Here is a roundup of the latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic in the Greater Toronto Area for Wednesday:
329 new coronavirus cases, 40 deaths in Ontario as total cases rise to 21,236
Ontario reported 329 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing the provincial total to 21,236 cases.
The death toll has risen to 1,765 as 40 more deaths were reported.
Meanwhile, 15,845 people have recovered from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, which is 74.6 per cent of cases.
Greater Toronto Area public health units account for 62.4 per cent of all cases in the province.
Status of COVID-19 cases in Toronto
According to the most recent data on the Toronto Public Health (TPH) website Wednesday evening, there were 1,655 active cases and 5,655 resolved cases of COVID-19. TPH also reported 634 people died after contracting the virus.
Of the 414 residents currently in hospital, 99 were being treated in ICU.
City of Toronto, Ritual partner for businesses looking to accept digital orders
The City of Toronto announced it has partnered with the Toronto-based app company Ritual in a push to help small businesses accept digital orders with contactless ordering options available.
“Businesses that sign up for Ritual ONE by June 1 will receive the service free for life and will not pay any commission or monthly subscription fees on Ritual ONE orders,” a statement on Wednesday, noting regular credit card processing fees will still need to be paid.
“Businesses will be provided with a dedicated expert to help support them during the onboarding process.”
More information is available at ritual.co/partners.
Ford says school employees volunteering for health-care work
Premier Doug Ford said school employees have begun volunteering to work in health-care settings amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
His remarks come after the government announced an emergency order on Saturday allowing school workers to redeploy to health-care settings.
Ford called the response “overwhelming.”
“Our school boards, our trustee associations and union representatives have all come together to support this framework,” he said.
“They’re working with us to redeploy education workers who are not currently involved with at-home learning. They’re working with us to get these workers into the fight against COVID-19.”
Emergency order allows Ontario to control management of long-term care homes
A new emergency order allows the Ontario government to control the management of long-term care homes hardest hit by COVID-19.
The order allows the province to step in if a facility has a high number of infections or deaths, or if it’s facing a staffing shortage.
The province says the appointed manager could be any person, including a corporation or hospital.
Ontario to monitor rare inflammatory illness in children with COVID-19
Ontario’s Health Minister says the province is going to better monitor children after reports of a rare inflammatory illness in kids diagnosed with COVID-19.
Christine Elliott says the province’s case definition of COVID-19 will now include multisystem inflammatory vasculitis, which may appear in children.
She says that although the connection between this inflammatory illness and COVID-19 is not confirmed at this time, the province is taking immediate action “to protect Ontario’s children.”
Some of the symptoms of multisystem inflammatory vasculitis include persistent fever, abdominal pain, gastrointestinal symptoms, including nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, as well as rash.
With files from The Canadian Press.
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