OTTAWA -- All it could take for Canada’s current COVID-19 progress to be thrown off course is a single new case that prompts an outbreak, Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam warned on Tuesday.

“Even though the epidemic growth has slowed considerably across the country, and we can now see these hopeful signs, this is the part where we gather our strength and resolve to continue our efforts, because it may only take one new case of COVID-19 to spark an outbreak, or renew epidemic growth that could change our trajectory,” Dr. Tam told reporters during the daily update in Ottawa.

In countries and American states where restrictions have been loosened, cases have begun to creep back up, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last week serves as a lesson and a caution to Canada as reopening plans are underway across the country.

“After months of hard work, people are finding themselves right back where they started,” Trudeau said on Friday.

Canada's first presumptive case of COVID-19 involved a man in his 50s who travelled from Wuhan, China to Toronto in late January. Less than five months later, the country is nearing 100,000 confirmed cases nationwide, more than 60 per cent of which have now recovered. So far, 8,213 people have died after contracting the novel coronavirus.  

During her update, Tam spoke about how it’s important to still think beyond the numbers that are being updated daily to realize that COVID-19 is “very much still with us” and having serious consequences for so many.

“It's been a big part of what has united and driven us to make sacrifices to stop the virus from doing even more damage. So for those moments that we're tired of this new way of life, it helps to look back at what we've sacrificed,” Tam said.

She is encouraging people to not get complacent and to keep up with their observance of public health measures including maintaining physical distancing with those outside of your household or social bubble, frequent hand washing, wearing non-medical masks when in public, and staying home when you think you have any possible COVID-19 symptoms.