COVID-19/coronavirus update: March 16, 2020

Top Canadian public-health officials stressed that the window is closing to limit the exponential spread of COVID-19 as they escalated warnings and broad closings and identified new cases of community spread.

The federal government issued an advisory urging Canadians travelling overseas to come home as soon as possible, cautioning that “new restrictions may be imposed with little warning.”

Canada’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Theresa Tam said “our window to flatten the [growth] curve of the epidemic is narrow.

“This is our chance right here, right now. We need to act now and act together.”

The Canadian travel industry has already started to contract. WestJet Airlines said it is cutting international seat capacity by 60 per cent and domestic flights by 40 per cent. The airline also announced that a passenger on a flight from Vancouver to Kelowna March 10 tested positive. Via Rail announced it is cutting half its service through the Windsor-Quebec City corridor.