

Chris Herhalt, CP24.com





Ontario health officials reported 60 new confirmed COVID-19 infections on Friday, raising the province's total, including deaths and recoveries to 318.

It's the single largest increase in confirmed novel coronavirus infections in Ontario since the outbreak began. New cases in Alberta and British Columbia announced Friday evening pushed the country's total to 1,000.

Canada has a total of 1,087 cases after Alberta and B.C. reported 49 and 77 new cases, respectively.

Ontario now has 311 active cases of novel coronavirus infection, two deaths and five clinically-determined recoveries.

On Thursday, Ontario reported 44 new cases. Close to 5,500 other people remain under investigation for possible infection.

Health Minister Christine Elliott said the sustained daily increases were expected to a degree.

“As Dr. Williams said yesterday, he’s not entirely surprised that the rate of infection has grown,” she told reporters.

Health officials expected an increase in cases due to Canadians returning from March Break travel in Europe, the Caribbean and the United States.

“What we’re seeing very recently is due to people returning home,” Elliott said.

The Friday count includes four elderly residents of a long-term care home in Oshawa, as well as two other patients who have been hospitalized.

One is a man in his 70s in Waterloo; the other is a woman in her 50s in Durham Region, who is being treated as a close contact of a previously confirmed case.

Twenty-two other patients were discharged into self-isolation.

Travel to places including the United States, the Caribbean, undisclosed cruise routes and Europe was attributed to nine of the cases, while the causes of eight other cases were attributed to close contact with a previously confirmed patient.

The cause of the remaining 33 infections was still under investigation, but there is considerable evidence available in the GTA of community spread of the virus, culminating with the death of a 51-year-old Milton man on Wednesday who had no recent travel history and no ties to any previously confirmed cases.

All identifying information for 26 of the 50 new cases was not disclosed.

The new cases include two in Toronto, three in Peterborough, six in Durham Region, two in Hamilton, four in Waterloo, one in Hastings – Prince Edward County, three in Ottawa, two in Peel Region and one in York Region.

On Friday afternoon, ten more cases were reported in the province. It includes three elderly nursing home residents in Haliburton Kawartha. Six cases are in Middlesex London and one case in Timmins, which is listed as travel-related. All 10 are self-isolating.

Dr. Barbara Yaffe, the province's associate chief medical officer of health, said they are also monitoring the clusters at the two long-term care homes.

"They're both being intensively investigated by the local health unit in collaboration with the nursing home and the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Long-term Care," she said, adding that outbreaks in institutions like homes are not unusual.

The spectre of community spread of the virus prompted Ontario health officials to issue new orders to all healthcare workers in the GTA on Wednesday, saying that a recent travel history abroad will no longer be a criteria needed to receive a COVID-19 test.

“This shift in testing criteria reflects the fact that there is now evidence of community spread within the Toronto Region, and that travel history is increasingly becoming irrelevant as a criteria for testing,” the guidance document obtained by CTV News Toronto states. “There is concern also that there is significant risk in persisting with a travel based approach, as cases will be missed and potential exposures may occur.”

Testing centres have now been told to focus on those at greatest risk of infection due to their jobs (healthcare workers and emergency first responders), vulnerable populations in prisons, homeless shelters and retirement homes and those identified by Toronto Public Health to be part of “active cluster outbreaks.”

“Everyone else, even those with mild symptoms who have returned from travel, do not need testing, unless they get sick enough to go to an Emergency Department,” the orders read.

Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams said it is essential that the public continue to adhere to social distancing, especially in the next two weeks.

"This coming weekend and early into next week is a very critical time," Williams said. Officials are expecting a number of people returning from their March break trip from the United States and other countries with some who might have contracted the disease.

He said the rapidly escalating situation south of the border is very concerning.

"There are some people who are choosing to be casual on it, and I really strongly emphasize that's not to be done over the next five or six days because this is the critical time period," Williams said.

Yaffe said they are now doing 3,000 tests per day and expects that by the end of this week or next week, tests will be up to 5,000 per day.

She said most labs are now running 24/7.