Here are the latest local, regional and national headlines on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) for Thursday, June 17, 2021:
- There have been 540,810 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across Ontario, an increase of 384 cases from the previous day. There have been 527,162 people recovered from the virus while 8,986 have died. The number of Ontario people tested is 15,618,918 of which 13,336 have pending results.
- Canada’s coronavirus case total is 1,405,146. The country has 26,001 deaths from the virus – three in the Yukon, four in Nunavut, 1,738 in British Columbia, 2,278 in Alberta, 562 in Saskatchewan, 1,111 in Manitoba, 8,986 in Ontario, 11,177 in Quebec, 45 in New Brunswick, seven in Newfoundland & Labrador and 90 in Nova Scotia.
- The Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit area added two cases Wednesday to bring the regional total to 1,757 confirmed cases, of which eight are active (one more than Tuesday) and 1,689 are recovered (one more than Tuesday). There are 60 deaths to date. There is no one in hospital. There are no active institutional outbreaks. The community case breakdown is: Lanark County East 383 cases (zero active), Lanark County West 396 cases (three active), Leeds-Grenville Central 208 cases (zero active), Leeds-Grenville East 348 cases (one active) and Leeds-Grenville West 199 cases (three active).
- The Eastern Ontario Health Unit area added one new case in SD&G on Wednesday to bring the regional total to 4,727 confirmed cases, of which 13 are active (one more than Tuesday) and 4,607 are resolved (no change from Tuesday). There are 107 deaths to date. There are two people in hospital (no change) with one in the ICU (no change). There are no active institutional outbreaks. Testing increased by 175 to 141,618.
- Vaccines: Ontario 11,732,414 (+202,984, last update June 16); EOHU 143,299 (last update June 16, +2,353 from previous update June 15); LGL 121,877 individuals living in LGL with first doses, 17,035 with second doses (last update June 15, +7,779 first doses, +6,744 second doses since previous update June 8).
- The hair salon industry is urging Premier Doug Ford to allow it to reopen. Personal care services aren’t expected to reopen for another few weeks under the Roadmap to Reopen plan and some salons in parts of the province have been shut since November. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business is joining the call to reopen.
- A surge of cases in northeastern Ontario is causing concern for health officials. It’s driven primarily by children, adults younger than 30 and people who have not got the vaccine. The hot spot is within the Porcupine Health Unit area.
- Returning from the Group of Seven conference, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has already completed the hotel stay of his two week quarantine. He checked out Wednesday morning after receiving a negative test. Delegation members were tested Tuesday night and those tests came back negative yesterday (Wednesday) morning.
- The border checkpoints came down yesterday (Wednesday) morning between Ontario and Quebec. The interprovincial restriction on non-essential travel into Ontario has been in place since April 19.
- Manitoba is expecting two large shipments of Moderna that will let it give 20,000 shots per day. The province hopes to make everyone 12 years old and older eligible for doses by the end of next week.
- Canada hit a vaccine milestone Wednesday as 75 per cent of everyone eligible to receive a shot has got at least their first dose. Almost 17 per cent have had their second.
- Organizers behind the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup say the pandemic has created a significant rise in the amount of single use food and drink packaging.
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