新冠疫情的暴发与持续给全世界的医疗行业带来了恐慌及严重不确定性。各国政府对新冠疫情给医疗体系带来的严重挑战已经有了共同的认识，所有国家都在用自己的方式尝试着拉平疫情发生、发展的曲线（flatten the curve）。加拿大的医疗体系在这一过程中着手进一步实践“虚拟”医疗服务，把本来就已开始实践的互联网医疗服务推上了另一个高度。现在，这个国家已经有95%的患者在疫情期间通过电话进行医疗服务预约，这其中一定比例的医疗服务已经以视频问诊的虚拟形式来实现，同时治疗也是通过稳定加密、具有安全性的邮件在医患之间进行的。众所周知，“避免接触”是最有效的疫情防控措施，互联网医疗在这个层面上具有无与伦比的先发优势。加拿大在疫情期间的互联网医疗应用避免了公民过度使用医院急诊科资源，也避免了人群在医疗机构的聚集，无论是对个人而言，还是对医疗机构、医疗体系及整个政府的卫生管理而言都有着重要的意义。
The outbreak and continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought panic and serious uncertainty to the medical industry around the world. Governments of all countries have a common understanding of the serious challenges that the COVID-19 epidemic has brought to the medical system. All countries are trying to flatten the curve of the pandemic in their own ways. In this process，Canadian medical care system sets out to further implement “virtual” medical services，or to push the telemedicine practice that have already been practiced to another level. Now 95% of Canadian outpatient appointments are made through internet，and a certain percentage of these medical services have been implemented via video consultation. At meantime，majority of the treatment communication process between physicians and patients through encrypted mails. The epidemic has made it clear to everyone，‘avoid contact’ is the most effective way to prevent the disease transmission and telemedicine has unparalleled first mover advantage. Canada’s telemedicine application during the epidemic has at least prevented citizens from overusing hospital emergency department resources，and also avoiding crowds gathering in medical institutions. This is certainly a clear and effective value for individuals. What is more important is that this also has epoch-making significance for the health management of medical institutions，and medical systems.
