ontario COVID-19 variant cases surge in Ontario as 99 suspected in Barrie area 63 more people with COVID-19 died, Ministry of Health says Health officials north of Toronto say they now believe 99 people who have COVID-19 there have a variant of the virus first detected in the U.K. Almost all of those cases are tied to a devastating outbreak at the Roberta Place long-term care home in Barrie, Ont., but two cases have no link to the home, raising concerns the more contagious variant could be spreading in the community. If confirmed by whole genome sequencing — a process that is underway, according to the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit — the new variant cases would mark a serious uptick in the number of such cases in Ontario. As of Monday, the province had only confirmed 34 cases of the mutated virus. Earlier Tuesday, there was better news as Ontario reported 1,740 cases of COVID-19 — the fewest on a single day since mid-December. wales Elderly people forced to queue in close to freezing weather for coronavirus vaccinations in Swansea Health chiefs have said queues were caused by two medical incidents involving individuals at or on their way to vaccination centres, along with other factors, but shelters could be installed at one location Dorothy Edwards, Covid-19 vaccination programme director for the health board, said: “We can confirm that due to a very sad incident at the Bay Field Hospital Mass Vaccination Centre on Friday, some people faced a wait for vaccination. “An individual had collapsed while en route to the centre. As they were nearby they were brought to the centre and staff, including a security guard and nurses, carried out CPR. Paramedics arrived quickly and took the individual to hospital. Unfortunately they did not survive.

uk Covid: UK virus deaths top 100,000 since pandemic began The data from the UK's national statisticians show there have been nearly 104,000 deaths since the pandemic began. The figures, which go up to 15 January, are based on death certificates. The government's daily figures rely on positive tests and are slightly lower. It comes after a surge of cases in December, leaving the UK with one of the highest Covid death rates globally. toronto COVID-19 variant believed to have spread to 3rd facility north of Toronto A COVID-19 variant of concern has potentially spread to a third facility in a region north of Toronto, according to local public health officials. Dr. Charles Gardner, medical officer of health for the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU), said data from Public Health Ontario suggests that the variant is now present in the Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care, formerly known as Mental Health Centre Penetanguishene. "We have a new location now that is potentially associated with the U.K. variant. We just have to wait for that additional test result," Gardner told reporters. "This does speak to the potential for this to be transmitting now in the community. It's really, really important that people take that to heart and behave accordingly in order to reduce your risk of being part of transmission from this new variant. If it isn't spreading readily in our community now, it may very well do so in the near future." Further testing is required to confirm if the variant is one first detected in the United Kingdom. The facility is a 301-bed psychiatric hospital in Penetanguishene, about 150 kilometres north of Toronto.