This is the Thursday, March 4, 2021 coronavirus update. Four more variants of concern have been confirmed in Halton today, including the second known case in Oakville. New and active case numbers locally are the highest they've been in weeks.
Through the rest of Ontario, however, active cases are continuing to go down even as testing has increased this week. This is good news, but the number of variants of concern are still growing and nearly 100 new cases were reported today, accounting for more than 10% of all new cases today in the province. Canada has now administered over two million doses of COVID-19 vaccine.
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
- Halton residents who are 80 years of age and older can now book their COVID-19 vaccine appointment at a Halton Region COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic
- Oakville has its first school outbreak since schools reopened at a French high school
- Halton's positivity percent last week is down to 2.3%, low enough to be eligible for the Orange-Restrict level (but other statistics remain at Red and Grey levels)
Changes in figures are since the Oakville News update on March 3, 2021.
- 91 active cases - plus 4
- 6 patients at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital - minus 1
- 2 confirmed variant of concern case - plus 1
- 3,047 total cases (confirmed and probable) - plus 17
- 59 deaths - no change
- 2,897 recoveries (95.1% of all cases) - plus 13
- 2,958 completed (recoveries+deaths) cases - 96.9% of cases
- 7 outbreaks - plus 1
Status of institutional (LTC, Retirement & Hospital) outbreaks in Oakville:
Status in Halton
- 264 active cases - plus 13
- 15 cases in hospitals across Halton - minus 4
- 19 confirmed variant of concern cases - plus 4
- 9,628 total cases (confirmed+probable) - plus 52
- 198 deaths - plus 2
- 9,166 recoveries (95.2% of all cases) - plus 39
- 9,364 completed (recoveries+deaths) cases - 97.3% of cases
- 18 outbreaks - no change
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.
Local schools update
- 28 active cases in Oakville - no change
- 72 active cases in Halton - plus 1
- 27 Halton classrooms closed - plus 4
Ontario COVID-19 update
- Ontario will begin giving the AstraZeneca vaccine to those age 60-65 first, and not to those over 65 at the advice of the National Advisory Committee
- Active cases in Ontario dropped for the third day, each day by a higher margin and amidst higher testing numbers
- The province says it has spent over $1 billion so far to assist Ontario small businesses
- Nearly 100 more confirmed variants of concern are reported today - more than 10% of all new cases today
- New cases in provincial schools saw a massive jump of 260+ new cases yesterday, plus 200 schools with a new case so far this week
- Ontario is considering following British Columbia in extending the time between vaccinations, from the current 21 days up to a possible 4 months
- Several experts are warning Ontario's leadership not to ease COVID-19 health restrictions fearing a third wave led by international variants
Changes are from yesterday’s figures. Information released as of March 4, 2021 for the end of yesterday.
- 10,309 active cases - minus 88
- 649 people hospitalized - minus 19
- 754,400 vaccinations - plus 27,400
- 304,757 confirmed cases - plus 994
- 287,424 recovered cases - plus 1,072
- 7,024 deaths - plus 10
- 294,448 resolved cases (deaths & recovered) or 96.6%
- 65,643 tests conducted, coming back 2.1% positive
- 281 people in ICU - plus 7
- 183 people on ventilators - minus 5
- 171 active, ongoing institutional outbreaks - plus 1
Summary of variants of concern
- 644 confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 (U.K.) variant - plus 92
- 678 cases of all known variants of concern in Ontario - plus 96
Summary of School Outbreaks
- 1,168 cases reported in the last two weeks - plus 27
- 1,506 cases reported since schools reopened earlier this month
- 683 schools with at least one active case (14.2%) - plus 11
- 26 schools closed - plus 2
Earlier this afternoon, Dr. David Williams (Ontario's chief medical officer of health) and Dr. Dirk Huyer (Coordinator of the provincial outbreak response) provide an update on the province's response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic:
Canada COVID-19 updates
- Premiers from every province and territory held a joint press conference today to ask federal government for increased health transfers
- Canada has now administered over two million doses of COVID-19 vaccine
- The National Advisory committee says essential workers should be prioritized for the vaccine, also warning that vaccine advice will change over the coming months as more is learned
- Canada conducts its 25 millionth COVID-19 test
- Over 50 million people in the USA have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, including 25.5 million who are fully vaccinated (nearly the number of all adults in Canada)
- After Texas ends its mask mandate, four more states end mandatory mask laws (all in states led by Republican governors)
- Nearly 20 million doses of vaccine were given worldwide yesterday; the best day yet
Changes in Canadian figures are since the last Oakville News update, March 3, 2021. With the high number of cases nationwide and globally, all numbers are approximate (within 0.1% of the total.)
- 29,800 active cases - minus 50
- 2.14 million people received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine (5.7% of pop.)
- 877,300 confirmed and suspected cases to date
- 22,136 deaths - plus 50
- 825,300 recoveries - plus 2,700
Sources:
- Halton Region
- Halton Healthcare
- Government of Ontario
- Government of Canada
- N. Little. COVID-19 Tracker Canada (2020), COVID19Tracker.ca
