Ontario confirms another 57 cases of COVID-19 variants
The total number of variant cases reaches 462, the province said
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New COVID-19 modelling released by the Ontario science advisory table Thursday indicates the pandemic is likely to recede this summer.
Co-chair Dr. Adalsteinn Brown said adherence to public health measures over the next few weeks will be critical to contain variants of concern (VOC) currently spreading in Ontario.
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“We can keep the gains that we’ve made by watching spread very closely and by loosening public health measures very carefully,” Brown said.
“But we can look towards a much better summer.”
Without controls, Ontario could be back up to 4,000 cases a day by late March, the projections say.
“We must be nimble in applying public health measures to extinguish flare ups quickly,” the documents state.
Brown said it’s most likely that the province will see an average of about 500 new daily cases by the end of next month.
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The updated projections show that while the number of patients in hospitals and intensive care units has fallen, it’s likely to rise again.
Daily death rates are in decline, although 20% of long-term-care (LTC) homes are in outbreak and deaths during the second wave have surpassed that of last spring.
COVID-19 testing confirmed 1,138 new cases Thursday and 23 more deaths, four of which were LTC residents.
There were 62 new variant cases, bringing the total number to 462 with 54 additional UK variants, two South African variant and one Brazilian variant.
The province administered 66,351 COVID-19 tests in the previous 24 hours, with a 2% positivity rate.
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There were 1,094 resolved cases.
Hospitals reported 687 COVID-19 patients, including 283 in intensive care and 182 on ventilators.
In the Ontario Legislature Thursday, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath challenged the government’s involvement in the testimony of Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams at a commission investigating the LTC crisis.
Premier Doug Ford had promised a transparent look at what went wrong, but instead the commission was confronted with thousands of last-minute documents and handwritten notes, she said.
“The notes were heavily redacted and Dr. Williams’ testimony was interfered with constantly by his lawyers,” Horwath said.
“If the government and the Premier really wanted to get the answers for Ontarians, if they really respected them, why does this look like a stinking cover-up?”
Horwath was asked by Speaker Ted Arnott to withdraw the “cover-up” comment which she did.
Health Minister Christine Elliott said the government established the commission because many families were wondering what happened during COVID-19.
“They want the answers and we want them to have the answers,” Elliott said.
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