All schools in Ontario close and go to study online

TORONTO – All schools in Canada’s most populous province to be shut down and switched to online learning due to record number coronavirus infections triggered by more contagious variants, the Prime Minister of Ontario announced on Monday.

Prime Minister Doug Ford said that his government will switch to the network only after the April break this week.

Schools in Canada’s largest city, Toronto, have already been closed since last Wednesday. It will now be all over the province. Toronto and the neighboring Peel region made the decision last week after the province refused to act.

Ontario has now recorded more than 4,000 new infections a day in recent days, including 4,401 on Monday, and is recording a number of intensive care.

The spring break began Monday after the province postponed it in March to discourage travel during the pandemic.

“Getting our kids back in the community to school after a week of community vacation is a risk I won’t take,” Ford said.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the government would rely on the advice of the chief medical officer health from Ontario to determine when schools will start teaching.

On Sunday, Lecce said schools would reopen for classes next week. Opposition Liberal leader Steven Del Ducca said Lecce should be fired.

Ford has been criticized by health officials for failing to bring infections under control after months of warnings.

“I can’t stress this enough. We are currently at a critical point. “Many health indicators still outweigh the worst-case scenario,” Ford said. I am extremely worried about the new variants. “

Vaccination has risen sharply in Canada in recent weeks and all adults who want the vaccine are expected to receive at least one dose by July. Canada has lagged behind in vaccination because, like many other countries, it lacks the ability to produce vaccines and had to rely on a global supply chain. Although hope is on the way with more than 45 million doses expected to be available by July for a nation of 38 million people, cases in Canada are growing.

The Ontario Hospital Association said nearly all hospitals in the greater Toronto area will close their pediatric units to help adjust to the overvoltage of COVID-19 cases.

Toronto’s chief health officer said the city could see 2,500 daily new cases of COVID-19 a day by the end of April, even with a valid order to stay home.

“When a hospital for sick children provides ICU care to adults, you know you are living in one of the worst periods of a pandemic,” said Dr. Eileen de Villa, city medical officer.

Chief Canadian Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam said there are more than 33,000 confirmed cases in Canada involving infectious variants. Most still include the B.1.1.7 variant first discovered in UK. But Tam said that there was also a “worrying increase” in the number of cases of variant P.1, which is first related to Brazil, which is especially worrying because it can reduce the effectiveness of vaccines.

The province of British Columbia on the Pacific coast began vaccinating all adults in the Whistler ski resort town on Monday, which has been hit hard with at least 197 cases of variant P.1.