Ontario logs 748 new COVID-19 cases as vaccinations for kids aged 5 to 11 ramp up
CBC
Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario's chief medical officer of health, is scheduled to provide a briefing on COVID-19 in the province at 3 p.m. CBC News will carry the news conference live.
Ontario reported 748 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, as vaccinations against the illness for children aged five to 11 began to ramp up across the province.
The City of Toronto's pediatric vaccine campaign picked up in earnest with kid-friendly clinics and others happening in schools and communities.
Public health in Windsor says it is also taking appointments for young kids today, and the city's police force has said it will be on-site for planned protests at the sites.
A clinic in Hamilton is offering shots today for Indigenous people and their household members above the age of five.
Parent or guardian consent is required for kids to get the shots.
Other health units are offering the pediatric Pfizer-BioNTech shots on designated days this weekend and in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, today's case count is a roughly 5 per cent increase from last Thursday, when the province logged 711 infections.
The seven-day average of daily cases is up to 692.
Ontario's COVID-19 Science Advisory Table estimates that as of Nov. 21, new daily infections in the province were doubling about every four and a half weeks.
While cases are still on the rise in a majority of Ontario's 34 public health units, the burden on intensive care units has continued to hold more or less steady.
As of yesterday evening, there were 137 patients being treated for COVID-related illnesses in ICUs. That's an uptick from last Wednesday, when there were 129 COVID patients in critical care, but well within the general range reported over the last several months.
The Ministry of Health also reported the deaths of four more people with COVID-19, pushing the official toll to 9,985.
Here are some other key pandemic indicators and figures from the ministry's daily provincial update:
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