Health committee  What happens in June depends on the epidemiologic situation in the United States at the time. We'll continue to evaluate it but, right now, I think the recommendation, together with the chief medical officers, is we need to keep that border restricted as it is now. Looking back, could you have done it faster?

Health committee  Well, again, we're learning about this situation as we go. It's an absolutely unprecedented move. I think going into the future, having learned what we've just learned, actions may have been faster. Right now, though, I think some of the really key measures we've put in weren't necessarily just closing the border and reducing the numbers.

Health committee  Again, that's a jurisdictional flexibility. As you will see, Montreal is increasing that kind of recommendation. Also, you have to support people to be able to meet those recommendations, so ensuring that those, for example, who can't.... We need to make sure that it is available to all segments of society as well.

Health committee  I think the virus itself travelled across the world very fast and so, while the initial epicentre was China, we also picked up cases very soon. The Canadian surveillance system was able to pick up cases from Iran, but it was really the cases from Europe and the United States that had the greatest impact on the introduction to Canada.

Health committee  I think, like all other countries, we learned the specific infection prevention control measures that are fundamental to public health and that we all know work: staying home when you're sick, washing your hands, covering your cough, all of those things. I think we're learning a lot more about how we apply border measures and travel health advice.

Health committee  As I've just said, the federal-provincial-territorial special advisory committee, which includes the chief medical officers of health, has been reviewing the evidence, much of which you have just cited. The committee really wanted to ensure that there is flexibility according to local context and epidemiology.

Health committee  I'm not certain that I know exactly what travel bans Taiwan had enacted at the time, but of course things were undergoing rapid evolution, with different countries taking different measures.

Health committee  I think we've learned a lot over the last several months. I still think that, obviously, the paradigm in the past was that we needed to contain the virus at the source, and that we need to be extremely—

Health committee  I think the international health regulations and the framework underneath which the WHO functions—the WHO secretariat—prior to this absolutely unprecedented event of our modern era, has really been predicated on stopping the spread of public health risks.

Health committee  I think that the WHO is still recommending that countries that are taking additional measures like travel bans explain themselves, which is why over 100 countries have had to explain why they have enacted such travel bans based on their goals.

Health committee  I think we're confident in having made the decision based on the evolving nature of the outbreak and the risk it poses to Canadians. We explained ourselves to the WHO in the time that is prescribed by the international health regulations, and we need to continue to evaluate it.

Health committee  This was based on a review of the evidence through the special advisory committee, which I've just talked about, with the other chief medical officers of health. That was based on the evolving science, looking at the role of asymptomatic and presymptomatic transmission and the evolving research that is being published.

Health committee  I think we know that this coronavirus is transmitted by respiratory droplets, and primarily through coughing or sneezing, but also through other means, through your mouth and nose primarily. Those are the primary routes of transmissions. We know the tried and true measures to reduce that risk, but we've also recommended non-medical masks—we're preserving the medical ones for health care workers—as an added layer of protection on top of the other public health measures.

Health committee  As I said, as we reviewed the science and as data available, there was very little scientific information. Some of it was through influenza studies, some through laboratory studies and some through modelling studies. We took the body of it that very week. We took a number of publications into account and, as I said, a lot of it was also predicated on the publications on asymptomatic and presymptomatic transmission.

Health committee  Good afternoon. Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee members, for the opportunity to come back to speak with you again today. The emergence and rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has challenged global capacities in unprecedented ways. In Canada, there are now around 78,500 cases of COVID-19, including 5,857 deaths.