Here are the latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic in the Greater Toronto Area for Sunday.
Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccine booking system to launch Monday
Ontario has released details about its COVID-19 booking system set to go live on Monday morning.
The province says residents aged 80 and older, or those acting on their behalf, will be able to schedule their shots starting at 8 a.m.
The government has established a website and phone line to help eligible residents secure their immunization appointments.
Ford says Ontario could administer 150K shots per day
Premier Doug Ford says Ontario has the capacity to administer many more COVID-19 vaccines than the province is currently averaging per day but says there is not enough supply.
“We have the capacity to do 4.8 million in a month and we have 1.4 million coming in throughout March … I know the federal government is trying. They’re doing their best. All I’m just pointing out is we just don’t have enough vaccines, simple as that.”
Increasing calls to vaccinate frontline workers in factories, distribution centres
There are growing calls for front-line workers in factories and distribution centres to get the COVID-19 vaccine in Ontario as supply increases.
This comes after Amazon was ordered by public health on Friday to shut down a facility in Brampton, after 240 positive cases were reported in recent weeks.
Status of cases in the GTA
Ontario reported a total of 1,747 new coronavirus cases on Sunday.
Of those:
- 545 were in Toronto
- 352 were in Peel Region
- 163 were in York Region
- 55 were in Durham Region
- 38 were in Halton Region
Sunday's case count affected by 'data catch-up process'
Ontario reported 1,747 cases of the novel coronavirus Sunday, bringing the total number of cases in the province to 318,106.
It marks the largest jump in cases since Feb. 1, when 1,969 were reported. However, provincial officials noted that the “case count is higher than expected due to a data catch-up process.”
Officials didn’t say exactly how many of the 1,747 cases are affected by the data cleanup, though in a morning press conference Health Minister Christine Elliott said it could involve “several hundred.”
Fifteen additional deaths were also reported on Sunday, bringing the provincial death toll to 7,153.
Nearly 42K more vaccine doses administered in Ontario
As of 8 p.m. Saturday, 1,158,355 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Ontario, marking an increase of 41,859 over 24 hours. It’s a drop from the record 53,586 doses that were reported administered over the previous 24-hour period.
So far, 285,615 people in the province are considered to be fully vaccinated.
— With files from Katherine Ward and The Canadian Press