As of Tuesday, Health Canada reports 78,500 total Canadians have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.
Over the weekend, the agency’s head said nearly half of all cases in the country are now recovered, that’s just under 40,000 Canadians who are now virus-free.
Dr. Theresa Tam said Canada has now tested nearly 1.4-million people for COVID-19 with about 5% of tests coming back positive. Tam said they are currently testing an average of 28,000 a day. She said Canada is not out of the woods yet and that this will be a summer of more restrained movements and virtual celebrations.
Canada’s top doctor was asked to comment on U.S. President Trump’s announcement that he is taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventative measure for COVID-19. Dr. Theresa Tam said she knows everyone is anxious to find a viable treatment for the virus, but trials are still underway and there are no results yet.
She said a lot of studies are very preliminary and the results have been mixed as to different treatments. Tam said some early evidence from studies outside of Canada suggests that hydroxychloroquine might be effective in reducing some viral loads, but she still recommends that if it is being used, it should be part of a clinical trial.
Tam said in the past weeks, a trial for the use of hydroxychloroquine in hospitalized children was approved by Health Canada. She said the bottom line is that this medication must first be preserved for its indicated medical treatment like lupus or malaria.