Ontario reports 1,468 new COVID-19 cases as some family doctors start giving vaccines

 

Ontario is reporting 1,468 new COVID-19 cases today, as well as 11 more deaths linked to the virus.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says the latest count includes 381 new infections in Toronto, 226 in Peel and 168 in York Region. There are 46 new cases in Halton and 36 in Hamilton.

The province reports that 676 people are being treated for COVID-19 in hospital, including 282 patients in intensive care.

Elliott says 1,116,496 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Ontario as of Friday evening.

Some family doctors in Ontario will start administering COVID-19 vaccinations in six regions today.

The province announced this week that some family doctors in Toronto, Peel Region, Hamilton, Guelph, Peterborough, and Simcoe-Muskoka will be administering the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot to patients between the ages of 60 and 64.

The Ontario Medical Association asks residents not to call their doctors' office, saying that physicians will contact patients who are eligible to receive the vaccine.

The doctors are getting a limited number of doses -- some 29,500 shots -- but that could increase as more vaccine shipments arrive.

Another pilot project offering the AstraZeneca vaccine to residents in the same age bracket in pharmacies in three public health units - Toronto, Windsor and Kingston - launched on Friday.