The province’s Minister of Health says doing a small number of elective surgeries in order to prevent a major backlog once the pandemic is over could cause even greater strain on hospitals.

Minister John Haggie says from what they’ve seen in other areas, another COVID-19 peak is coming within the next three to four weeks.

Given that, it is better to be prepared than being caught with a lack of capacity to deal with a possible influx of patients.

Haggie says it takes about two weeks to empty out acute beds from those who have received elective surgeries.