COVID-19: PM announces deal for 40M doses; Ontario cases jump by 578; Ottawa reports 129 active cases

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Saturday that the federal government has reached a deal with the Moderna pharmaceutical firm for at least 40 million more doses of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine over the next two years.

The contract is for supplies 2022 and 2023, with an option to extend into 2024.

The guaranteed delivery is for 40 million doses, with options into 2024 that provide access to up to 65 million more.

There was no price given in a Tweet sent on the PM’s Twitter account.

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On Thursday, data on vaccine deliveries, distribution and injections provided by Health Canada and the provinces showed almost 22 million doses have been delivered to Canada but not yet used.

That includes a national “reserve” of nearly 10 million doses, and more than 11.7 million doses delivered to provincial and territorial governments that have yet to be administered.

Also Thursday, Canada announced it was donating all 10 million doses of the single-dose vaccine that it purchased from Johnson & Johnson but won’t use to low and middle-income countries.

International Development Minister Karina Gould announced the donation through the COVAX vaccine-sharing alliance on Thursday, as many developing nations continue to struggle with a shortage of shots.

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Health Canada authorized the J&J vaccine in early March but is has never been used here.

Latest COVID-19 news in Ontario

New cases of COVID-19 jumped again in Ontario Saturday, with the province reporting 578 confirmed cases.

It was the third straight day of 500+ new cases, and Health Minister Christine Elliott pointed out in a tweet that 408 of the cases were among unvaccinated people, while 59 of the cases are among partially vaccinated people.

There were two new deaths reported.

There have been a total of 555,050 cases of COVID-19 and 9,418 deaths since the pandemic began.

In addition, 136 people are now hospitalized (only 11 of whom are fully vaccinated).

ICU cases climbed to 111, only one fully vaccinated.

In Ontario, 20,146,936 vaccine doses have been administered, Elliot said.

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A total of 81.4 per cent of Ontarians 12 years and over have one dose, while 73.1 per cent have received two doses, the minister said.

Latest COVID-19 data from Ottawa

Ottawa Public Health reported 19 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, bringing the toll to 27,964 cases since the pandemic began.

There were no new deaths, and the toll remains 593.

Four patients remain in hospital with COVID-19 symptoms, one of them in ICU.

There remain two child care outbreaks including one at St. Anthony’s Child Care, with four children and one staff member testing positive. The other is at the Grandir ensemble Garderie La Maisonnée, with two children and a staff member affected.

In statistics of interest: the seven-day rolling average of cases per 100,000 population is 9.7; the per cent positivity in testing is 1.0l and the reproductive number, which measures the estimated number of people who could be reinfected by a COVID-19 patient, is 1.10. A number below 1 indicates the virus is receding.

In capital-area health units: Leeds, Grenville, Lanark saw four new cases, Eastern Ontario (including Cornwall and Hawkesbury) reported two new cases, as did Kingston. There were no reported new cases in Renfrew City and County.

-With files from The Canadian Press