Screeners work to intake patients and field phone calls at the Embassy Grand, a banquet hall turned COVID-19 testing site in Brampton, Ont., on Feb. 19, 2021.Yader Guzman/The Globe and Mail
The scientific director of the taskforce advising Ontario on the pandemic says the province needs to impose stricter measures to curb the spread of more contagious COVID-19 variants.
Dr. Peter Juni of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table says even the strictest level of the province’s current pandemic framework isn’t enough to reduce current infection rates.
More infectious variants were first detected in the province in December and they’ve since become dominant among new cases, according to case data analyzed by the science table.
Canada vaccine tracker: How many COVID-19 doses have been administered so far?
The province’s top doctor has said the variant cases are causing more severe illness, leading to intensive care admissions and deaths.
Juni says Ontario is currently in a “dynamic phase” of the pandemic and strict measures are needed alongside the ongoing vaccine effort to protect the population.
He says the government needs to impose measures similar to a provincial shutdown seen when the pandemic hit last year.
Ontario reported 2,380 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, although the Ministry of Health said the number was inflated by about 280 cases due to a data processing issue.
Ontario also reported 17 more deaths linked to the virus.
A total of 1,755,596 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been given in the province so far.
Sign up for the Coronavirus Update newsletter to read the day’s essential coronavirus news, features and explainers written by Globe reporters and editors.