Ontario reports 129 new COVID-19 cases, majority in Toronto and Peel regions
CBC News | Posted: July 12, 2020 2:52 PM | Last Updated: July 12, 2020
Just under 300 cases among migrant workers remain active in Windsor-Essex
Ontario recorded another 129 cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, making for almost two weeks of fewer than 200 new daily cases.
The majority of today's newly-reported cases are concentrated in Toronto and Peel, Ottawa and York regions, with 36, 30, 10 and nine cases respectively.
There are now 36,723 confirmed cases of the virus in the province, with 32,534 marked as resolved.
Twenty-seven of Ontario's 34 public health units reported five or fewer new cases, with 18 of them reporting no new cases at all.
Ontario's network of about 30 community, commercial and hospital labs processed 25,726 test samples for the novel coronavirus on Saturday. An additional 16,174 tests are currently under investigation.
The province also reported three more deaths, for a new tally of 2,719. But, a CBC News count based on data provided by public health units puts the actual toll at 2,754.
The number of patients in Ontario hospitals with confirmed infections of the novel coronavirus continues to decrease and now sits at 116.
Twenty-nine people are being treated in intensive care units — the lowest that figure has been in months. Nineteen of those are on ventilators.
290 cases among migrant workers still active in Windsor-Essex
Despite just seven new cases today, multiple outbreaks among migrant workers on farms have driven up cases of COVID-19 in the Windsor-Essex region in recent weeks.
Hundreds of migrant workers have tested positive for the virus, and three have died — two of them in Windsor-Essex and one in Norfolk County.
Dr. Wajid Ahmed, the region's medical officer of health, told CBC Radio's Fresh Air on Sunday that five farms continue to battle outbreaks.
In total, he says, there have been 1,700 cases of the novel coronavirus in Windsor-Essex since the onset of the pandemic. Of that total, some 780 cases — or 46 per cent — were among temporary farm labourers, 290 of which are still considered active.
Several measures, including targeted testing and reduced contact between works, have been put in place to reduce the spread.
But it's the congregate living setting, Ahmed says, that poses a large challenge.
"Identifying those in close contact and then putting them in isolation has been a real struggle for us," he said.
"One case can affect everyone living in the same congregate setting ... that number multiplies rapidly."
On Friday, officials in Ontario's Windsor-Essex region called on the provincial or federal government to manage the farm outbreaks.