Here are the latest local, regional and national headlines on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) for Saturday, November 14, 2020:
- There have been 91,180 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across Ontario, an increase of 1,396 (or 1.6 per cent) from the previous day. There are 76,238 people recovered from the virus while 3,312 people have died. The number of Ontario people tested is 5,556,879 of which 44,507 have pending results.
- Canada’s coronavirus case total is 287,318. The country has 10,828 deaths from the virus – one in the Yukon, 290 in British Columbia, 398 in Alberta, 29 in Saskatchewan, 137 in Manitoba, 3,312 in Ontario, 6,586 in Quebec, six in New Brunswick, four in Newfoundland & Labrador and 65 in Nova Scotia.
- The Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit remained at a regional total of 474 confirmed cases on Friday, of which 17 are active (two fewer than Thursday) and 404 are recovered. There are three people in hospital, two of them in ICU and one on a ventilator. The community case breakdown is: Leeds-Grenville East (nine active), Leeds-Grenville Central (one active), Leeds-Grenville West (one active), Lanark County West (zero active) and Lanark County East (six active). The total number of deaths is 53. There is one active institutional outbreak in Carleton Place (the outbreak at St. Lawrence Lodge in Brockville was declared over).
- The Eastern Ontario Health Unit area added four cases Friday to bring the regional total of confirmed cases to 747. Of all cases, there are 143 active and 575 resolved. There are six people in hospital, none in ICU. There are five active institutional outbreaks, one fewer than Thursday, as the outbreak at Lancaster Long Term Care was declared over. Testing increased by 501 to 78,534. The breakdown of cases is: Prescott-Russell 503 cases (66 active), SD&G 112 cases (15 active), Cornwall 112 cases (54 active) and Akwesasne (ON/QC) 20 cases (eight active).
- Ontario reduced the thresholds for its colour-coded framework for restrictions. It will mean no change to the current alert level for the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit, which is at the lowest green level. But the Eastern Ontario Health Unit will move from yellow to orange on Monday.
- Despite pleas from Premier Doug Ford not to get together, bikers rolled into Port Dover for the traditional Friday the 13th rally. But the crowd was a lot smaller than the typical tens of thousands that usually come to the Lake Erie town. Many were wearing masks.
- The Ontario Long-Term Care COVID-19 Commission heard testimony Friday that residents in a home hit hard during the first wave of the virus were crammed into overcrowded rooms with lack of access to food, water or oxygen. There were 77 residents who died at Orchard Villa in Pickering.
- Whether people are able to get together during the Christmas holidays will depend on how people following public health guidelines now, according to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. But chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says things don’t look good right now with possibly 10,000 positive cases daily in the next few weeks if infection rates stay where they are now.
- Data from Statistics Canada shows a third of businesses that survived the first wave of COVID-19 are unsure whether they will be able to do it again. The survey shows about a fifth of them would have to take drastic action in less than six months.
- As case counts rise, the amount of testing across Canada has dropped more than 25 per cent during this month. There were fewer than 55,000 tests across the country in the past week.
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