All adults in Hamilton hot spots can get COVID-19 vaccines as of Monday

Adults who live in Hamilton hot spots will be eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine as of Monday.

The city sent out a release Sunday morning saying people 18 and older whose postal codes start with L9C, L8W, L8L, L8N or L9K will be eligible.

The city states the rationale is "to vaccinate those in our community who live in neighbourhoods that have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19." 

The vaccines will be offered at any of the city's large-scale or mobile pop-up vaccination clinics on a by-appointment only basis. There are no walk-ins and people must be able to prove where they live.

People looking to book their appointment can call at 905-974-9848, option 7. Those in L9C and L8W can also use the provincial booking portal.

And as of Thursday, people turning 50 and older this year, people with high-risk health conditions and those who cannot work from home (including elementary and high school workers) can get vaccinated as per the provincial vaccination plan.

This comes after Hamilton public health faced criticism for its botched rollout of vaccines for people of colour.

The city has vaccinated 189,044 people as of Friday, which is 34.1 per cent of all eligible people.

382 new COVID-19 cases over weekend

Public health recorded 382 new COVID-19 cases during the weekend, 251 of which came Sunday.

There are 1,751 active cases in the city. The weekly average of new cases is at 154 and almost one in 10 COVID tests are coming back positive.

While those numbers are high, the city's reproductive rate is at 0.86, which means the overall case count is falling.

There are 163 people hospitalized with the virus.

Public health says 360 people who had COVID-19 have died during the pandemic. The virus has led to 17,529 confirmed infections, but 86.2 per cent of all cases are marked as resolved.

6 new outbreaks this weekend

The city declared six new outbreaks this weekend including:

• Two staff cases at the Good Shepherd Women's Services in the Admiral Inn
• Two staff cases at Earth to Table - Bread Bar.
• Five staff cases at The Himalya Restaurant.
• Four cases at Stack Pole International (screened positive for a variant of concern).
• Two patients in the surgery and surgical oncology unit (F4) at Juravinski Hospital.
• Three patient and one staff case in the palliative care unit (3E) at St. Peter's Hospital.

Brant

The county of Brant has 175 active cases according to data online. There were 19 new cases over the last 24 hours.

There have been 2,741 cases since March 2020 and 17 deaths. There are 19 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19.

A total of 2,549 cases have been marked as resolved. 

There have been 53,034 doses of the vaccine administered. Of this number, 4,546 have completed the vaccination series.

Haldimand-Norfolk

Haldimand and Norfolk Counties are reporting a total of 283 active cases of COVID-19.

There have been 2,321 cases throughout the pandemic. Of those 1,992 have recovered.

The local public health unit has linked the virus to 41 deaths.

There have been 39,657 doses of the vaccine administered. Of this number 3,955 have completed the vaccination series.

Halton

The number of COVID-19 cases in Halton rose by 136 over the past 24 hours, for a total of 15,331 so far.

Data shows there are 866 active cases.

Twenty-nine of the new cases reported were in Burlington, which has seen 3,821 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. There are 267 active cases in the city.

A total of 213 people across the region have died after being infected with the virus, 53 of them in Burlington.

The region has seen a total of 3,841 variant cases.

There have been 196,967 doses of the vaccine administered in Halton. 

Niagara

Niagara is reporting 114 new cases of COVID-19. The region has seen 14,037 cases over the course of the pandemic, including 3,222 that are active.

A total of 394 deaths have been linked to the virus over the course of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, 10,421 cases are now marked as resolved.

Public health has administered 184,699 doses of the vaccine and Niagara Health has administered 85,341.

Six Nations

Six Nations of the Grand River is reporting 29 active cases of COVID-19 as of Friday evening. There have been 499 total cases, and 457 are resolved. 

One person is currently hospitalized with COVID-19 and 11 deaths have been linked to the virus. 

A total of 1,152 people have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while 1,509 people have received both doses.