Trudeau warns premature reopening could send Canada 'back into confinement'

By Rod Nickel

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned that if provinces move too quickly to reopen their economies, a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic could send Canada “back into confinement this summer.”

Trudeau, who represents a Montreal, Quebec riding, said on Saturday that he is concerned about the virus’ spread in that province, the country’s epicenter.

Canada’s death toll rose 3.5% to 4,628 from a day earlier, while cases approached 67,000. Nearly 60% of Canada’s deaths have occurred in Quebec, where there are numerous outbreaks in nursing homes.

Although health officials have pointed out a flattening rate of daily cases in many provinces, Trudeau said Canada was “not in the recovery phase yet.”

“We are still in the emergency phase . . . The vast majority of Canadians will continue to need to be very careful.”

(Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Franklin Paul)

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