Ontario reports fewer than 3,000 new COVID-19 cases, vaccinations top 6M

Ontario is reporting fewer than 3,000 new COVID-19 cases as the province marked another vaccination milestone.

There were 2,864 new coronavirus cases added to the provincial tally on Saturday, a decrease from the previous day when provincial health officials noted the case count may have been underreported due to technical glitches in three regions.

It is the third time in the last five days that fewer than 3,000 new infections have been recorded while the seven-day rolling average of new cases declined for the 10th straight day, now sitting at 3,193. A week ago it was over 3,600.

Locally, there are 803 new cases in Peel Region, while Toronto is reporting 684 new infections, and 285 in York Region. It’s the first time in almost three months that Toronto is reporting fewer new cases than any other region in the province.

An additional 25 people have died as a result of coronavirus, raising the provincial total to 8,261.

Provincial officials are reporting a positivity rate of 6.8 per cent after completing just 47,817 tests in the last 24 hour period.

The province says it administered 138,125 vaccine doses on Friday, pushing the provincial total to more than six million single doses administered to date.

City of Toronto officials say more than 1,3 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered to date and they expects to have more than half of adults age 18 or older in the city vaccinated with at least one dose this weekend.

Pfizer vaccine appointments are now available at select pharmacies for those 18 years of age and older in Toronto and Peel Region, while pharmacy locations in Durham Region, Hamilton, Ottawa, Windsor and York Region are providing doses of the Moderna vaccine.

Ontario says it expects 65 per cent of adults to have their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of May.

Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, the man handling logistics for Canada’s vaccine distribution program, says there will be enough vaccine delivered to give a first dose to every Canadian over the age of 12 before Canada Day, as long as there are no further production delays.

Health Canada currently expects 23 million doses of Pfizer (20.2 million), Moderna (2.1 million) and Oxford-AstraZeneca (1.65 million) in May and June. The federal agency has also authorized the Pfizer vaccine for children between 12 and 15 years of age on May 5, the first vaccine approved for kids that young.

Files from The Canadian Press were used in this report