Here are the latest local, regional and national headlines on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) for Saturday, August 7, 2021:
- There have been 551,678 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across Ontario, an increase of 340 cases from the previous day. There have been 540,407 people recovered from the virus while 9,392 have died (16 of the 18 new deaths reported happened over six weeks ago and were part of a data clean-up). The number of Ontario people tested is 16,671,910 of which 8,227 have pending results.
- Canada’s coronavirus case total is 1,437,701. The country has 26,654 deaths from the virus – eight in the Yukon, four in Nunavut, 1,772 in British Columbia, 2,325 in Alberta, 582 in Saskatchewan, 1,184 in Manitoba, 9,392 in Ontario, 11,241 in Quebec, 46 in New Brunswick, seven in Newfoundland & Labrador and 93 in Nova Scotia.
- The Eastern Ontario Health Unit added four cases Friday – one in SD&G and three in Cornwall – to bring the regional total to 4,754 cases, of which seven are active (two more than Thursday) and 4,636 are resolved (two more than Thursday). The have been 111 deaths to date. There is no one in hospital. There are no active institutional outbreaks. Testing increased 172 to 147,756. The breakdown of cases is: Prescott-Russell 1,990 cases (three active), SD&G 1,125 cases (one active), Cornwall 1,280 cases (three active) and Akwesasne (ON/QC) 359 cases (zero active).
- The Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit added two cases Friday to bring the regional total to 1,771 cases, of which three are active (one more than Thursday) and 1,708 are recovered (one more than Thursday). 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 388 cases (one active), Lanark County West 400 cases (zero active), Leeds-Grenville Central 210 cases (two active), Leeds-Grenville East 349 cases (zero active) and Leeds-Grenville West 202 cases (zero active).
- Vaccines: Ontario 19,764,199 (+53,975, last update Aug. 6); EOHU 274,910 (last update Aug. 6, +1,183 from previous update Aug. 5); LGL 136,501 individuals living in LGL with first doses, 118,886 with second doses (last update Aug. 3, +2,452 first doses, +15,866 second doses since previous update July 20).
- The Ontario government has partnered with Metrolinx to convert a couple of GO buses into mobile vaccine clinics. They are being called the GO-VAXX buses and will make their first stop at Canada’s Wonderland today (Saturday). The buses will be rolling six days a week and concentrating on mass gathering events like malls and festivals in the Greater Golden Horseshoe region. The Pfizer vaccine will be given.
- Quebec is considering making COVID-19 vaccines mandatory for healthcare workers. On Thursday, Premier Francois Legault announced plans for a vaccine passport system to stop the coronavirus spread.
- British Columbia health officials are asking people not to travel to the central Okanagan due to a rapid spread of the Delta variant. The province has also put restrictions back in place with a max of 50 people for outdoor gatherings and indoors if five extra people than those in the household.
- In Alberta, cases are spiking while vaccination rates are flat lining. There are more than 2,500 active cases. The province is still moving ahead with lifting isolation for people who test positive for COVID-19, beginning a little over a week from now. Premier Jason Kenney has called criticism from Federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu on how the province is handling the pandemic a political ploy before an anticipated election.
- CNN has fired three workers who broke company policy by coming to work unvaccinated. All employees at the CNN offices or in the field have to be vaccinated under the company’s zero-tolerance policy.
- American warehouse workers at Amazon will have to wear masks indoors regardless of their vaccination status, starting Monday. The move affected 900,000 employees.
- Italy is rolling out a Green Pass. The certification – meant to stop a summer virus surge – will be needed to get into gyms, theaters, indoor pools and indoor restaurants and bars. A pass is given to those who’ve had at least one EU-approved vaccine dose, recovered from coronavirus or have had a negative test in the past 48 hours.
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