[ad_1]
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadians should accept that the world will change even if a vaccine is found and the coronavirus pandemic ends, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday, urging people to adapt to a new normal that will require a modified behavior.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expects a special committee meeting on the COVID-19 pandemic to begin, as efforts to help curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continue, in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada May 13, 2020. REUTERS / Blair Gable
Trudeau unveiled new measures to support the most affected sectors, including Cdn $ 470 million for fishing, and the partial reopening of some national parks with limited access to some vulnerable northern communities.
“We have to recognize that things will change in this world, even after the end of this pandemic, even after a vaccine,” Trudeau told reporters. “COVID-19 will be one of the things that will create changes in our society. There will be adjustments. ”
World Health Organization emergency expert Mike Ryan said on Wednesday that the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 could become endemic like HIV and “may never go away.”
More Canadian provinces are lifting restrictions and moving to restart more economic activity, while warmer weather is stimulating more people outdoors.
“We know that this will not be a summer like any other in the past,” Trudeau said, noting that it was impossible to prevent people from taking to the streets, but that governments had to “help them do it safely.”
Canada’s coronavirus cases rose to 72,536 on Thursday from 71,486 the day before, with 5,337 deaths, compared to 5,209, according to data from the public health agency.
In addition to supporting fishing, Ottawa will also expand the federal wage subsidy program to encourage more employers to keep workers on the payroll. Upcoming changes to employment insurance rules will also allow more workers in the fishing and agribusiness industries to apply for benefits.
Canadian farmers and agricultural businesses have claimed most of the C $ 5 billion ($ 3.55 billion) in additional credit offered by Ottawa to increase their cash flow during the coronavirus pandemic, in less than two months. The federal agriculture ministry said in a statement Thursday.
In an annual review of Canada’s financial systems, the Bank of Canada said that while the coronavirus remains a major economic and financial challenge, the measures it has taken “are showing signs of success.”
Canadian manufacturing sales in March plummeted in more than 11 years as the pandemic forced many companies to close, and April appears to be worsening, data from Statistics Canada said Thursday.
Report by Amran Abocar, edition by Franklin Paul and Alistair Bell
