Public Health Agency of Canada declares two-year measles outbreak over after 6,417 linked cases
The Public Health Agency of Canada announced on Monday 19 October that the multi-jurisdictional measles outbreak is over, according to its news release and reports by Global News, CP24, The Globe and Mail and Radio-Canada. The agency said the outbreak began in October 2024 in New Brunswick and produced 6,417 linked cases across 10 provinces and territories. Ontario reported 2,390 cases, Alberta 2,299 and Manitoba 1,033. The declaration came more than two months after the last linked case. Most people who became ill had not been vaccinated. Canada lost its measles elimination status in November 2025, and the agency said it can be re-established once transmission of the strain has been interrupted for at least 12 months. Officials expect more imported cases.
An outbreak is declared over only after enough time passes without new linked cases, so the announcement shows the chain of transmission has stopped, while the elimination status depends on a separate 12-month test. Measles spreads easily among unvaccinated people, so the numbers track vaccination gaps in specific communities.
If you have children or travel abroad, check vaccination records with your provincial health unit, since imported cases are expected. The declaration does not change the schedule of routine vaccines.
Public health officials present the end of the outbreak as the result of vaccination campaigns and local containment, and stress that most cases were in people who were not vaccinated.
Infectious disease experts quoted by Radio-Canada link the return of measles to falling vaccination rates, and the loss of elimination status means the country is still short of the standard it held from 1998 to 2025.
Confirmed: the declaration, the 6,417 cases and the Ontario, Alberta and Manitoba totals. Not confirmed: how many imported cases will follow or when elimination status can return. Watch for new weekly surveillance reports and provincial vaccine uptake data.
DailyDrop Canada edition No. 16 · Morning · TUE., OCT. 20, 2026