Dr. Theresa Tam concerned at how quickly Canada's COVID-19 case numbers are growing

Canada's chief public health officer says she's concerned at how quickly Canada's COVID-19 case numbers are growing.

Doctor Theresa Tam says over the past week, the number of infections has been increasing by almost 7,500 per day.

She notes that it took five months for Canada to reach its first 100,000 cases, and just over two weeks to go from 500- to 600,000.

Dr. Tam says this rapid accumulation of cases will continue until we can make significant progress in interrupting the spread of the virus.

More than 617,000 case have been reported in Canada since the start of pandemic.

At present 79,575 cases are active.

16,187 people in Canada have lost lives due to COVID-19 so far.