Here are the latest local, regional and national headlines on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) for Monday, December 13, 2021:
- There have been 632,147 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across Ontario, an increase of 1,476 cases from the previous day (VAX: 576 unvaccinated, 36 partially vaccinated, 771 fully vaccinated, 93 unknown). There were 1,607 cases on Saturday and 1,453 on Friday. There have been 611,266 people recovered from the virus while 10,078 have died. The number of Ontario people tested is 20,209,416 of which 23,520 have pending results.
- Canada’s coronavirus case total (as of Friday) is 1,827,691. The country has 29,900 deaths from the virus – 14 in the Yukon, 12 in the Northwest Territories, four in Nunavut, 2,381 in British Columbia, 3,272 in Alberta, 937 in Saskatchewan, 1,345 in Manitoba, 10,065 in Ontario, 11,603 in Quebec, 139 in New Brunswick, 18 in Newfoundland & Labrador and 110 in Nova Scotia.
- The Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit added 27 cases Friday to bring the regional total to 2,185 confirmed cases, of which 81 are active (21 more than Thursday) and 2,039 are recovered (six more than Thursday). The number of deaths to date is 65. There are four people in hospital (no change from Thursday) and one in the ICU (one fewer than Thursday). There are no actsive institutional outbreaks. The community case breakdown is: Lanark County East 456 cases (one active), Lanark County West 491 cases (13 active), Leeds-Grenville Central 302 cases (32 active), Leeds-Grenville East 430 cases (12 active), Leeds-Grenville West 268 cases (22 active) and Unknown/Out of Region 31 cases (one active).
- The Eastern Ontario Health Unit added 13 cases Friday – six in Prescott-Russell, four in SD&G and three in Cornwall – to bring the regional total to 6,192 confirmed cases, of which 106 are active (six more than Thursday) and 5,954 are resolved (seven more than Thursday). The number of deaths to date is 132. There are three people in hospital and one in the ICU (no changes from Thursday). There are no institutional outbreaks. Testing stayed at 175,287. The breakdown of cases is: Prescott-Russell 2,310 cases (22 active), SD&G 1,458 cases (27 active), Cornwall 1,911 cases (38 active) and Akwesasne (ON/QC) 513 cases (19 active)(Akwesasne health department added six cases Thursday: 596 total cases, 22 active, nine deaths to date).
- Vaccines: Ontario 24,449,726 (+61,920, last update Dec. 12); EOHU 350,110 (last update Dec. 10, +1,488 from previous update Dec. 9); LGL 154,443 individuals living in LGL with first doses, 149,083 with second doses, 11,784 with third doses. (last update Dec. 5, +1,702 first doses, +347 second doses, +3,991 third doses since previous update Nov. 28).
- U.S. infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci says the Omicron variant of COVID-19 appears to cause less serious infections. But it’s more easily spread and could get around current vaccines or immunity from an earlier strain.
- With the Omicron variant expected to become the dominant strain in Ontario within weeks, experts with the province’s advisory group says Ontario needs to look at modifying its response.
- Quebec joins Ontario with leading the country in new COVID cases. On Sunday, there were 1,753 new infections in Quebec and one new death.
- A year after being cancelled because of the pandemic, Santa hats and holiday sweaters were in full force in New York City’s midtown on the weekend as SantaCon returned. The annual bar crawl is a charity fundraiser.
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