This is the Saturday, February 27, 2021 coronavirus update. Four more variants of concern have been identified in Halton Region; the first ones this week. Active cases are consistently rising again in Oakville, Halton, in Ontario and Canada-wide. Nine regions (but not Halton) will enter new colour framework levels on Monday.
Ontario's active cases increase again today as variants of concern account for a higher percentage of new cases province-wide. Canada approves the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine. The global death total surpassed 2.5 million people worldwide earlier today.
Note: Oakville figures are updated seven days a week with Ontario and Global cases. Schools do not update on weekends.
Oakville and Halton COVID-19 update
- Four more cases in Halton Region are confirmed to be variants of concern, but none of them are in Oakville
- Halton Regional Health (HRH) does not disclose which variant newly discovered cases are
- Oakville reports exactly 12 new cases and 10 recoveries for the second day in a row
- HRH has completed just over 28,000 vaccinations to date - 4.82% of the population
- According to a provincial update on Thursday, Halton Region is currently testing fewer people per 100,000 than any other health unit in Ontario
- The Town of Oakville is supporting the choice of vaccination sites by the region
- Closed classrooms in Halton have doubled between Wednesday and Friday this week, from 10 to 20
Changes in figures are since the Oakville News update on February 26, 2021.
- 75 active cases - plus 2
- 9 patients at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital - no change
- 1 confirmed "variant of concern" case - no change
- 2,974 total cases (confirmed and probable) - plus 12
- 59 deaths - no change
- 2,840 recoveries (95.5% of all cases) - plus 10
- 2,899 completed (recoveries+deaths) cases - 97.4% of cases
- 5 outbreaks - no change
Status in Halton
- 234 active cases - plus 10
- 20 cases in hospitals across Halton - plus 3
- 12 confirmed "variant of concern" cases - plus 4
- 9,426 total cases (confirmed+probable) - plus 39
- 196 deaths - plus 1
- 8,996 recoveries (95.4% of all cases) - plus 28
- 9,192 completed (recoveries+deaths) cases - 97.5% of cases
- 18 outbreaks - plus 2
Local schools update
- 21 active cases in Oakville - plus 4
- 44 active cases in Halton - plus 7
- 20 Halton classrooms closed - plus 5
Note: Halton Region's recovery count is combined into one number with probable, now closed cases. This total includes some cases that were not coronavirus recoveries.
Ontario COVID-19 update
- Ontario will allow health units to begin vaccinating seniors before March 15 if they're ready, but only if they use their own booking system
- General Rick Hiller, vaccine task force leader, announces online appointment booking will begin on March 15, 2021 for those eligible
- Active cases rise provincially for the third straight day
- Almost 10% of all schools in Ontario have reported a case of COVID-19 since schools reopened this month
- Several experts are warning Ontario's leadership not to ease COVID-19 health restrictions; fearing a third wave led by international variants
- Ventilator patients decrease by 11 today after rising by 11 yesterday
- In the last year, Ontario has processed over 10 million COVID-19 tests
Changes are from yesterday’s figures. Information released as of February 27, 2021 for the end of yesterday.
- 10,479 active cases - plus 185
- 680 people hospitalized - minus 3
- 667,100 vaccinations - plus 25,400
- 299,754 confirmed cases - plus 1,185
- 282,315 recovered cases - plus 984
- 6,960 deaths - plus 16
- 289,275 resolved cases (deaths & recovered) or 96.4%
- 59,416 tests conducted, coming back 2.1% positive
- 192 active, ongoing institutional outbreaks - minus 8
- 276 people in ICU - minus 8
- 182 people on ventilators - minus 11
Summary of Variants of Concern
- 508 confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 (U.K.) variant - plus 31
- 535 cases of all known variants of concern in Ontario - plus 42
Summary of School Outbreaks
- 735 cases reported in the last two weeks - plus 60
- 877 cases reported since schools reopened earlier this month
- 468 schools with at least one active case (9.7%) - plus 38
- 18 schools closed - no change
Dr. Adalsteinn Brown (co-chair of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table) and Dr. David Williams (Ontario’s chief medical officer of health) discussed Ontario’s updated modelling data on Thursday, based on the variants of concern:
Canada and Global COVID-19 updates
- Health Canada approves use of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine; its the third vaccine approved for use in Canada
- Dr. Supriya Sharma, Health Canada's Chief Medical Adviser, says the Johnson & Johnson vaccine could be approved in Canada within weeks
- Travellers entering Canada by land must now take a COVID-19 test
- Professor and epidemiologist Raywat Deonandan said a third wave in Canada is "mathematically inevitable"; Dr. Theresa Tam shares his concern
- A new variant, B.1.526, is confirmed to be spreading in New York City
- Global deaths reach the grim milestone of 2.5 million since the pandemic began
Changes in Canadian figures are since the last Oakville News update, February 26, 2021. With the high number of cases nationwide and globally, all numbers are approximate (within 0.1% of the total.)
- 30,700 active cases - plus 400
- 1.82 million people received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine (4.7% of pop.)
- 863,600 confirmed and suspected cases to date
- 21,949 deaths - plus 44
- 810,300 recoveries - plus 2,500
United States coronavirus update
- 28.55 million total cases
- 511,300+ deaths
- 70.4 million+ vaccinations (21.2 doses per 100 people)
- 6% of the USA has been fully vaccinated, far ahead of Canada's total (less than 1%)
Global coronavirus update
- 113.4 million total cases
- 2.52 million deaths
- 234.1 million+ vaccinations (3.1 doses per 100 people)
- Unlike Canada and the US, the global daily case count remains steady
Sources: