Ottawa (AFP)
The rise in coronavirus cases in Canada in recent days "should worry everyone," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday, calling on his compatriots to remain "extremely vigilant".
Canada identified more than 1,300 new cases of coronavirus over the weekend, a level that had not been observed since the beginning of the summer.
And Monday, Quebec and Ontario, the two most populous provinces and the most affected by the pandemic, counted nearly 600 new cases.
"What we are seeing in the numbers these days should worry everyone," Trudeau said during a press briefing in Ottawa.
“Unfortunately, we see the numbers start to climb again and with the resumption of school, with the economic recovery, we must remain extremely vigilant,” he added.
"The last thing we want to relive this fall is confinement like in spring," he insisted, recalling the importance of following public health instructions.
Faced with this resurgence of cases, Quebec on Saturday became the first province to sanction people refusing to wear masks in closed public spaces, these exposing themselves to fines of 400 to 6,000 Canadian dollars (255 to 3,836 EUR ).
On Saturday, a crowd of a few thousand people demonstrated in the street against the wearing of masks in Montreal.
Canada recorded more than 137,000 cases of coronavirus on Monday since mid-March (including 120,000 people declared recovered).
The pandemic has killed more than 9,200 people there.
© 2020 AFP