Hamilton, Niagara, Brant and Haldimand-Norfolk students return to in-person classes Monday

Students in Hamilton, Niagara, Brant and Haldimand-Norfolk will be returning to in-person classes this Monday according to the province.

They haven't been in class since late December.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce made the announcement on Wednesday afternoon.

Before and after school child care programs will also resume on Feb. 8, which means this Friday will be the last day for local emergency child care.

The province is making asymptomatic testing available for students and staff. There will also be mandatory masking for students between Grade 1 and 12. High schools will also get enhanced screening and eligible student teachers can use temporary certificates to help boards deal with staffing issues.

But the province is also discouraging students from getting together before and after school.

Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, the city's medical officer of health, previously said schools are the safest places for students to be.

Pat Daly, chair of Hamilton's Catholic School Board, said the board is "pleased" students and staff will return to classes soon. He also said the short turn-around time of four days shouldn't be a problem.

"Our staff have been anticipating it could happen Monday or the following Monday, so all that preparation has continued. We're just relived and pleased it's happening," he said.

Data error leads to just 4 new cases being reported

Hamilton Public Health Services is reporting only four new cases of COVID-19 and four deaths linked to the virus on Wednesday.

The city says due to a delay in the uploading of new cases into CCM on Feb. 2, cases reported today are under-representative of the true case count. 

Cases reported on Feb. 4, will be over-representative to correct the issue.

There are currently 496 active cases, while the total number of resolved cases now stands at 8,405.

Hamilton's weekly rate of new cases per 100,000 people continues to fall and is at 75.

The four new deaths take to 260 the number of people who have died since March, after contracting COVID-19.

Status of vaccine distribution

As of the end of day Feb.2 a total of 19,587 vaccines had been administered — 5,185 at mobile clinics and 14,402 at the fixed clinic at Hamilton Health Sciences                    

The mobile vaccination clinic is currently vaccinating residents of long-term care and high-risk retirement homes.

The fixed-site vaccination clinic is currently vaccinating staff from long-term care and high-risk retirement homes, essential caregivers, and healthcare workers from high-risk areas.

Brant

The county of Brant has 37 active cases according to data online. There were six new cases in the last 24 hours.

There have been 1,361 cases since March and nine deaths. There are five people hospitalized with COVID-19.

A total of 1,315 cases have been marked as resolved. 

Haldimand-Norfolk

Haldimand and Norfolk Counties are reporting seven new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday with a total of 56 active.

There have been 1,340 cases throughout the pandemic. Of those 1,241 have recovered.

The local public health unit has linked the virus to 38 deaths.

On Jan. 29 public health officials from Haldimand and Norfolk counties said the COVID-19 variant, first identified in the United Kingdom (U.K.), had been identified in the region.

On Wednesday director, corporate communications Matt Terry told CBC News that there was nothing further to add to the announcement.

The details around how it was identified are still unclear, but it prompted an immediate warning from the public health unit.

Meanwhile, the Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit, Norfolk General Hospital and paramedic services in both counties are collaborating to deliver second doses of COVID-19 vaccine to residents of long-term care and retirement homes this week. 

This effort is in collaboration with community physicians who provide care at these facilities.

More than 1,100 long-term care and retirement home residents received the first dose of vaccine starting Jan. 13.

The second round of vaccinations is scheduled to begin Wednesday and should be completed by the end of next week.

Halton

The number of COVID-19 cases in Halton rose by 56 on Wednesday, for a total of 8,524 so far.

Data indicates 360 of those cases are active.

Thirteen of the new cases were in Burlington, which has seen 2,252 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. There are 116 active cases in the city.

A total of 163 people across the region have died after being infected with the virus, 40 of them in Burlington.

Niagara

Niagara reported 53 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday. The region has seen 8,026 cases over the course of the pandemic, including 963 that are active.

There were eight new deaths over the last 24 hours for a total of 332 as a result of COVID-19 over the course of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, 6,731 cases are now marked as resolved.

Six Nations

Six Nations of the Grand River had 10 active COVID-19 cases as of Feb. 2, according to Ohsweken Public Health.

There have been 154 cases reported over the course of the pandemic and two deaths.

A total of 143 cases have been marked as resolved.

Six Nations is encouraging members who attended recent midwinter's ceremonies to come forward and get tested, after Ohsweken Public Health (OPH) identified positive COVID-19 cases in some individuals.

The cases were identified in members that attended midwinter's ceremonies from Jan. 15 to 26, Six Nations of the Grand River said in a news release.

Ontario reports 1,172 new cases of COVID-19

Ontario reported 1,172 new cases of COVID-19 and the deaths of 67 more people with the illness on Wednesday. 

While the number of additional cases is again well below the recent average, it's not clear whether the figure is especially reliable. The province cautioned yesterday that instability caused by a data migration of Toronto Public Health (TPH) to Ontario's centralized COVID-19 tracking system could affect counts for several days.

Ontario's network of labs completed 52,418 tests for the virus and recorded a test positivity rate of 3.3 per cent. The positivity rate has been trending downward in the weeks following a provincewide lockdown order that began on Dec. 26.