Ontario reported 35 new COVID-19 deaths on Thursday, with hospitals reporting a new all-time high for combined acute and ICU admissions in the province.
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Critical condition: CBC News goes inside a hard-hit Toronto hospital system that s at a crisis point during Canada’s third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Critical condition
Entire families have been torn apart. Front-line workers are at a breaking point. Inside a Toronto hospital system at a crisis point, vulnerable patients are bearing the brunt of Canada’s third wave of COVID-19.
By Lauren Pelley
April 15, 2021
Gently, Esther Teodoro rubs her husband Eduardo s forehead, smoothing out his salt-and-pepper hair as he lies in his hospital bed. You re going home, OK? she tells him. I can take care of you, OK?
Hospitals running out of key drug for COVID-19 patients Bookmark Please log in to listen to this story. Also available in French and Mandarin. Log In Create Free Account
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Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
Ontario physicians have been urged to ration one of only two drugs known to reduce mortality in critically ill COVID-19 patients, a harbinger of what lies ahead for other provinces if the third wave keeps rising and Canada cannot secure more of the medication.
A shortage of the anti-inflammatory drug tocilizumab is just one of the challenges Canadian hospitals face as faster-spreading and more dangerous variants overtake older versions of the coronavirus. British Columbia, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Ontario all have more COVID-19 patients in their intensive care units than at any other time during the pandemic.