OTTAWA, April 23 (Xinhua) -- While some Canadian jurisdictions are planning to ease restrictions imposed on businesses and services to reduce exposure to COVID-19, the country's two largest provinces have called on the Canadian Armed Forces to help handle an alarming spate of outbreaks in long-term care centers for seniors.
In the French-speaking province of Quebec, which as of Wednesday night had 20,965 cases of COVID-19, accounting for more than half of Canada's total of 40,179 cases, Premier Francois Legault has asked the Canadian government to send 1,000 soldiers to help staff the province's nursing homes after an earlier unsuccessful attempt to recruit medical specialists and nurses.
The soldiers will supplement support already being provided by the Canadian military, including 65 troops with medical training on site at long-term care facilities in the region of Montreal, Quebec's largest city.
It is estimated that nearly 2 percent of Quebec's healthcare workers, or as many as 4,000, have tested positive for COVID-19.
On Wednesday, Quebec's death toll was 1,134, but the number of long-term care residences with outbreaks has more than doubled in the past week from 41 to 85.
Canada's largest province of Ontario also called for military assistance at five badly hit long-term care homes, which Premier Doug Ford characterized on Wednesday as being caught up in a "raging wildfire."
According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, as of Wednesday, Ontario reported 12,245 COVID-19 cases.
