COVID-19: Latest developments in the Greater Toronto Area on April 13

Here are the latest developments on the COVID-19 pandemic in the Greater Toronto Area for Tuesday:

Ontario says it will add hundreds of critical care beds this week to help with an influx of COVID-19 cases that is pushing the health-care system to the brink.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says the government is exploring its options to boost hospital capacity and staffing levels as variants of concern wreak havoc on the province.

2:39 Ontario hospitals forced to shuffle staffing as COVID-19 cases push them to capacity brink

Ontario officials said those who are aged 18 and older in high-risk hot spot areas ⁠— defined by select postal codes ⁠— are now eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine as part of mobile or pop-up clinics.

“Host” organizations, defined as faith-based organizations, community settings, and employer-hosted workplace clinics, will promote mobile and pop-up clinics within “high-risk” hot spot areas and schedule appointments.

2:48 Premier Doug Ford defends Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout

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The University Health Network (UHN) says it has paused vaccine registration for those aged 18 to 49 in three Toronto hot spot neighbourhoods because of limited supply.

UHN opened registration to that age group Monday for those in neighbourhoods with the following postal codes: M5V, M6E, and M6H.

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“We have 20,000 people registered for the postal codes identified – and the supplies of vaccine are not coming from the federal government so we have put a hold on registering people and will close the BMO Centre vaccination site at Toronto Western and operate our clinic at MaRS at 25% capacity,” UHN said in a statement.

UHN called for more supply from the federal government.

“We will keep the individuals on the registry until we can either book appointments for them because there is more vaccine or, if the mass vaccination clinics have vaccine, we can send a list of registrants to that system,” the statement said.

Ontario reported 3,670 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday.

Of those:

• 1,016 were in Toronto
• 613 were in Peel Region
• 519 were in York Region
• 196 were in Durham Region
• 157 were in Halton Region

Ontario is reporting 3,670 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing the provincial total to 394,679.

The death toll in the province has risen to 7,582 as 15 more deaths were recorded.

Resolved cases increased by 2,573 from the previous day. The government said 42,167 tests were processed in the last 24 hours.

As of 8 p.m. on Monday, 3,310,157 total COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered. That marks an increase of 95,692 vaccines in the last day. There are 335,262 people fully vaccinated with two doses.

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).

The B.1.1.7 VOC is currently the dominating strain at 20,487 confirmed cases, which is up by 3,947 since the previous day. There have also been 81 confirmed B.1.351 variant cases, which is unchanged, and 143 P.1 variant cases, which is up by three.

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 is unchanged.

There are 36 current outbreaks in homes, which is down by five from the previous day.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 21 active cases among long-term care residents and 115 active cases among staff — down by three and down by five, respectively, in the last day.

— With files from The Canadian Press