Ontario reports 89 new COVID-19 deaths, daily cases top 2,500
Posted January 20, 2021 10:21 am.
Last Updated January 20, 2021 11:25 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The province says 89 more people have died from COVID-19, as new cases top 2,500.
A total of 5,568 people have now died from the virus in Ontario. More than half of those deaths (3,274) were people living in long-term care (LTC) and 251 LTC homes are currently battling outbreaks.
On Tuesday, the province announced that all residents and staff at LTC care homes in virus hotspots — Toronto, Peel Region, York Region and Windsor-Essex, have now received their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Provincial health officials reported 2,655 new cases of COVID-19 across Ontario on Wednesday, a rise from 1,913 cases the day before — however, the Ministry of Health noted that Toronto Public Health likely under-reported those cases due to a technical glitch.
Most of the new cases reported Wednesday are in Toronto (925), followed by Peel Region (473), and York Region (226).
The province said 54,307 tests were completed in the previous day, with a testing backlog of 48,963.
A total of 237,918 people have been vaccinated in Ontario,
RELATED: Toronto’s COVID-19 mass immunization clinic paused immediately amid vaccine delays
On Tuesday, Premier Doug Ford bemoaned a “troubling” vaccine shortage, saying the province is capable of administering more than 40,000 doses a day but “every day we are giving out less vaccines than we have the capacity to administer, is a day we lose.”
The province says its weekly deliveries of the Pfizer-BioTech COVID-19 vaccine will be cut by as much as 80 per cent over the next month due to a production slowdown at the pharmaceutical company.
Shipments are expected to get back to normal levels in late February and early March.
