Canada is ill-prepared to handle a second wave of COVID-19.

That’s the finding in a new report from the Senate’s social affairs committee that says the federal government needs to pay urgent attention to seniors in long-term care homes where outbreaks and deaths in the pandemic have been concentrated.

There are also concerns in the report about the vulnerability of low-income seniors should there be a second wave of the novel coronavirus later this year.

The document made public this morning is the committee’s first set of observations on the government’s response to the pandemic, with a final report expected later this year.