COVID-19 variants 'striking more younger people,' Ontario health minister says

TORONTO -- Ontario's health minister says the government is ready for an upswing in cases and hospitalizations as the number of COVID-19 variants, which she says is "striking more younger people," continues to grow.

Health Minister Christine Elliott made the comment on Friday while speaking to reporters about the province's COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

"We are seeing that the variants of concern are striking more younger people, and we're following that very closely," Elliott said. "We're also watching the capacity in our hospitals as well, because we know that if the variants of concern increase exponentially we're going to need to have medicine beds, we're going to need to have more intensive care beds, more ventilators, but we're ready for that."

Elliott said that Ontario is currently "racing against time" as more vaccines are rolled out across the province and new infections continue to climb simultaneously. 

"We are ready for an upswing, we are working to contain it so that that doesn't happen, but we're ready for that too," Elliott said. 

On Thursday, Ontario's top doctor confirmed in the clearest terms yet that the province is in fact in the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams made the comment while describing the increase in reported cases in recent weeks.

"We are in the third wave, it's just a matter of what kind of wave will it be," Williams said.

Premier Doug Ford said Friday that he will meet with his cabinet to discuss any potential third wave restrictions that his government might impose.

He said the government will stick with the colour-coded framework that places regions into a specific category based on their public health trends.

Ontario's Health Minister says the VOCs are "striking more younger people" but says the province is "ready for an upswing."

She says the province is racing against time to inject as many people as possible. #onpoli

— Colin D'Mello CTVNews (@ColinDMello) March 19, 2021

Since the province began actively searching for COVID-19 variants of concern, there have been 10,995 mutations discovered in lab-positive tests across Ontario.

Of those mutations, 704 were found in the last 24-hour period.

Ontario reported nearly 1,750 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, which is one of the highest case counts in weeks. Of the new cases, the majority were found in people under the age of 40. 

Ontarians eligibleto book a COVID-19 vaccine through the Ontario government booking portal can click here or call the Provincial Vaccine Information Line number is 1-888-999-6488.