Health Canada is reporting 78,500 Canadians tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.
Over thelong weekend, the agency’s head said nearly half of all cases in the country are now recovered, that’s just under 40,000 Canadians now virus-free.
Dr. Theresa Tam says Canada has now tested nearly 1.4 million people for COVID-19 with about 5% coming back positive and the current daily testing average is at around 28,000.
Tam says Canada is not out of the woods yet, no country is, so this will be a summer of more restrained movements and virtual celebrations.
Canada’s top doctor was asked to comment on U.S. President Trump’s announcement that he is taking Hydroxychloroquine as a preventative measure for COVID-19. Dr. Tam says she knows everyone is anxious to find a viable treatment for the virus, but trials are still underway and there are no results yet.
She says a lot of these studies are very preliminary with different treatments and the results have been mixed. Tam also notes some early evidence from studies outside of Canada suggests that hydroxychloroquine might be effective in reducing some viral loads, but she still recommends if it’s being used it should be part of a clinical trial.
Tam says in the past weeks, a trial for the use of hydroxychloroquine in hospitalized children was approved by Health Canada. She says the bottom line is this medication must first be preserved for its indicated medical treatment like lupus or malaria.
