BARRIE, ONT. -- As the COVID numbers across the province increase, CTV's Madison Erhardt chats with infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch about his concerns.

Madison: The numbers are rising quickly right now, are you surprised?

Dr. Bogoch: Certainly, we are seeing a rise in cases in Ontario, also in Quebec and B.C.

It's not just day-to-day variation. It really is a true and consistent rise in the number of cases per day. That is a real trend, and quite frankly, we have been talking for a few months that it's expected to see a rise in the fall and winter.

I thought it was going to happen in October. It appears to be happening sooner. Of course, it is never too late to take action, and I think we are going to see the provincial government take some action here to help correct this.

Madison: What are you most concerned about as you see the case numbers climbing?

Dr. Bogoch: About 60 per cent of cases are people in and around their 20s. Usually, people in that age group don't get that sick. We know there are exceptions, and anyone can get sick and land themselves in the hospital, but by and large, the younger age groups just don't get as sick as the older age groups.

What is interesting, and sadly what is unfortunate, is that this is a very contagious infection, and we know that even though there are a significant number of cases of people in their 20s, this could certainly blend into other age groups, and we are starting to see a small, but real rise in hospitalizations.

Madison: What realistically can people expect with a vaccine?

Dr. Bogoch: Vaccine development is going along at a very fast pace. There is multiple vaccines in pretty advanced stages in development. Certainly, there are even more vaccines at earlier stages of development, so there is a huge pipeline of vaccines.

It's hard because no one has a crystal ball, but in all fairness, I wouldn't be surprised if we see successful clinical trials of one or more of these vaccines in the 2020 calendar year. We may even see vaccine programs roll out in the 2020 calendar. I think more likely in Canada, we will see vaccine programs roll out early 2021, but from a global standpoint, we will probably start to see first trials cross the finish line in late 2020, probably even in the next couple of months.