UPDATE 1:33 pm: Regional acting medical officer of health, Dr. Mustafa Hirji commented on the outbreak during a media briefing, calling it a 'self-contained' outbreak.
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Cobblestone Gardens in Thorold is dealing with another outbreak of COVID-19.
Niagara's public health agency added the retirement home to the list of homes dealing with cases of the virus over the weekend.
According to the region's reporting tool, the outbreak has been ongoing since February 25 and encompasses the entire facility.
An outbreak of COVID-19 was declared earlier this year after a single case was found in a staff member.
It is not clear if the current outbreak is due to cases in residents or staff, however Public Health has reported that they have been able to vaccinate all long-term care and retirement residents in the region.
Portal Village in Port Colborne was also added alongside Garden City Manor as the third active health care facility outbreak.
20 cases were reported on Monday, following Sunday's 23.
There are now 209 active cases in the region, of which 4 are listed in Thorold.
The region also now reports a total of 65 variants detected on screening of local cases, of which 4 have been confirmed as the British mutation of the COVID-19 virus.
Ontario update
Public Health Ontario has reported 1,631 new cases of COVID-19 today (March 8).
Today's report includes 994 recoveries and 10 new deaths, none were long-term care residents.
The deaths reported today include five people between 60 and 79 years old, and five people aged 80 or older.
The province has reported 51 new hospitalizations since yesterday, and seven new admissions of COVID-19 patients to intensive care units.
The March 8 update provided by the province's public health agency also reported the following data:
- 11,016 active cases, which is up from 10,389 yesterday
- 626 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in Ontario, up from 606 reported yesterday.
- There are 282 COVID patients in intensive care units (up from 273) and 184 COVID patients on ventilators (up from 179 reported yesterday)
- 38,063 tests were processed yesterday resulting in a 3.4 per cent positivity rate.
- Another 13,891 tests are still under investigation and/or being processed. To date, 11.4 million tests have been completed.
- Of the 1,631 new cases reported today, 568 are from Toronto, 322 cases are from Peel, 119 are from York Region, and 48 are from Simcoe-Muskoka
- There are 79 active outbreaks at long-term care homes, 59 at retirement homes, and 20 at hospitals.
- The new cases reported today include 321 individuals aged 19 and under, 596 people between 20 and 39 years old, 447 people between 40 and 59 years old, 224 people between 60 and 79 years old, and 47 people aged 80 and over.
Variants of concern reported by Public Health Ontario
- 879 lab-confirmed cases of the UK variant strain of COVID-19 (B.1.1.7).
- 39 cases of B.1.351 (also known as the South African variant).
- 17 cases of P.1, which is the variant strain that originated in Brazil.
- According to Public Health Ontario, there are delays between specimen collection and the testing required to confirm a variant of concern. As such, the reports can change and can differ from past case counts publicly reported.
Vaccines
- There were 21,882 doses of vaccines against COVID-19 administered on March 7, which is up from 30,192 administered on Mar. 6.
- As of 8 p.m. on March 7, the province reported 912,486 doses of vaccine against COVID-19 have been administered.
- In total, 273,676 people have been fully vaccinated.
Public Health Ontario has confirmed 309,927 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, and reported 290,840 recoveries and 7,077 deaths, of which 3,876 were individuals living in long-term care homes.
The cumulative average incidence rate in the province is 2,085 cases per 100,000 people in Ontario.
The weekly incidence rate in Ontario is 50.7 cases per 100,000 people, which is a decrease of 1.6 per cent from last week (Feb. 20-26).
