Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has warned people to follow the COVID-19 protocols as it will determine "what we get to do at Christmas".
Speaking at a press conference on Friday (local time), Trudeau said, "Reducing your contacts, reducing your gatherings are going to be most important. And what we do in the coming days and weeks will determine what we get to do at Christmas".
According to a report by CNN, Thanksgiving in Canada fell on October 12 this year, and as family and friends gathered, it fuelled a widespread surge in coronavirus cases, hospitalisations and deaths.
Canada's chief public health officer Theresa Tam was quoted as saying that casual socialising has been a key source of the spread in almost every part of Canada.
"An important driver of this increased disease activity continues to be informal social gatherings and activities both inside and outside our homes," Tam said while adding that the new daily cases could more than double in a few weeks if people do not follow health precautions.
"In these more relaxed settings such as family gatherings, birthday parties, holiday celebrations and recreational activities, it is natural to relax. But this can mean that it's easy to forget and let our guard down on the necessary precautions," Tam added.
According to the latest data by Johns Hopkins University, Canada has reported 293,934 COVID-19 cases and 10,944 deaths so far.
( With inputs from ANI )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor