COVID-19: Latest developments in the Greater Toronto Area on April 9

Here are the latest developments on the COVID-19 pandemic in the Greater Toronto Area for Friday.

Sunnybrook says it is launching a daily standby list for end-of-day COVID-19 vaccines on Saturday.

The list will be available for people to sign up every day between 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. A person must be eligible for a vaccine to register.

Sunnybrook said it will randomly select people for a dose.

Interested persons must register every day as the list gets deleted each night.

“The standby list is not replacing our booking system. We continue to offer COVID-19 vaccine appointments for anybody who meets our eligibility criteria,” Sunnybrook tweeted Friday.

A Canada Post facility in Toronto has been hit with a COVID-19 outbreak.

The facility, located on Eastern Avenue, said 13 employees have tested positive over the last 14 days. The company said Toronto Public Health was notified.

“Canada Post is providing voluntary onsite rapid COVID-19 testing to all employees and contractors at this facility. These tests will be administered by our qualified outside provider. Any employees who do test positive must leave the workplace and self-isolate,” said a company spokesperson.

Canada Post said it has paid leave available for employees.

2:40 New COVID-19 outbreak declared at Toronto Canada Post facility

The City of Toronto has announced two employees at mass vaccination clinics have tested positive for coronavirus.

A statement issued on Friday said the employees worked at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (April 2 to 5) and Scarborough Town Centre (March 31 to April 2) facilities.

“The risk to the general public who attended the clinics is extremely low. The employees and those who may have come into contact with them were all wearing appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) and maintained physical distance,” the statement said.

“Investigations were conducted to determine if there was any risk to clients or staff. Any staff who may have come in contact with the individuals have been informed and are following public health direction.”

The statement encouraged people to monitor for COVID-19 symptoms as a precaution.

Ontario reported 4,227 new coronavirus cases on Friday.

Of those:

• 1,218 were in Toronto
• 762 were in Peel Region
• 532 were in York Region
• 247 were in Durham Region
• 174 were in Halton Region

Ontario is reporting 4,227 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, the second highest case count ever recorded, bringing the provincial total to 378,339.

The previous record of cases in a single day was on Jan. 8 amid the second wave at 4,249, although that day had a few hundred previously unreported cases. It is also the first time since January that cases are over 4,000.

The death toll in the province has risen to 7,512 as 18 more deaths were recorded.

Resolved cases increased by 2,641 from the previous day. The government said 61,410 tests were processed in the last 24 hours.

Ontario said a total of 2,940,166 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered. That marks an increase of 105,382 vaccines in the last day. The province administered more than 100,000 vaccines in 24 hours three days in a row. There are 328,598 people fully vaccinated with two doses.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford received his first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on camera Friday.

Ford got the shot at a pharmacy in Etobicoke at 10 a.m.

The 56-year-old premier was eligible to get his shot due to his age. People aged 55 and older can get the vaccine through Ontario pharmacies.

Officials have listed breakdown data for the new VOCs (variants of concern) detected so far in the province which consist of the B.1.1.7 (first detected in the United Kingdom), B.1.351 (first detected in South Africa), P.1 (first detected in Brazil), as well as mutations that have no determined lineage.

The B.1.1.7 VOC is currently the dominating known strain at 11,492 variant cases, which is up by 1,860 since the previous day, 76 B.1.351 variant cases which is up by one, and 133 P.1 variant cases which is up by two.

According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 3,755 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario which did not increase from yesterday. Eleven virus-related deaths in total have been reported among staff.

There are 46 current outbreaks in homes, which is down by three from the previous day.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 15 active cases among long-term care residents and 118active cases among staff — up by five and down by one, respectively, in the last day.

Meanwhile, government figures show there have been a total of 14,686 school-related COVID-19 cases in Ontario to date — 11,077 among students and 2,447 among staff (1,162 individuals were not identified).

This is an increase of 199 more cases in the last day — 160 student cases, 36 staff cases, three were not identified.

The COVID-19 cases are currently from 1,300 out of 4,828 schools in the province which is 27 per cent of schools. All schools in Toronto, Guelph and Peel Region are closed. Schools are heading into April Break after Friday.

There have been a total of 4,222 confirmed cases within child care centres and homes — an increase of 67 (39 new child cases and 28 staff cases). Out of 5,282 child care centres in Ontario, 420 currently have cases and 127 centres are closed.

NOTE: This page will be updated throughout the day.