TORONTO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th April, 2020) The number of Canadians confirmed to have contracted the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) increased by nearly 2,000 in the past 24 hours to 42,750, updated figures from Canada's Public Health Agency revealed on Friday.
The COVID-19-related death toll rose to 2,197, the data also showed.
The province of Quebec remains the epicenter of the outbreak in Canada, accounting for more than half of all confirmed cases - 21,838 - and 1,243 deaths.
The dire situation in long-term health care facilities across Canada also remains in the national spotlight.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the situation in long-term care homes is unacceptable, adding that the country is failing its elderly population.
The crisis in care facilities has prompted Quebec and Ontario to request additional military assistance from the Federal government. The military has already honored three requests from Quebec, including two deployments of the Canadian Rangers to two northern communities in the province.
Half of the reported deaths in Canada have been attributed to care homes, according to health officials.
The alarming trend in long-term care facilities prompted officials to revise their mortality projections last week, although data released this week revealed that the death toll exceeded those projections as well.
The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11. To date, almost 2.7 million people have been infected with the new coronavirus worldwide, of which more than 192,000 have succumbed to the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University.
