TORONTO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th May, 2020) More than 750 members of the Canadian military are assisting in long-term care homes ravaged by the coronavirus across the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, Treasury board President Jean-Yves Duclos said on Wednesday.
Additional deployments are expected to increase the number 1,000 military personnel as seven more care homes have been earmarked to receive help.
"The Canadian armed forces have 760 members that are supporting care staff in 13 long-term care facilities," Duclos said. "The Canadian government is working very hard with the Quebec government to deploy more troops into at least seven more long-term care facilities... So far, there should be approximately 1,000 members of the armed forces when the deployment will be done."
Most of the troops have been deployed to the Montreal metropolitan area as well as five care homes in Ontario.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault has suggested in recent days that the deployment of military personnel needs to be accelerated.
On Wednesday, the Canadian COVID-19 death toll jumped by more than 5 percent and exceeds 4,100.
Canada's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Theresa Tam told reporters last week that 79 percent of all Canadian fatalities are attributed to outbreaks in care homes.
