THUNDER BAY – COVID-19 Update – The Thunder Bay District Health Unit is reporting 167 new lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 310 active lab-confirmed cases in the district.
There has been a drop in the total number of patients in hospital, to 51 but an increase in the number of patients in Intensive Care Units to 14.
The Ontario government is going to start distributing free COVID-19 rapid antigen tests at grocery stores, pharmacies and other settings across Ontario. Health Minister Christine Elliott will announce more details on later today.
Sources say that there will be a limit of one box of five tests per household per visit.
The Ontario government is extending the requirement to renew health cards until September 30, 2022.
“In response to the pandemic our government extended the renewal requirements for Ontario health cards,” said Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “While the majority of Ontarians have continued to renew their documents throughout the pandemic, we are committed to ensuring all Ontarians have the opportunity to renew while continuing to access the care they need, when they need it.”
Ontarians will continue to be able to use their expired health card, including a red and white health card, to access insured health care services. Health care providers can continue to accept expired health cards following the previous February 28, 2022 deadline. To make it easier and more convenient for Ontarians to renew health cards online, ServiceOntario is taking steps to enable online health card renewal using Ontario Photo Cards in the coming months.
An individual who faces difficulties renewing their health card, for whatever reason, should contact ServiceOntario at 1-866-532-3161 (TTY : 1-800-387-5559) to inquire about options for their specific situation.
Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan Update
Saskatchewan and Alberta have set a course eliminating COVID-19 Vaccine passports, and other restrictions. Albert Premier Jason Kenney says that they will continue eliminating restrictions as long as hospital numbers stay down.
International Outlook
Globally, during the week of 31 January to 6 February 2022, the number of new COVID-19 cases decreased by 17% as compared to the number reported during the previous week, while the number of new deaths increased by 7%. Across the six WHO regions, over 19 million new cases and just under 68 000 new deaths were reported. As of 6 February 2022, over 392 million confirmed cases and over 5.7 million deaths have been reported globally.
A number of European countries have also dropped all COVID-19/Coronavirus restrictions.