As the year 2021 comes to a close, Canada has reached a grim milestone by surpassing 40,000 new cases of COVID-19 in a single day.
The vast majority of reported infections have come from and , both of which reported case counts north of 16,000 on Friday. reported approximately 3,800 cases.
The news comes as a number of provinces have begun placing restrictions on PCR testing, limiting them to the most vulnerable populations, which may affect case numbers going forward.
For example, as of Dec. 31, Ontario is only performing free PCR tests for symptomatic, high-risk individuals and those who work in high-risk settings.
This is in addition to test processing backlogs some governments have been facing due to high demand for testing amid the spread of the Omicron variant.
