Canada’s chief public health officer says this will not be the holiday season Canadians were hoping for, warning people that if they don’t reduce their contacts over the next several weeks, the country’s hospitals will be overwhelmed. 

Dr. Theresa Tam told The National’s Andrew Chang on Monday that now is not the time to be gathering in big numbers.

“Even if Omicron happens to be milder than the previous virus variants, because it’s spreading so rapidly … even a small proportion of people winding up in hospital is going to overwhelm our systems.”

Canada reported more than 14,000 new cases of COVID-19