Ontario reports 1,677 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday with 813 people in hospital

Ontario reported 1,677 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday with 813 people now in hospital due to the novel coronavirus.

Health Minister Christine Elliott said there are 456 new cases in Toronto, 356 in Peel Region and 143 in York Region.

Other regions reporting more than 50 news cases of COVID-19 on Sunday include:

• Durham: 86.
• Halton: 62.
• Hamilton: 90.
• Niagara: 61
• Ottawa: 55
• Waterloo: 61.
• Windsor-Essex: 72.

The majority of new cases reported Sunday are in people under the age of 60.

According to the province, there are 586 cases in people between the ages of 20 and 39. A total of 471 cases are in people between the ages of 40 and 49.

The province's network of labs completed nearly 58,200 tests over the last 24 hours, Elliott said. A further 51,051 tests remain under investigation.

16 new deaths reported

Of the 813 people in hospital, a total of 253 are in intensive care units across the province. A total of 142 ICU patients need ventilators to help them breathe. The number of patients in hospitals fell by 42 in the last 24 hours.

The province reported 16 new deaths since Saturday, bringing the total number of people who have died of COVID-19 in Ontario to 3,949. The province says 177 people have died in the past week.

Of the 16 deaths reported on Sunday, 10 were residents of long-term care homes.

Ten of the deaths reported Sunday involved residents of long-term care homes.

A total of 1,678 more cases were marked as resolved, Elliott said.

The cumulative number of COVID-19 cases in Ontario since the pandemic began now stands at 140,181. The total number of recoveries over the course of the pandemic is 120,028.

On Saturday, the province reported 1,873 new cases.

York Region, Windsor-Essex enter lockdown on Monday

It's the last day before York Region and Windsor-Essex enter the lockdown stage of Ontario's pandemic response.

The areas are the third and fourth regions to face the province's strictest public health rules. The other two areas are Toronto and Peel Region.

The rules, which limit restaurants to takeout and delivery and which force non-essential retailers to close, kick in Monday.

Vaccinations begin this week in Ottawa, Toronto

Ontario is set to administer its first COVID-19 vaccines on Tuesday at two hospitals in Toronto and Ottawa, the province confirmed on Thursday.

The province will receive 6,000 doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine on Monday.

The University Health Network in Toronto and the Ottawa Hospital will give the first shots to health-care workers from long-term care homes and other high-risk settings, said retired Gen. Rick Hillier, who is leading Ontario's vaccine task force.

On Sunday, the Public Health Agency of Canada said some of the 30,000 initial doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will begin to touch down for transport to 14 distribution sites across the country starting on Sunday night, with more crossing the border via plane and truck on Monday.

Front-line health-care workers and long-term care residents will be among the first to be inoculated, as soon as Monday.