Number of new local COVID-19 cases up by 19

Article content

The Brant County Health Unit on Thursday reported 19 new cases of COVID-19 in the previous 24 hours.

That is almost double the 11 cases reported for the first two days of the week.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Number of new local COVID-19 cases up by 19 Back to video

The number of active cases rose slightly to 60 on Thursday from 54 on Wednesday.

Since the pandemic began a year ago, the area has recorded 1,721 confirmed cases of COVID-19, of which 1,648 have been resolved.

Thirteen local deaths have been attributed to COVID-19.

Currently, four COVID-19 patients are being treated at Brantford General Hospital.

As of Thursday, 45 variants of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the community. The health unit website is reporting 37 cases that have the N501Y mutation with the presumed lineage of B.1.1.7 (UK) and eight cases having both the N501Y and E484K mutation. At the beginning of March, the health unit reported just two variant cases.

To date, 21,556 vaccinations have been given locally, with 2,566 people having received second doses. The difference in the total number of vaccines administered between Wednesday and Thursday is an increase of close to 1,500.

Vaccine appointments are now available for Brant residents age 72 and older.

The Grand Erie District School Board reported its first new positive case of the week on Tuesday when it was announced a case at Woodman-Cainsville School in Brantford.

There are currently outbreaks two Grand Erie elementary schools in Branttford: Ryerson Heights and Walter Gretzky. Ryerson Heights is closed until March 31, while Walter Gretzky remains open.

The Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board reported a new case at St. John’s College on Wednesday.

There are currently outbreaks at two Brantford Catholic elementary schools: St. Theresa and Holy Cross.

There is also an outbreak at St. Joseph’s Lifecare Centre, a Brantford long-term care facility. It had an outbreak declared March 6 after a staff member tested positive. A second staff member later tested positive.

Provincial government guidelines require outbreaks to be declared at long-term and retirement homes, as well as congregate settings, whenever there is a single positive case involving a resident or staff member.

There are also two workplace outbreaks.

An outbreak continues at an undisclosed manufacturing/industrial business that does not serve the public directly. Two people have tested positive.

And another outbreak continues at CSN Collision Centre at 85 Lynden Rd., after two cases of the virus were confirmed in staff members who didn’t have clear, identifiable transmission sources outside of the business, which remains open.

On Six Nations of the Grand River, there was one new positive case reported on Thursday.

There are currently 12 active cases, with two COVID patients hospitalized.

Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 436 confirmed cases, of which 416 are resolved. Two cases have been identified as a variant of concern although the lineage was not known.

A total of 1,133 people have been given the vaccination on Six Nations with 128 of those people fully vaccinated.

There have been eight deaths related to the virus on Six Nations.

Public Health Ontario reported on Thursday 2,380 new cases of COVID-19 in the province. It is the first time since January that more than 2,000 cases in a day have been reported.

However, about 280 of the cases are due to a ‘data catch-up process.’

The positivity rate is at 3.8 per cent, compared to 3.7 per cent on Wednesday.

There were 17 more deaths attributed to the virus, bringing the total number of deaths in Ontario from COVID to 7,280.

A total of 1,755,596 doses of the vaccine have been administered as of Thursday with 304,386 fully vaccinated.