'We are failing our grandparents' Canada's Trudeau says as COVID-19 hammers nursing homes

FILE PHOTO: Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau observes a moment of silence in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada April 20, 2020. REUTERS/Blair Gable

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada is failing its seniors as officials struggle to contain fatal outbreaks of the novel coronavirus in long-term care homes across the country, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday.

Long-term care homes in Canada, whose residents are more vulnerable to COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus, have been hard-hit. In Canada, almost half of the country's total deaths have been in nursing homes.