and pharmacies. “It's not where we want to be, it’s a difficult news,” he said at a press conference. 

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Situation 'extremely serious'

“We're really at risk of seeing case loads go up and hospitals get overwhelmed," Trudeau said, concerned. “But I am not looking to bring in a federal hammer to try and do things,” he added, clarifying the reports of Ottawa invoking emergency for nationwide lockdown once again. Ontario Premier Doug Ford in a more straightforward statement said, “The situation is extremely serious and further action is required to avoid the worst-case scenario,” as he announced lockdown effective November 23 which will last for almost a month.

The premier warned that despite festivities, considering the grave health crisis, anyone caught flouting lockdown will be imposed with CAN$750 (€483) penalty. He limited funeral and wedding gatherings to a maximum of 10 people. "We can't risk overwhelming our hospitals,"  Ford said, as Ontario recorded 100,000 confirmed cases as of November 20. 

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