12 new coronavirus cases, including 1 death, reported in Ontario Tuesday

Ontario confirmed 12 new novel coronavirus cases in the province on Tuesday, including a man in his 70s from the Muskoka area who passed away. There are now 189 confirmed cases in Ontario.

The newest cases are mostly in the Hamilton, London and Kingston regions, and all affected people are currently in self-isolation.

The province continues to investigate 1,567 possible cases and 9,415 people have so far tested negative.

Five cases in total are considered resolved.

Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health for the province, said most cases in Ontario are travel related.

“Of those (186 cases) about 92 per cent are either related to travel outside of Canada … or close contact of a case.”

“We are telling everyone to avoid travel unless it’s absolutely essential,” she added. “And people who are returning have been asked to stay in self quarantine for 14 days so I would hope we will be seeing less and less associated with travel.”

Yaffe says of travel related cases, 29 per cent had been in the United States, with the most-commonly visited States being New York, Colorado, California, Florida, Nevada and Massachusetts.

Dr. David Williams, Chief Medical Officer of Ontario, said health officials are trying to increase testing capacity from around 2,000 tests a day, to 5,000.

When asked if Ontario has enough tests, he responded: “The fact that we want to get 5,000 tells us that we don’t think there’s enough tests in Ontario.”

Williams urged all Ontarians to practice social distancing while health officials learn more about how the virus spreads.

“I think the assumption is let’s assume (COVID-19) probably is community spread, and on a precautionary basis implement social distancing processes.”

Earlier Tuesday, the province announced the first COVID-19 related death and Premier Doug Ford declared a state of emergency, banning public events of over 50 people, including parades, events and services within places of worship until March 31.

The province also ordered the closure of all facilities providing indoor recreation programs, all public libraries, all private schools, all licensed childcare centres, all theatres, cinemas and concert venues, and all bars and restaurants except to provide takeout food and delivery.

Essential services such as grocery stores, pharmacies and public transit will continue to operate. The LCBO and Beer Store will also remain open.

Yaffe was asked if the TTC should be shut down in an attempt to contain the virus.

“I think you have to look at the social and economic impact of every measure that you take,” she said. “Some people in essential services still need to get to work, people still need to buy food and do certain things to keep life going and we do need to get around.”

“I actually still take the TTC by the way,” she admitted. “And I found that very few people are on it, people are very respectful, they are keeping away from each other.”