Ontario reports 2,336 new cases of COVID-19, 434 in Peel

Published March 30, 2021 at 5:01 pm

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TORONTO — Ontario is reporting 2,336 new cases of COVID-19 today and 14 more deaths linked to the virus.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says that there are 727 new cases in Toronto, 434 in Peel Region, and 229 in York Region.

She also says there are 194 new cases in Durham Region, 144 in Ottawa and 123 in Hamilton.

Today’s data is based on nearly 36,100 completed tests.

Ontario says 1,477 cases were resolved since the last daily report.

The province reports that 70,645 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine were administered since yesterday’s update. 

A total of 2,102,380 vaccine doses have been given in the province so far.

Ontario says that 1,090 people are currently hospitalized with the virus, 387 are in intensive care, and 249 people are on a ventilator.

The president of the Ontario Hospital Association said the province could face a new surge in patient transfers and cancelled surgeries as it deals with the third wave of COVID-19 in the weeks ahead.

Anthony Dale said if the trend of increasing patient numbers arriving in the province’s hospitals continues, it will further strain capacity.

Dale said that will lead to patient transfers running “24-7″ to ensure they receive life-saving care and additional cancelled surgeries will be added to the current backlog of 250,000 procedures.

He said intensive care units across Ontario are seeing younger patients, with more severe cases of COVID-19, which is straining the system.

Dale warned that the pandemic is not over, despite more widespread availability of vaccines, and stressed that people must follow public health measures.

“I am very concerned about the breakdown in social cohesion and the understanding of the risk and the sacrifice that is still needed to get us all through this safely together and without unnecessary death and harm and further massive disruption to hospital care,” he said.

On Monday, Ornge Air Ambulance said between Jan. 1 and March 25, at least 601 patients have been transferred by it or local paramedic services to help address the pandemic capacity crunch in hospitals.

Dale says patient transfers have picked up in recent days, citing the example of hospitals in Scarborough where patients are being transported to Kingston, Ont., for critical care.

“Hospitals will move heaven and earth … but it’s all making a terrible situation worse,” he said. “That’s what I see over the coming weeks.”

The Canadian Press

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