COVID-19 cases are continuing to rise in the Sudbury and Thunder Bay areas.
The Thunder Bay District Health Unit has confirmed its 33rd COVID-19 death, though it isn't giving any further details.
Meanwhile - a day after reporting a record 111 cases - the health unit's confirmed another 30 - three in unspecified First Nation communities, the rest in the Thunder Bay area - bringing its total to 2024, with 462 "active", 36 in hospital, ten in an ICU.
Public Health Sudbury and Districts - on the other hand - has confirmed seventeen in Greater Sudbury and another in an unspecified Sudbury District community, bringing its total to 784, 181 still "active" - the health unit's also reporting 23 more cases have "screened positive" for "variants of concern".
The region moved into the tougher "Red-Control" category of Ontario's tiered restrictions framework this morning, limiting gatherings to five people indoors or 25 outdoors - ten people are allowed for meeting and event spaces - while restaurants and bars can only have ten patrons at a time with no more than four seated together, retail stores can only have half capacity - 75 percent for grocery stores, convenience stores, and pharmacies - and sports and recreation areas are limited to ten people for indoor areas with weights and exercise machines, ten for all indoor sports and recreation classes, and 25 for outdoor classes, with no spectators - team sports are also prohibited except for training with no contact or even coming within two metres of each other, and a 90-minute limit for participating in a sport.
The health unit's also warning of "potential high-risk exposure" for anyone who attended the Urban Air Adventure Park in Greater Sudbury February 27th, urging those who did to seek testing as soon as possible, and to remain home and self-isolate until March 13th - even if you get a negative test result.
While the Porcupine Health Unit hasn't reported any new cases in recent days, it has confirmed a case previously identified as a possible "variant of concern" is indeed the health unit's first case of such a variant - the health unit currently has seven "active" cases, one in hospital.
Algoma Public Health - which reported its 200th case on Thursday - has five "active", including one in hospital.