With the exception of the Atlantic provinces and the territories, cases began to surge throughout the country in the fall and winter of 2020, leading to the anticipated second wave. [...] In the reforms that followed MERS, the head of the KCDC was subsequently elevated to the level of vice-minister and the KCDC was designated the command centre for infectious disease responses.20 The Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act was also revised in 2016 to clarify the responsibilities of the participants involved in pandemic response and to facilitate co-ordination during an outbre. [...] While in Australia the authority of the Commonwealth has gradually expanded to influence an array of issues that were originally the purview of the states/territories, in Canada the balance of power tips more toward the provinces/territories, with the federal government’s role largely defined as that of funder, particularly in matters related to health.36 Thus, the Canadian body most closely analo. [...] Finally, the establishment of provincial rapid response teams under the co-ordination of PHAC, similar to the model of the rapid response teams in South Korea, could also improve the speed and efficiency of the initial outbreak response in Canada. [...] They did not forecast future risk or the likelihood of a pandemic and crucially did not give sufficient weight to the existing external evidence, such as the early 35 transmission and mortality rates and the fact that the virus aroused sufficient alarm in China to prompt the building of two hospitals in 10 days.82 Outside of Asia, many countries largely waited on the word of the WHO before taking.
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- Canada
