Key COVID-19 numbers in the Ottawa area today
- by Joy Garcia
- in Medicine
- — Jan 2, 2021
The new total is 405 more than Wednesday's case count, the previous record for the province.
Chief public health officer Kami Kandola says long-term care residents and staff are the territory's first priority for the vaccine.
Isolated and First Nations communities in the North, however, will be included in phase 1 vaccinations.
"This ethical framework is a clear demonstration of our commitment to Ontarians to be transparent", said General Rick Hillier (retired), Chair of the COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Task Force.
There are 19 hospitals running vaccination sites and 14,000 people have been vaccinated to date.
The province says 3,942 doses of vaccine were administered yesterday, for a total of 29,250. "I think it's 31 communities that you can fly into only".
Health officials also report three more people have died, one of whom was in their 30s.
The head of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution task force in Ontario, Ret. Gen. Rick Hillier, said the pause came after it was chose to give frontline workers a break, especially in long-term care homes, where there were fewer staff over Christmas.
No Night Curfew In West Bengal On New Year's Eve: Chief Secretary
There "Diwali-like" restrictions will be put in place and it will be applicable in all municipal councils, the order said. No parties will be allowed in restaurants, pubs, bars, beaches, rooftops, and boats.
He expects they will receive 300,000 doses in January, with increasing deliveries each week after that. There were 1,235 patients in Ontario hospitals, according to data released Thursday, with 337 people in ICU and 210 requiring a ventilator. We can't do it any faster. Dr. Huyer said practice makes ideal and he anticipates the vaccine distribution will go faster and smoother as time goes on.
"We will not take any more days off". Rio de Janeiro-based Fiocruz has agreed to import and bottle some 100 million doses by June and eventually produce the vaccine locally.
Dr. Huyer said the aim is to protect the populations most at risk but added there are factors in play such as the availability of vaccines.
Now there are 19 vaccination sites open but Hillier said he expects two more will open by next week.
The World Health Organization is urging countries to help fill a funding gap of $4.3 billion to help buy COVID-19 vaccines for poor- and middle-income countries.
Hillier said the call to close clinics over Christmas Day and Boxing Day was the "wrong decision". "And if you do the calculation, you will realize that's about 7 ½ million people ..."
The province continues to urge people to refrain from non-essential travel. That won't happen again. "And therefore as a result of that we want to be ready to put needles into the arms of about 150,000 people across Ontario per day". Several cases of the new COVID-19 variant identified in the United Kingdom have now been reported in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec.
