
Here are the latest local, regional and national headlines on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) for Friday, April 2, 2021:
- There have been 352,460 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across Ontario, an increase of 2,557 (or 0.7 per cent) from the previous day. There are 324,196 people recovered from the virus while 7,389 people have died. The number of Ontario people tested is 12,613,463 of which 42,057 have pending results.
- Canada’s coronavirus case total is 987,918. The country has 23,002 deaths from the virus – one in the Yukon, four in Nunavut, 1,463 in British Columbia, 1,994 in Alberta, 436 in Saskatchewan, 937 in Manitoba, 7,389 in Ontario, 10,676 in Quebec, 30 in New Brunswick, six in Newfoundland & Labrador and 66 in Nova Scotia.
- The Eastern Ontario Health Unit area added 32 cases on Thursday – nine in Prescott-Russell, two in SD&G, six in Cornwall and 15 in Akwesasne – to bring the regional total to 3,425 confirmed cases. There are 355 active (four more than Wednesday) and 2,988 resolved (28 more than Wednesday). There are 82 deaths to date. Thirty-two people are in hospital (two fewer than Wednesday) and eight in the ICU (one more than Wednesday). There are 14 active institutional outbreaks (no change). Testing increased by 537 to 123,526. The breakdown of cases is: Prescott-Russell 1,394 cases (136 active), SD&G 832 cases (111 active), Cornwall 926 cases (98 active) and Akwesasne (ON/QC) 273 cases (10 active).
- Medical Officer of Health Dr. Paul Roumeliotis “suspects” Thursday’s 15 newly confirmed cases in Akwesasne might be a data catch-up for a couple of days. “I’m on the phone with them daily and they didn’t tell me they had previous cases. I’ll have to verify that. Likely it represents a couple of days.”
- Roumeliotis says the seven deaths recorded on Wednesday were five at the Hawkesbury General Hospital and “two…both Cornwall residents. One died in hospital and one in Cornwall…elderly.”
- A province-wide four week shutdown starts tomorrow (Saturday). Click here for more on that story.
- The province is opening its vaccine portal to those aged 70 and older in eight health unit areas, starting at 8 a.m. today (Friday, April 2). One of those is the Eastern Ontario Health Unit. The Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit was already open for those 70-plus on Monday (March 29).
- There will be no EOHU statistics update this afternoon due to Good Friday. The Eastern Ontario Health Unit will be making an exception to its holiday posting of statistics and will post numbers on Monday afternoon (April 5) covering stats from Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Those will be shared in the Tuesday, April 6 edition of the Newswatch COVID-19 Digest at 6 a.m.
- The Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit added 10 newly confirmed cases on Thursday to bring the regional total to 1,268. Of those, 75 are active (two fewer than Wednesday) and 1,139 are recovered (12 more than Wednesday). There are 54 deaths to date. Two person are in hospital (one more than Wednesday) and one is in the ICU on a ventilator. There is one active institutional outbreak (Rideau Ferry Country Home). The community case breakdown is: Lanark County East 252 cases (12 active), Lanark County West 343 cases (16 active), Leeds-Grenville Central 117 cases (five active), Leeds-Grenville East 192 cases (22 active) and Leeds-Grenville West 146 cases (eight active).
- As of Thursday morning, there had been 261 variants of concern in the EOHU area and 45 in LGL, according to Public Health Ontario.
- Vaccines: Ontario 2,276,313 (+84,060, updated daily); EOHU 25,665 (last update April 1, +1,213 from previous update March 31); LGL 18,368 individuals with at least 1 shot (last update March 29, +4,371 from previous update March 22).
- The COVID-19 variants – primarily the B117 first discovered in the U.K. – is affecting younger people with more severe results. On Thursday morning, Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table Co-Chair Dr. Adalsteinn Brown says the variant is doubling the risk of ICU admission and the rate of death is 1.5 times higher compared to the primary COVID-19 strain. Brown says testing has been flat but positively has risen to 4.7 per cent. “This is clearly a third wave of the pandemic” that is “significantly more dangerous,” he says.
- Brown says that the Ontario hospital ICUs have never recovered from the second wave of coronavirus. He says province-wide hospitalizations have risen 42 per cent in the last two weeks.
- The province has added 380 pharmacies to the list of locations giving the AstraZeneca vaccine by appointing. It lists three in the Eastern Ontario health unit area and two are in Leeds, Grenville and Lanark area. For EOHU, Jean Coutu in Hawkesbury, Seaway Valley Pharmacy in Winchester and Remedy’s Rx in Embrun are listed. For LGL, it’s Shoppers Drug Mart in Perth and the Walmart Pharmacy in Brockville. (Note: the Winchester pharmacy told the Morrisburg Leader that the province made an error and it should not be listed)
- Canada has surpassed five million doses of COVID-19 vaccine in people’s arms Thursday. The country is expected to received between 32 and 36 million doses of Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca before the end of June.
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.