Canada: Ontario officially enters seventh wave of COVID-19, province's chief medical officer says

Nearly more than a month after the end of most public health measures, including mask mandates, Ontario's COVID-19 science advisory table in a series of tweets on July 6 pointed to several key indicators signalling the beginning of a wave.

Moore also said that the slow rise of the BA.5 subvariant since early June started to take off mid-month, becoming a dominant strain.

Ontario's seventh wave is in its third week, Moore said, and it is expected to last another four to five weeks as infections are expected to increase over the next 10 days before beginning to slow.

Exponential growth in cases is being seen in around 80 per cent of public health units.

Ontario is also seeing its first increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations since May, with the number of people admitted for the virus higher than at any time last summer.

Anyone in a crowded indoor public is advised to wear a high-quality mask and to ventilate as much as possible by opening doors and windows for airflow.

The emergence of the new wave is amid the summer months when many people are spending more time outdoors.

Further eligibility for booster doses is being reviewed, said Moore with a decision to follow soon.

Owing to the provincial government's restriction of lab testing, and publishing school-related data over the last several months, a clear, full picture of the state of COVID-19 has become increasingly difficult.

After more than two years of daily updates of COVID-19 data, the province also switched on June 11 to weekly reporting.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)