Ontario reports 1,676 new COVID-19 cases today, 349 in Peel
Published December 8, 2020 at 5:30 pm
Ontario is reporting 1,676 new cases of COVID-19 today, and 10 new deaths due to the virus.
Health Minister Christine Elliott says 588 new cases are in Toronto, 349 in Peel Region, and 141 cases are in York Region.
It also reported 333 new COVID-19 cases related to schools, including at least 278 among students.
Those bring the number of schools with a reported case to 853 out of Ontario’s 4,828 publicly funded schools.
In the province’s long-term care homes, 673 residents currently have COVID-19 and five new deaths have been reported today.
The province says 116 of its 626 long-term care homes are experiencing an outbreak.
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Meanwhile, Ontario’s fiscal watchdog says the province had $12 billion in unspent reserve funds by the end of September.
The Financial Accountability Officer says in a report today that the money was earmarked for three contingency funds, including two related to pandemic spending.
The FAO says the $12 billion is $2.7 billion more than his office said the government had unspent in reserves by Aug 26.
The Ontario budget says that if the money remains unspent in the reserves by the end of the fiscal year it will be used to reduce the deficit and provincial debt.
The government has been criticized by opposition politicians for sitting on billions in reserve funds, which they say it has been slow to spend during the pandemic.
Premier Doug Ford’s office says the provincial budget delivered last month shows that 80 per cent of the reserve funds have been allocated.
The Canadian Press
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