Here are the latest local, regional and national headlines on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) for Friday, April 24, 2020:
- There have been 12,879 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across Ontario, an increase of 634 cases (or 5.2 per cent) from the previous day. There are 6,680 people recovered from the virus while 713 people have died. The number of Ontario people tested is 194,745 of which 6,757 have pending results.
- Canada’s COVID-19 case total is 42,110. The country has 2,028 COVID-19 related deaths – 94 in British Columbia, 67 in Alberta, four in Saskatchewan, six in Manitoba, 713 in Ontario, 1,243 in Quebec, three in Newfoundland & Labrador and 16 in Nova Scotia.
- There are 75 confirmed cases in the Eastern Ontario Health Unit region. The breakdown is 14 in Cornwall, 16 in SD&G and 45 in Prescott-Russell. There are four people in hospitals (one fewer than Wednesday) and two of those are in ICU (one fewer than Wednesday). The number of resolved cases jumped to 36 (from 32). There have been 1,489 tests performed in the EOHU region, up from 1,350 on Wednesday.
- The latest cases include a health care work in Plantagenet. An outbreak has been declared at a nursing home. Read that story here.
- The Leeds, Grenville and Lanark counties added another eight coronavirus cases on Thursday, bringing the total to 282. One additional death in a long term care home was reported, bringing the overall total to 39. Of the community cases in Leeds-Grenville, 19 are in the central section (13 recovered), 11 are in the west (four recovered) and six are in the east (four recovered). The community cases don’t include long term care and retirement home cases.
- The Ontario government’s emergency order has been extended to May 6 on the advice of the Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health. The order cements certain rules about what businesses can be open and restrictions on social gatherings (in this case, no groups of more than five people).
- English Public high school students and those with special needs, learning at home, will get equipment by the end of the week. The Upper Canada District School Board is rolling out 1,600 of the 1,900 laptops it’s set up for Learning from Home. Families were identified through a survey. The next phase will be elementary students and the iPads being supplied by the province. For those with no device and no internet, the school board mails schoolwork to about 1,000 students.
- The federal government is spending $1.1 billion on research into vaccines and treatments for coronavirus, clinical trials, and expanded national testing and modelling.
- The Calgary Stampede is the latest high profile Canadian event to be cancelled due to coronavirus. It was supposed to go on July 3-12 – the first time it won’t be held since it started in 1923.
- Normally a chance for students to head to campus open houses and check out course programs, St. Lawrence College will be taking its spring showcase into cyberspace. The showcase will happen online next week.
- An Ottawa-area distiller has supplied a still so a Vankleek Hill beer maker can produce extra strength hand sanitizer. The three liter containers will be distributed to front line healthcare workers and essential businesses across Ontario starting in the next week or so.
Have a story or news release related to COVID-19? Send it along for possible inclusion in a future digest on Cornwall Newswatch. Email editor@cornwallnewswatch.com. Please put “COVID-19 Digest” in the subject line.