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A grim milestone today as Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer confirms the first COVID-19 related death of a health care worker.

Dr. David Williams noted the province did 9,462 tests in the past 24 hours,  an all-time high.
Dr. Williams said two more outbreaks were reported long term care homes, totaling to 108 Ontario facilities with COVID-19 infections.

In terms of deaths, the numbers are slightly varying due to different agencies reporting adjacent figures.

According to Dr. Williams, the epidemiological reports confirm 36 deaths province-wide, while long-term care homes’ administrative reports indicate 44 deaths related to COVID-19.

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According to Toronto Public Health (TPH), as of noon April 17th, the city has a total of 3,145 cases. That number is not reflected in Ontario’s total because TPH switched to using a new system for reporting COVID-19 cases.

Ontario Ministry of Health reports Toronto has a total of 2,861 cases, 284 less that TPH reports. As per the MOH’s epidemiology report, COVID-19 data from TPH may be incomplete because of a technical glitch.

In response to a Vista Reporter’s question asking if that discrepancy would contribute to today’s new cases, Dr. Williams said because of system glitches there may be a delay in reporting Toronto’s total case numbers. Adding that delay will be addressed in tomorrow’s report.

And as the province passes its sixth 14-day period since COVID-19 struck, Dr. Williams says Ontarians are still making a difference.

He said the aim now is to decrease the amount of new community-based cases per day.

**Written by Mo Fahim

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