BREAKING: Trudeau hints at plan for second wave as WHO says pandemic is ‘not even close to being over’

Trudeau announced that his government was working with the provinces and territories on extending the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance "for another month."

"This program is helping thousands of small businesses across the country save on rent. We know that many business owners are struggling with cash flow," said Trudeau. "We're working on solutions."

A second wave not out of the question

Trudeau said that Dr. Tam will be releasing the latest public health modelling this afternoon, saying that "things are continuing to move in the right direction," noting that while hotspots remain, national cases and hospitalizations have declined significantly.

Regarding what his government would have done differently, given the opportunity to re-do the pandemic roll-out, Trudeau said that there was a number of things he wish was done differently, but that his government is still focused on getting Canada through a potential second wave, also noting that Canada would be prepared fiscally if that scenario were to manifest.

"As always, we will prepare ourselves for the worst possible scenarios, but we will hopefully see the best possible scenarios. We know that we're going to be working very very hard to continue the testing, the contact tracing, including across all provinces. We'll be rolling out an app soon that will be an extra layer of support for Canadians," said Trudeau.

"On top of that, we also know that if we do get hit, in certain regions, or across the country in the fall, we will be able to respond with sufficient fiscal room to be able to do that," said the prime minister.

World Health Organization agrees

Director-General of the World Health Organization Dr. Tedros told media on Monday that the coronavirus "is not even close to being over," expressing concern over the virus' acceleration in certain regions across the globe.

"Globally, the pandemic is actually speeding up. We are all in this together, and we are all in this for the long haul," Tedros explained.

Last week, the WHO said that the coronavirus outbreak in the North and South Americas haven't reached their peak yet.