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COVID-19: Canada to produce millions of vaccine doses in Montreal; Ontario reports 745 new cases due to data glitch

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Ontario pushes back long-term care vaccination deadline

1:45 pm Due to production and shipping delays with Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the province is pushing back the date to have first shots administered to all long-term care, high-risk retirement and First Nations elder care residents

Premier Doug Ford announced today that the new target date is February 10, rather than February 5.

The province says production delays in Europe means Ontario is receiving 80 per cent less doses of Pfizer and 20 per cent less of Moderna shots over the past couple weeks. The government expects the supply to return to normal by mid-month.

“The province is expecting approximately 310,000 doses to be delivered in the remaining weeks of February,” the government said in a statement. “Once sufficient doses are available, vaccinations will resume to provide first doses for staff and essential caregivers in settings with the most vulnerable populations.”

As of February 1 at 8 pm, the province has administered over 344,000 vaccine doses, including over 91,000 doses to long-term care staff and retirement home staff, over 138,000 doses to health-care workers and over 90,000 doses administered to long-term care and retirement home residents.

More than 70,000 people are fully vaccinated with both shots.


Canada to produce Novavax COVID-19 vaccine in Montreal

12:15 pm Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today the country has struck a deal with pharmaceutical company Novavax to produce its COVID-19 vaccine in Montreal.

Speaking to reporters today, the PM said Ottawa has signed a signed a “memorandum of understanding” to produce the vaccine domestically pending its approval by Health Canada.

Calling the deal “a major step forward,” Trudeau said tens of millions of doses would be produced at the facility, which is under construction and scheduled to open in July.

The plant would have capacity to produce two million doses per month. Novavax submitted its vaccine candidate to Health Canada last week. The country has ordered up to 76 million doses.

Trudeau also announced a domestic production deal with Vancouver-based Precision NanoSystems for its vaccine. However, that facility is not slated for completion until March 2023. Once up and running, it will produce 240 million doses per year, Trudeau said.


Ontario reports 745 new COVID-19 cases due to data glitch

11:30 am Ontario reported 745 new cases of COVID-19 on February 2, including a negative case count from Toronto Public Health due to the migration of data.

Ontario Public Health noted that case counts for other regions may be affected by system outages related to the migration of data as well, and data fluctuations may continue over the next few days.

Among the other hotspot regions, there are 334 new cases in Peel, 124 in York Region and 65 in Niagara.

The seven-day rolling average is down to 1,746.

Fourteen deaths have been reported, including four among long-term care residents. One of the reported deaths was someone between the ages of 20 and 39, and two were between the ages of 40 and 59.

Ontario completed 28,552 tests in the past 24 hours, the lowest testing numbers since early November. That marks a positivity rate of 2.6 per cent.

The province has administered 344,615 total doses of the vaccine, including 2,715 over the past day. There are 72,057 people in the province who are fully vaccinated.

There are currently 17,451 active cases in the province as of February 2, and 1,192 patients are hospitalized, an increase of over 30 from the day before. A total of 341 patients are in intensive care and 253 are on ventilators.

In Ontario, there have been a total of 270,925 COVID-19 cases, including 247,236 resolved cases – up 2,297 from the day before. A total of 6,238 people have died.


The Power Plant postpones winter season

11 am Contemporary art gallery The Power Plant is closing for the rest of the winter season.

Lockdown restrictions and the state of emergency that forced museums and galleries to close are set to expire next week, but major galleries in the city are preparing for the rules to be extended. The province has already extended the state of emergency once since it took effect on January 12.

“Our Winter 2021 exhibitions – including a solo exhibition by New York-based artist Leonardo Drew, and the continuation of Fall 2020 exhibitions by Howie Tsui and Nathan E. Carson – are postponed until further notice,” the gallery said in an Instagram post.

Read the full statement below.


Ford to provide update on Ontario’s vaccine rollout

10:30 am Premier Doug Ford will hold a news conference at 1 pm today to update the province on the vaccination rollout.

Minister of Health Christine Elliott, Solicitor General Sylvia Jones and the head of Ontario’s vaccination task force (retired) General Rick Hillier will also be on hand.

Last week, delivery delays at Pfizer’s European plant forced the province to temporarily shift its vaccination strategy. The province stopped immunizing health-care workers and essential caregivers to prioritize long-term care home residents.

Ford has promised that all long-term care residents who want to be vaccinated will have received their first dose by February 5.


Ontario to announce school reopening dates on Wednesday

10:30 am The province will announce the dates for school reopenings tomorrow, Education Minister Stephen Lecce tweeted on Monday night.

Lecce said Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health David Williams confirmed he will finalize his advice on schools by tomorrow.

“The Government will provide certainty parents deserve by announcing on Wednesday the dates for reopening,” Lecce said.

During a press briefing at Queen’s Park on Monday, Williams said he hopes all schools across Ontario can reopen from lockdown measures by next week. However, he is seeking advice from each public health unit before making a decision.

Students in the public health units of Ottawa, Middlesex-London, Eastern Ontario and Southwestern returned to in-class learning on Monday.

Schools in Toronto, Peel Region, Hamilton, York Region and Windsor-Essex will be closed until at least February 10, the province has said.


New COVID-19 cases in Ontario on February 2

The following regions reported five or more new COVID-19 cases:

Peel = 334

York Region = 124

Niagara Region = 65

City of Hamilton = 52

Durham Region = 44

Halton Region = 44

Simcoe Muskoka District = 42

Windsor-Essex County = 35

Region of Waterloo = 27

Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph = 17

Ottawa = 14

Middlesex-London = 14

Thunder Bay District = 13

Southwestern = 12

Chatham-Kent = 9

Haldimand-Norfolk = 5

Toronto = -119

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