Hamilton logs 140 new cases of COVID-19

Hamilton Public Health Services is reporting 140 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, taking the number of confirmed cases over the course of the pandemic to 13,827.

There are 929 active cases of COVID-19 in the city.

A total of 124,123 doses of vaccines have been administered as of the end of day April 8, according to Hamilton Public Health Services.

No new death was recorded over the last 24 hours. Since March 2020, a total of 332 people have died after contracting COVID-19.

Meanwhile, HPHS is reporting 46 COVID-19 outbreaks in the city.

Four new outbreaks were declared on Thursday as follows:

• ArcelorMittal Dofasco Hamilton.

• Grandview Animal Hospital Stoney Creek.

• Nova Steel Hamilton.

• Prince of Wales Elementary School

Meanwhile, the following outbreaks have been declared over:

• Westmount Terrace Retirement Residence.

• Macassa Lodge.

• Paddock Transportation.

Municipal impacts and closures of stay-at-home order

Due to the province-wide stay-at-home order that began Thursday, the city is no longer accepting in-person appointments at any service counters (including all municipal services at city hall and the municipal service centres, animal services, licensing, clerks services, etc.).

Residents looking to access municipal services are encouraged to do so online. An exception will be made for marriage licences where residents may have special circumstances and require a marriage licence during the stay-at-home order.

The provincial administration offences office will remain open for in-person appointments for filings only.

Other municipal impacts

The City's Emergency Operations Centre has also postponed or modified a number of events planned for this spring, as a result of the stay-at-home order. These include:

• Spring compost giveaways planned for this spring will be postponed until after the stay-at-home order is lifted.

• All community tree planting events planned for this spring will be postponed until after the stay-at-home order is lifted.

• Private tree giveaways will continue through the stay-at-home order but will be modified so that trees are dropped off at residents' homes with contact-less delivery.

• In order to support spring cleaning of city parks and neighbourhoods, Team Up to Clean Up, Adopt-a-Park and the Beautiful Alleys programs will continue with increased health and safety measures. Participants are required to wear masks and can only participate in clean up activities individually or with members of the same household. Staff will work with participants to provide supplies (via mail, delivery or pick up as required).

• Replacement of in-home water meters will move to emergency service replacements only until after the stay-at-home order is lifted.

Brant

The county of Brant has 174 active cases according to data online. There were 16 new cases over the last 24 hours.

There have been 2,017 cases since March 2020 and 14 deaths. There are seven people currently hospitalized with COVID-19.

A total of 1,829 cases have been marked as resolved.

There have been 31,907 doses of the vaccine administered.

Haldimand-Norfolk

Haldimand and Norfolk Counties are reporting a total of 138 active cases of COVID-19., with 25 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours.

There have been 1,772 cases throughout the pandemic. Of those 1,590 have recovered.

The local public health unit has linked the virus to 39 deaths.

There have been 24,012 doses of the vaccine administered.

Halton

The number of COVID-19 cases in Halton rose by 163 over the past 24 hours, for a total of 11,974 so far.

Data indicates there are currently 763 active cases.

Thirty-five of the new cases reported were in Burlington, which has seen 2,938 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. There are 140 active cases in the city.

A total of 201 people across the region have died after being infected with the virus, 50 of them in Burlington.

The region has seen a total of 1,227 variant cases.

There have been 104,297 doses of the vaccine administered in Halton.

More people eligible for vaccine

Starting Friday, April 16, more priority groups identified in the province's vaccine distribution plan will be eligible to book appointments through Halton's online booking system.

In addition to the groups currently eligible for vaccination, the following populations can begin booking vaccination appointments:

• Individuals (age 18 and older) with highest-risk and high-risk health conditions and one essential caregiver:

• Essential workers (age 18 and older) who cannot work from home (Group 1 as identified by Province).

• Adults 50+ in an identified hotspot area (Adults 50 years of age and older living in the L9E postal code area, in Milton).

• Remaining health care workers who live or work in Halton and cannot work from home.

"We continue to follow direction from the Province on prioritization and we are pleased to be able to expand to these priority populations," said Halton regional chair Gary Carr.

"In addition to our mobile teams, our community clinics operate seven days a week and I cannot thank staff enough for the hard work they are doing each and every day. We will keep opening up appointments to our community as long as supply continues to be provided by the Federal and Provincial Governments."

Niagara

Niagara is reporting 118 new cases of COVID-19. The region has seen 10,604 cases over the course of the pandemic, including 937 that are active.

A total of 376 deaths have been linked to the virus over the course of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, 9,291 cases are now marked as resolved.

There have been 100,062 doses of the vaccine administered in Niagara.

Six Nations

Six Nations of the Grand River is reporting six active cases of COVID-19. There have been 443 total cases, and 428 are resolved. Nine people have died.

One individual is currently hospitalized as a result of COVID-19.

A total of 2,119 people have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while 293 people have received both doses.

Ontario logs 4,227 new cases of COVID-19

Ontario logged 4,227 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, the second-most on a single day at any point during the pandemic.

The province logged 4,249 new infections on January 8, but 450 of those were attributed to a data delay.

The Ministry of Health has not indicated that today's figure includes any older cases.

The ministry says that as of yesterday, there were 1,492 people with COVID-19 in hospital. Of those, 552 were being treated for COVID-19-related sickness in intensive care, the most ever in Ontario. A total of 519 of those patients were still testing positive for the illness, according to the ministry.