Here are the latest local, regional and national headlines on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) for Friday, June 11, 2021:
- There have been 538,077 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across Ontario, an increase of 590 cases from the previous day. There have been 522,682 people recovered from the virus while 8,931 have died. The number of Ontario people tested is 15,486,313 of which 12,428 have pending results.
- Canada’s coronavirus case total is 1,398,274. The country has 25,873 deaths from the virus – two in the Yukon, four in Nunavut, 1,729 in British Columbia, 2,262 in Alberta, 553 in Saskatchewan, 1,087 in Manitoba, 8,931 in Ontario, 11,166 in Quebec, 44 in New Brunswick, seven in Newfoundland & Labrador and 88 in Nova Scotia.
- The wild swings in case data continued for a third day in the Eastern Ontario Health Unit area. The health unit added back 30 cases (the overall change of new cases was 0) to bring the regional total to 4,719. The number of active cases dropped by two to 12 and resolved cases increased by 32 to 4,600. The number of deaths is at 107. There are four people in hospital (one fewer than Wednesday) with three in the ICU (one fewer than Wednesday). There are no active institutional outbreaks. Testing increased by 99 to 140,932. The breakdown of cases is: Prescott-Russell 1,976 cases (eight active), SD&G 1,119 cases (two active), Cornwall 1,265 cases (two active) and Akwesasne (ON/QC) 359 cases (zero active).
- The Akwesasne Department of Health reported Thursday that total cases (not reflected in EOHU stats above) is 360 total cases with zero active.
- Medical Officer of Health Dr. Paul Roumeliotis says a filter used in the case contact management (CCM) software “counted some other aspects of some of the data” which over calculated the number of active cases. The health unit removed about 81 active cases this week. There are currently a dozen active cases in the region.
- The Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit area added two cases Thursday to bring the regional total to 1,750 confirmed cases, of which five are active (two more than Wednesday) and 1,685 are recovered (no change). There are 60 deaths to date. There is no one in hospital. There are no active institutional outbreaks. The community case breakdown is: Lanark County East 383 cases (two active), Lanark County West 393 cases (zero active), Leeds-Grenville Central 207 cases (zero active), Leeds-Grenville East 348 cases (two active) and Leeds-Grenville West 196 cases (zero active).
- Vaccines: Ontario 10,627,469 (+182,350, last update June 10); EOHU 131,172 (last update June 10, +2,237 from previous update June 9); LGL 114,098 individuals living in LGL with first doses, 10,291 with second doses (last update June 8, +5,657 first doses since previous update May 29).
- The Eastern Ontario Health Unit has added three additional vaccination clinics next week, in addition to the 13 clinics it already had planned. The new ones are Sunday (June 13) in Casselman, Monday (June 14) in Cornwall and Wednesday (June 16) in Rockland. The health unit says the total of 3,200 additional appointments went live on the provincial booking system last night.
- Provincial modelling shows getting first and second doses into arms in high-risk communities will avoid a fourth wave driven by the Delta variant. If the province vaccinates 142,000 people per day, the number of new cases will be fewer than 500 a day through the middle of August and will continue to drop. Under a worst case scenario, daily cases could spike to 2,500 per day.
- Ontario is accelerating second doses for people who live in the hot spot areas where the Delta variant (first discovered in India) is spreading. People in Toronto, Peel, Porcupine, Halton, Waterloo, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph and York will be able to get their second dose if they got their first one on or before May 9.
- The federal government is spending nearly $732,000 for the health unit in the Muskoka region to operate voluntary isolation sites, for those who have to isolate but live in places where they can’t safely separate from others.
- South Stormont’s municipal office will reopen to the public on Monday. But the township is still encouraging people to use the phone, email or online services instead.
- Alberta had its lowest active case count since October with just over 3,800 active infections. The prairie province is opening up some more with gyms, indoor dining and movie theaters allowed to have people with limits in place.
- Amazon will allow some employees to work from home a limited number of days and weeks per year once coronavirus restrictions are lifted in the states. It’s in response to criticism from employees that they would have to return to the office full time.
- As people get vaccinated and plan to travel, Air Canada is also getting ready. It plans to start calling back some 2,600 employees in stages this month and through July. The airline had laid off tens of thousands of employees at the height of the pandemic.
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