TORONTO (AP) – All schools in Canada’s most populous province will be closed to online learning due to a record number of more contagious coronavirus infections, Prime Minister Ontario announced on Monday.
Prime Minister Doug Ford has said his government is moving online just after the April break this week.
Schools in Canada’s largest city, Toronto, had been closed since last Wednesday. Now it will be at the provincial level. Toronto and neighboring Peel made the decision last week after the province refused to act.
Ontario is now seeing more than 4,000 new infections a day in recent days, including 4,401 months, and is experiencing a number of intensive care units.
The spring break began Monday after the province postponed it in March to discourage travel during the pandemic.
“Bringing our children into a congregation setting in schools after a week off in the community is a risk I will not take,” Ford said.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the government would rely on the advice of Ontario’s chief health officer to determine when schools would resume for classroom learning.
On Sunday, Lecce said schools would reopen for classroom learning next week. Liberal opposition leader Steven Del Ducca said Lecce should be fired.
Ford has been criticized by health officials for not doing more to control infections after months of warnings.
“I can’t stress this enough. We are at a critical juncture right now. Many of the health indicators continue to outweigh the worst case scenario, ”Ford said. “I’m extremely worried about the new options.”
Vaccinations have increased in Canada in recent weeks and all adults who want a vaccine are expected to receive at least one dose by July. Canada has remained in terms of vaccinations because, like many other countries, it does not have the capacity to produce vaccines and has had to rely on the global supply chain. While hope is on the way, with more than 45 million doses expected to be available by July for the nation of 38 million people, cases in Canada are on the rise.
The Ontario Hospital Association said almost all hospitals in the greater Toronto area will close their pediatric units to help accommodate an increase in COVID-19 cases.
The chief medical officer of Toronto said the city could see 2,500 new COVID-19 cases daily by the end of April, even with a home restraining order in place.
“When the Hospital for Sick Children provides medical care for adults, you know you’re living in one of the worst times of the pandemic,” said Dr. Eileen de Villa, the city’s medical officer.
Canada’s chief public health director, Dr. Theresa Tam, said there are more than 33,000 confirmed cases involving contagious variants in Canada. Most still involve variant B.1.1.7 detected for the first time in the United Kingdom. But Tam said there was also a “worrying increase” in the number of P.1 cases, first associated with Brazil, which is particularly worrying because it can reduce the effectiveness of vaccines.
The British Columbia province of the Pacific coast began vaccinating all adults in the Whistler ski resort on Monday, which was hit hard with at least 197 P.1 cases.