Ontario’s cumulative COVID-19 death toll has surpassed 7,000 on Wednesday, as the province reported less than 1,000 new infections on Wednesday.
Provincial health officials logged 958 new infections and 17 additional deaths today.
Wednesday marks the sixth day of a downward trend in daily case counts.
The province reported 966 cases on Tuesday, 1,023 on Monday, 1,062 on Sunday and 1,185 on Saturday.
The seven-day rolling average is 1,084, unchanged from a week ago.
To date, there have been 7,014 virus-related deaths across the province.
Of the latest fatalities, two are among long-term care home residents.
According to the province’s latest epidemiological summary, 1,090 more people have recovered from the disease, resulting in 10,397 active cases of the virus across the province.
Provincial health officials also reported 10 more lab-confirmed cases of the highly-contagious B.1.1.7 variant of concern, first identified in the United Kingdom.
To date, there have been 552 lab-confirmed cases of B.1.1.7 across the province, 27 cases of the B.1.351 variant, initially discovered in South Africa, and three cases of the P.1 variant, first discovered in Brazil.
Hot spots within the Greater Toronto Area continue to account for the majority of new cases in Ontario.
“Locally, there are 249 new cases in Toronto, 164 in Peel and 92 in York Region,” Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott tweeted.
Elsewhere in the GTA, Halton Region logged 20 cases and Durham Region reported 41 new cases.
Of Ontario’s 34 public health units, eight reported 30 or more new infections on Wednesday.
Ontario labs processed 52,600 tests yesterday, up from nearly 30,800 tests conducted the previous day.
More than 43,100 test specimens are still under investigation.
The increase in testing has contributed to a drop in the province’s positivity rate to 2.4 per cent, compared to 2.9 per cent on Tuesday, according to the Ministry of Health.
The number of people hospitalized across the province dropped slightly compared to a day ago.
There are currently 668 people hospitalized due to the virus in Ontario, down from 677 on Tuesday, according to the Ministry of Health.
However, according to numbers released by local public health units and hospitals there are 867 patients in Ontario hospitals due to COVID-19 infection.
Of those hospitalized, the Ministry of Health said there are 274 in intensive care units and 188 breathing with the help of a ventilator.
There have been more than 303,700 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the province since the virus first emerged last January and 286,352 recoveries.
As of 8 p.m. on Tuesday, the province has administered more than 754,400 doses of COVID-19 vaccines, with nearly 27,400 shots yesterday alone.
Two doses of a vaccine is required for full immunization.
On Friday, AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine joined Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna on the list of approved vaccines across the country. Ontario is expected to receive more than 100,000 doses of AstraZeneca on Wednesday.
The numbers used in this story are found in the Ontario Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 Daily Epidemiologic Summary. The number of cases for any city or region may differ slightly from what is reported by the province, because local units report figures at different times.
VANCOUVER – Mayors and other leaders from several British Columbia communities say the provincial and federal governments need to take “immediate action” to tackle mental health and public safety issues that have reached crisis levels.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim says it’s become “abundantly clear” that mental health and addiction issues and public safety have caused crises that are “gripping” Vancouver, and he and other politicians, First Nations leaders and law enforcement officials are pleading for federal and provincial help.
In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier David Eby, mayors say there are “three critical fronts” that require action including “mandatory care” for people with severe mental health and addiction issues.
The letter says senior governments also need to bring in “meaningful bail reform” for repeat offenders, and the federal government must improve policing at Metro Vancouver ports to stop illicit drugs from coming in and stolen vehicles from being exported.
Sim says the “current system” has failed British Columbians, and the number of people dealing with severe mental health and addiction issues due to lack of proper care has “reached a critical point.”
Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer says repeat violent offenders are too often released on bail due to a “revolving door of justice,” and a new approach is needed to deal with mentally ill people who “pose a serious and immediate danger to themselves and others.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024
The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.
It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.
Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”
Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.
Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.
On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.
Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”
But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”
“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.
Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.
Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.
Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.
“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.
“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
