Ontario measles outbreak crosses 1000; Quebec, New Brunswick declare infection over

Ontario is facing a massive medical scare with outbreak of measles overwhelming its public health infrastructure. The most populous province of Canada has 1,020 measles cases, with 884 infected people as confirmed cases while doctors classify the remaining 136 as probable. While there have been no deaths, 76 infected people have been hospitalized including seven who had to be admitted to the intensive care units.

The rapid spread of the infection in Ontario comes just a few days after the measles outbreak in another province - Quebec was declared to have come to an end. Quebec, which shares its borders with Ontario, reported the first measles case in December 2024 and was declared over after reaching 40 in mid April 2025.

But the situation is far more grim in Ontario where the “cases are only going up”, according to Liberal public-health critic Adil Shamji. Addressing a a press conference on Thursday (April 25), Shamji added, "The last time that we had an outbreak like this in Canada, Google search hadn’t been invented yet and Brian Mulroney (1984 to 1993) was our prime minister."


Canada's first measles case was in New Brunswick in October 2024. The infected person had travelled to the region carrying the virus. By January 2025 the total number of cases in New Brunswick had reached 50 after which the public health authorities declared the outbreak over.

Measles has been reported from Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. Alberta health officials have reported 129 confirmed cases till April 25.

Ontario’s 15 public-health units have reported measles but the worst-affected are Southwestern Public Health, Grand Erie and Huron Perth. The three units together account for over 600 infections till date.

According to the official data , Ontario reported less than 10 percent of the cases between 2013 and 2023, but the situation took a turn for the worse in late 2024 and 2025.

While a highly contagious disease, measles is usually not a serious medical condition except infants and small children. It can affect anyone but can be easily prevented by getting vaccinated. Once infected, the person develops life-long immunity to the disease.

The measles virus spreads through the air by droplets produced during coughing or sneezing by an infected person. The symptoms take about 10 to 14 days to manifest. They are cough, runny nose, inflamed eyes, sore throat, fever and a red, blotchy skin rash.