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79 new coronavirus cases, one additional death confirmed in Simcoe Muskoka

Click to play video: 'Potential COVID-19 variant found at Ontario long-term care homes'
Potential COVID-19 variant found at Ontario long-term care homes
WATCH: The Canadian Red Cross has been deployed to a Barrie long-term care home in the midst of an outbreak. – Jan 18, 2021

The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit confirmed 79 new coronavirus cases and one additional death in the region on Tuesday, bringing the local number of cases up to 4,834, including 91 deaths.

There were also 430 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine administered on Monday. There have been 13,317 doses administered in the region since late December.

Fifty-one of the new cases are in Barrie, while nine are in Bradford and eight are in New Tecumseth.

The rest of the new cases are in Adjala-Tosorontio, Clearview, Collingwood, Essa, Innisfil, Orillia, Oro-Medonte and Midland.

Thirty-two of the new cases are related to institutional COVID-19 outbreaks, while 16 are a result of close contact with another positive coronavirus case. Fifteen of the new cases are community-acquired, while the rest are all still under investigation.

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Of the region’s total 4,834 COVID-19 cases, 70 per cent — or 3,366 — have recovered, while 37 remain in hospital.

Between Jan. 10 and 16, the average daily growth in confirmed cases was 1.4 per cent. Based on projections, if this level of growth continues, there will be about 595 coronavirus cases reported during the week of Feb. 7 to 13.

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About half of all new infections in January with a known cause were acquired through close contact with a positive COVID-19 case, while about 25 per cent were acquired in the community with no known source of infection.

So far in January, seniors aged 80-plus have had the highest COVID-19 infection rate, with 80 per cent of these cases associated with an institutional outbreak.

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There are currently 20 COVID-19 outbreaks in the region — at 12 institutional settings, four workplaces, three congregate settings and one community setting.

On Tuesday, Ontario reported 1,913 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the provincial total to 242,277, including 5,479 deaths. The government said due to a “technical issue” there was “likely” underreporting in cases from Toronto Public Health.

— With files from Global News’ Gabby Rodrigues and Jessica Patton

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