Covid on the rise in ontario, quebec

Des pite pleas to limit socializing, provinces report highes t Single-day tallies since may

Ontario and Quebec reported Sunday their highest single- day tallies since May despite urgings from political leaders last week to curtail socializing.

Ontario is reporting 491 new cases of COVID-19 and two more deaths from the illness, the highest daily increase in cases reported in province since early May.

Health Minister Christine Elliott said 137 cases were reported in Toronto, 131 cases in Peel Region and 58 each in Ottawa and York Region with 63 per cent of the day’s new cases among people under the age of 40.

In total, 112 people are hospitalized in Ontario due to COVID-19, including 28 in intensive care.

Elliott said the province conducted 42,500 tests since the last daily report.

Quebec reported 896 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, like Ontario the province’s highest single- day tally since May, and Health Minister Christian Dube said the increase in cases is primarily due to community transmission.

“We’re asking to limit contacts over the next weeks,” Dube wrote on Twitter after the number was announced.

Health officials also reported four additional deaths attributed to the coronavirus: two in the past 24 hours, and two that took place between Sept. 20 and 25.

Quebec has now recorded a total of 71,901 COVID-19 cases and 5,825 deaths.

Another COVID-19 outbreak was reported this weekend at a long-term care home in Laval, Que., north of Montreal.

Judith Goudreau, a spokeswoman for the local health agency CISSS Laval, said Sunday that 11 residents and seven staff members at Centre d’hebergement Idola-saint-jean had tested positive.

Goudreau said the residents who tested positive have been moved into a “red zone” on the ground floor of the facility, which has a capacity of 25 beds.

Visits to the facility have been suspended, Goudreau said in an email, and all employees and residents will be tested for COVID-19.

Helene Bergeron- Gamache, a spokeswoman for the CIUSSS- Ouestde-l’ile-de-montreal, said the agency was informed Saturday morning that a staff member at Residence Herron tested positive for COVID-19.

Thirty- eight people died at Residence Herron between March 26 and April 16, according to a Quebec government report released Wednesday.

The report detailed the chaos that followed the discovery of the first case at the facility on March 26, and its devastating effects on a residence described as ill- prepared to confront a pandemic.

In late March, regional health authorities found only three employees on site to care for 133 residents, some of whom were wearing overflowing diapers and suffering from dehydration.

Quebec authorities also said Sunday that hospitalizations went down by one over the past 24 hours for a total of 216. Of those, 41 people are in intensive care — a drop of four from the previous day.

O ff i c i a l s said 2 7, 3 8 0 COVID-19 tests were conducted on Sept. 25, the last date for which the testing data is available.

Visits to federal prisons in Quebec also have been suspended in an effort to prevent the potential spread of COVID-19 inside the facilities, the Correctional Service of Canada said this weekend.

The CSC is working closely with its Quebec public health partners amid a recent increase in COVID-19 cases, agency spokesperson Avely Serin said in an email Sunday.

“This decision is a proactive and preventative measure given that community transmission rates in the province has risen in recent days,” Serin said.

On Friday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced that bars and restaurants across province will shut down earlier and all strip clubs will close. He said the latest restrictions would help reduce transmission in high-risk businesses.

On the same day Dube called on Quebecers to avoid all non- essential gatherings with friends and family for 28 days “to break the second wave.”

In Newfoundland and Labrador, public Health officials reported one new confirmed case of COVID-19.

The new case, announced Sunday, involves a man between 20- 39 years of age in the Eastern Health region. They said the case is travel- related. The man was returning home to the province from Manitoba. Officials said he has been self- isolating since arrival and following Public Health guidelines.

However, the Department of Health and Community Services is asking people who travelled on Westjet Flights 306 and 328 departing Winnipeg and Toronto for St. John’s on Monday, Sept. 21 to call the 811 non-urgent health line to arrange for COVID-19 testing.

They say the request is out of an abundance of caution.

The province has two active cases of COVID-19 and 268 people have recovered from the virus.

As of 5 p. m. ET on Sunday there were 153,124 confirmed cases in Canada, including 9,268 deaths and 131,097 resolved.