How will Toronto handle the latest COVID-19 lockdown? Mayor, top officials holding noon update
CBC
Officials from the City of Toronto will hold a media conference Tuesday to provide an update on the municipal government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing efforts to vaccinate residents.
Mayor John Tory will be joined by Medical Officer of Health Dr. Eileen de Villa and general manager of emergency management Matthew Pegg at noon.
CBC Toronto will stream the news conference live in this story.
The update comes one day after the provincial government announced the return of sweeping restrictions to combat record-high COVID-19 case counts driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant that threaten to overwhelm Ontario's health-care system.
The restrictions, which come into effect Wednesday, Jan. 5 at 12:01 a.m., move Ontario back to a modified version of Step Two of the province's Roadmap to Reopen, which was first implemented earlier last year. They include moving schools online for at least two weeks, temporarily closing indoor dining, gyms as well as many other businesses for three weeks, and pausing non-urgent medical procedures.
According to Public Health Ontario, Toronto recorded 3,006 cases on Jan. 2, the latest date for which data is available. That number is likely an underestimate, PHO wrote in its daily epidemiological summary, because of changes in the availability of PCR testing.
Toronto Public Health (TPH) hasn't reported new case counts since Dec. 31 and stopped reporting other data over the holidays. TPH says it will provide a more fulsome update on Wednesday.
In a media release Tuesday morning, the city said vaccination efforts over the holidays contributed to a total of 37 per cent of Toronto residents having received a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as of Jan. 2.
"Team Toronto is focused on ramping up vaccination efforts in response to the Omicron variant and getting first, second and third doses into the arms of all who are eligible," the release said.
"As we move into the early days of 2022, the vaccine push continues, with 32,599 booked appointments for adult doses in City-run vaccine clinics this first week of January."
The city continues to offer vaccinations through city-run clinics, hospital partner clinics, local pharmacies and doctors' offices.
