Here are the latest local, regional and national headlines on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) for Tuesday, December 28, 2021:
- As of Monday, there are now over 706,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across Ontario. Public Health Ontario reported 10,412 cases on Saturday, 9,826 on Sunday and 9,418 on Monday. Over 45,000 vaccines were given on Boxing Day, Health Minister Christine Elliott tweeted. She added that 480 people are in the hospital with 168 in ICU. PHO will report statistics from Dec. 25-28 in detail, including deaths and testing numbers, on Wednesday, Dec. 29.
- Canada’s coronavirus case total as of Dec. 23 was just over 1.9 million cases with 30,131 deaths. Health Canada won’t be updating data until 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 29. Health Canada reported that cases crossed the two million threshold on Boxing Day.
- The Eastern Ontario Health Unit added 396 cases over the weekend – 230 in Prescott-Russell, 90 in SD&G and 76 in Cornwall – to bring the regional total Monday to 7,320 confirmed cases, of which 853 are active (324 more than Friday) and 6,333 are resolved (72 more than Friday). The number of deaths to date is 134. There is one person in hospital (two fewer than Friday) and one in the ICU (no change from Friday). There are 11 institutional outbreaks (four more than Friday). Testing increased 209 to 179,366. The breakdown of cases is: Prescott-Russell 2,829 cases (424 active), SD&G 1,727 cases (223 active), Cornwall 2,157 cases (194 active) and Akwesasne (ON/QC) 607 cases (12 active)(Akwesasne health department report as of Dec. 23: 614 total cases, 15 active, 12 deaths to date).
- The Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit added 475 cases over four days to bring the regional total Monday to 3,090 cases, of which 542 are active (289 more than Thursday) and 2,483 are recovered (86 more than Thursday). The number of deaths to date is 65 (no change). There are three people in hospital (one more than Thursday), two in the ICU (one more than Thursday) and two a ventilator (one more than Thursday). There are no active institutional outbreaks. The community case breakdown is: Lanark County East 582 cases (77 active), Lanark County West 642 cases (98 active), Leeds-Grenville Central 521 cases (121 active), Leeds-Grenville East 632 cases (147 active), Leeds-Grenville West 456 cases (87 active) and Unknown/Out of Region 50 cases (12 active).
- Vaccines: Ontario 26,343,050 (+229,743, last update Dec. 24); EOHU 380,976 (last update Dec. 27, +1,032 from previous update Dec. 24); LGL 157,816 individuals living in LGL with first doses, 149,722 with second doses, 30,828 with third doses. (last update Dec. 19, +1,385 first doses, +292 second doses, +14,199 third doses since previous update Dec. 12).
- Omicron put a damper on Boxing Day shopping with thinner crowds at Canadian malls, partly due to reduced capacity. Meantime in the U.S., a major credit card payment tracker showed holiday sales were up 8.5 per cent compared to last year.
- The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Quebec went up by 141 over the last four days. That has Health Minister Christian Dube asking people to limit contact with others.
- The problem with cancelled flights in the U.S. continued Monday with dozens more halted due to staff shortages caused by people calling in sick with COVID-19.
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