COVID-19: 425 cases in Ontario

Ontario reported 58 new COVID-19 cases Sunday, raising the province’s total to 425.

The total includes eight resolved cases and five deaths.

Two new deaths in the GTA were announced yesterday — a Toronto man in his 70s and a woman from York region who was also in her 70s.

No information is listed for the majority of the new cases, but two women in their 20s are among the newest positive tests.

Updated numbers are expected from the province at 10:30 a.m. ET and again at 5:30 p.m. today.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is scheduled to speak to media from Queen’s Park at 12:30 p.m., while provincial and local health authorities will hold their daily briefings at 3:00 p.m. and 3:45 p.m., respectively.

You can watch livestreams of all of the news conferences throughout the day in this story.

Over the weekend, the province announced it was issuing a new order under its emergency declaration giving hospitals the ability to cancel and postpone services to redeploy resources and staff quickly.

Pleas for more masks

Two of the province’s medical associations are calling on health staff to start using a provincial supply of expired masks due to fears of a shortage.

The Ontario Medical Association and the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario say there’s a large stockpile of the masks which have expired but should still be used in lower-risk areas.

The associations are also calling on anyone with masks not currently being used to hand them over so they can be used by health workers.

Meanwhile, a Toronto hospital is now accepting donations of face masks and other protective gear from members of the public.

Michael Garron Hospital is accepting N95 respirator masks, which can filter out tiny particles, surgical masks that contain coughs, vented goggles, protective gloves and gowns.

The east Toronto hospital is home to a dedicated COVID-19 assessment centre.

The federal government has said it has secured millions more masks, which should be arriving shortly, but there’s still concern it won’t be enough.

They specifically called on education institutions and dental workers to re-purpose their supplies.

CBC