The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) declared Canada's two-year measles outbreak over Oct. 19 after more than 6,400 cases across 10 provinces and territories; the move did not restore elimination status.
PHAC waited until the outbreak had gone more than two months without a linked case before making the declaration. Its announcement gave the total as more than 6,400, not an exact final number. The agency traces the first outbreak-linked case to a person in New Brunswick who had been exposed outside Canada in October 2024.
Most people who became ill were unvaccinated, PHAC said. Because measles continues to circulate internationally, the agency expects more cases connected to travel. PHAC said it will continue surveillance with provincial and territorial authorities and health partners in Canada and abroad.
Manitoba declared its own outbreak over Oct. 16. Provincial health officials reported 1,038 cases since the provincial outbreak began in 2025, including 52 hospitalizations and six intensive care admissions. PHAC identifies infants, young children, pregnant people and people with weakened immune systems as particularly vulnerable to serious measles complications.
The outbreak's end does not restore Canada's measles elimination status. Canada first achieved the designation in 1998 but lost it Nov. 10, 2025, after the same outbreak strain continued spreading for more than a year. The designation concerns sustained transmission of a strain, so ending one outbreak is not enough to restore it. Canada must show 12 consecutive months without transmission of the outbreak strain before its status can be reinstated. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) also evaluates evidence on vaccination, surveillance and outbreak response.
PAHO’s regional verification commission is scheduled to meet Nov. 10-13 to review measles epidemiology and countries’ elimination status. The meeting is a regional review, not an announced date for restoring Canada’s designation. Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Joss Reimer called vaccination “our best defence against measles.”
