Trudeau to announce funding to deal with growing COVID-19 cases

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau plans to announce federal funding to help provincial health-care systems cope with the increasing number of new coronavirus cases and to help Canadian workers who are forced to isolate themselves.

Business and labour groups say they want the federal government to loosen restrictions on employment insurance payments for people who are off work due to illness.

This would also make it easier for people with more precarious jobs to stay home and avoid infecting others.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau said the government was “looking at taking some initiatives this week” to help workers, employers and provincial health systems.

There are few confirmed instances of community transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19 in Canada, but the number of cases continues to grow.

So far, there have been 94 confirmed cases of the illness in Canada.