Recent spike in Canadian coronavirus cases is worrying, says medical official

OTTAWA (Reuters) - A recent spike in coronavirus cases in Canada is worrying and can be linked to groups of young people gathering in bars and nightclubs and at parties, a top medical official said on Friday.

"When we examine recent trends in case reporting, there is some cause for concern. After a period of steady decline, daily case counts have started to rise," deputy chief public health officer Howard Njoo told a briefing.

Njoo said the daily case count had risen to an average of 350 over the last week up from 300 a day earlier in July. More than 430 cases were reported on Thursday.

"This coincides with increasing reports of individuals contracting COVID-19 at parties, nightclubs and bars as well as increasing rates of transmission among young Canadians," Njoo said.

Canada has reported 109,266 total cases and 8,827 deaths, far fewer than in the United States.

Officials and experts this week said they saw signs of a new spike as the 10 provinces lifted social and economic restrictions imposed in March to fight the outbreak.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Alistair Bell)