(Toronto) Doug Ford welcomed record number of tests across Ontario on Friday, coupled with the low number of new COVID-19 cases, even though a city so far relatively spared of the virus now faces a small hatch.
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The Prime Minister welcomed the quickness of the authorities to identify this Kingston manicure-related outbreak and to trace those who may have been affected so that they can now be tested. According to him, this effectiveness on the ground represents progress in the fight against the coronavirus in Ontario.
“The system works,” said Ford at his daily press conference on Friday. It works because of the speed with which we contacted and tracked 500 people. ”
Several of those alerted also lined up on Friday at a Kingston testing center. The regional directorate of public health had indicated earlier that 18 cases were linked to the nail salon “Binh’s Nail and Spa”.
Otherwise, good results
The announcement of this localized outbreak came amid a wave of positive news in Ontario. The province has significantly increased the number of drug tests, and the number of new cases has nevertheless fallen to lows never seen in weeks.
We had performed Thursday 30,780 tests, which revealed 111 new cases; three other deaths have also been reported. This brings Ontario to a total of 34,316 cases, including 2,644 deaths and 29,754 cases resolved. The increase in resolved cases, which jumped from 226, continues a trend that has seen them for a few days exceed the cases still active.
The number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 increased from 270 to 256. And the number of people in intensive care and on ventilators – 61 and 41, respectively – fell to their lowest level since the province began publishing these figures, in early April.
Health Minister Christine Elliott said Friday that 28 of 34 regional public health units are reporting five or fewer new cases – and 19 are no longer registering at all. The Minister also recalled that the Kingston outbreak underscored the need for individual protection measures, but did not advocate for a reconfiguration of the province.
All regions of Ontario, except the southwestern communities of Leamington and Kingsville, have officially entered phase 2 of the decontainment plan, which allows personal care services, restaurant terraces, swimming pools and many other companies to resume operations, with distancing measures.
Ford declined to speculate on when the province could move to phase 3, or whether the new measures would be applied locally, as in phase 2. But he praised the success of the approach taken so far. here in Ontario, compared to the United States, where several states experience thousands of new cases every day.
Prime Minister Ford calls the approach chosen by the Americans “reckless”. “Everyone got excited and […] now they are suffering the consequences. ”
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