Trudeau says state of Covid-19 pandemic 'frightening'

Ottawa, Jan 9 Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that the country's current coronavirus pandemic state was "frightening", as the overall infection tally has increased to 642,548, while the death toll stood at 16,665.

"Frankly, it's frightening to see cases rise at home and around the world, day after day," Xinhua news agency quoted Trudeau as saying at a press conference here on Friday.

He said things were "tough" right now, imploring people to take the necessary public health measures and committing to keeping up federal aid from economic supports to the deployment of the military to assist in communities facing outbreaks.

The Prime Minister also said that his government is committed to vaccinating every Canadian who wants a shot by the end of September.

The country will have to administer roughly 100,000 doses a day for the next 265 days if it's going to vaccinate every adult in Canada by that time.

"Quantities of both the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccine will scale up in February. We need to make sure we're getting those doses as quickly as possible and I can assure you that we continue ongoing conversations with the companies about accelerating the schedule of delivery so we can get Canad vaccinated as quickly and efficiently as possible," Trudeau said.

Amid the unabated resurgence, Ontario province has reported a record 4,249 new coronavirus cases and 26 deaths on Friday.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said that the province is in the "most serious situation" and the consequences will be more dire if public health measures are ignored and that the province-wide shutdown might not end on January 23.

"We will have to look at more extreme measures," Ford added at a press conference.

"I'm asking all Ontar to please stay home and save lives."

Quebec province, which is to impose a four-week curfew starting on Saturday, is also facing a strained health system.

The province reported 2,588 new cases on Friday and 45 additional deaths.

( With inputs from IANS )