Ontario sees 990 new COVID-19 cases and 6 deaths
Ontario is reporting 990 new cases of COVID-19 and six new deaths, according to the latest provincial figures.
The new daily case count brings the total number of cases since the pandemic began in Ontario to 306,997.
Toronto saw 284 new cases while Peel Region saw 173. Both regions are under stay-at-home orders that are scheduled to lift on Monday. York Region reported 82 new cases.
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The update follows the release of Ontario's accelerated vaccine rollout plan, which should see all adults 60 and older given a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine by early June — a month sooner than initially planned.
"That was very optimistic," Dr. Peter Lin told CBC News on Saturday.
Lin applauded the province's rollout strategy for including an option to space out shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines by up to four months.
"[That] means more people can get vaccinated and the whole idea is to burn the virus out," he said. "If you have lots of people vaccinated, the virus can't find a new host and we could say goodbye to the virus quicker and get back to normal life faster."
To date, Ontario has administered more than 860,400 doses of COVID-19 vaccines with more than 270,600 people fully vaccinated. Toronto, the province's largest city, is responsible for the administration of nearly 200,000 of those doses — a figure that amounts to more than 124,686 people being vaccinated.
In a Saturday news release, the city said 197,155 doses have been administered, and that several clinics are underway on Saturday to vaccinate hospital and community-based healthcare workers who are in Phase 1 priority groups.
Vaccine availability continues to be a stumbling block for cities, including Toronto, which has a population of more than 2.9 million.
Other public health units that saw double-digit increases in cases were:
Ottawa: 60
Thunder Bay: 54
Halton Region: 34
Waterloo Region: 33
Durham Region: 32
Lambton: 27
Simcoe Muskoka: 27
Windsor-Essex: 27
Hamilton: 24
Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District: 19
Sudbury: 17
Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph: 17
Eastern Ontario: 12
(Note: All of the figures used in this story are found on the Ministry of Health's COVID-19 dashboard or in its Daily Epidemiologic Summary. The number of cases for any region may differ from what is reported by the local public health unit on a given day, because local units report figures at different times.)
2 regions to see restrictions eased Monday
Infectious diseases specialist Dr. Zain Chagla told CBC News on Saturday that Canada's approval of the single shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine — news that came after Ontario released its vaccine plan — should definitely help speed up the timeline.
"We'll get to the point where vaccines are scaling up and up and up," he said.
But he cautioned: "There may be turbulence for the next month or so."
On Monday, stay-at-home orders in Toronto and Peel Region will be lifted, although both regions will stay in lockdown. Medical officers of health for both regions had urged caution ahead of the shift.
"Vaccines do us no good if they're not in arms yet," Dr. Lawrence Loh said at a Wednesday news conference. "We must stay the course."
Last month, the province made a few changes to what people are allowed to do in a grey lockdown.
As of Monday, residents in Toronto and Peel Regions will be able to shop in person at reduced capacity: 50 per cent for grocery stores, convenience stores and pharmacies and 25 per cent for other retailers. Loitering in shopping malls or other stores will not be permitted. Individuals will still need to wear a mask and practice physical distancing.
WATCH | Toronto and Peel Region to move into grey zone as stay-at-home order lifts on Monday
