19-year-old who worked at long-term-care home dies, as Ontario reports 2,359 new COVID-19 cases
A 19-year-old who worked at a long-term-care home near London, Ont., has died after being diagnosed with COVID-19.
The teenager, identified in news reports as Yassin Dabeh, died on Thursday, making him the first person in Ontario under the age of 20, and the third in Canada, to die from the virus.
Dabeh worked as a contract cleaner at Middlesex Terrace in Delaware, west of London, CTV News reported.
The death was one of three reported by the Middlesex-London Health Unit on Saturday, along with 50 new cases of COVID-19 in the region.
Dr. Alex Summers, associate medical officer of health for Middlesex-London, told CTV the death of the 19-year-old was a rare and tragic case.
The investigation to understand exactly what happened continues, and we know a family is grieving and we grieve with them," Summers said.
Provincewide there were 2,359 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, a drop from 2,662 the day before, according to the latest report released Saturday morning. Another 52 deaths were reported.
The seven-day case average is now down to 2,603 cases daily or a 125 weekly per 100,000, according to the Star's Ed Tubb. Ontario's seven-day average is down to 50 daily.
There are 1,501 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in the province, including 395 patients in intensive care. There are 299 people on ventilators.
Ontario administered 11,161 doses of the vaccine since its last daily update, for a total of 276,146 as of 8 p.m. the previous night. The province says 57,907 people now have two shots which means they are fully vaccinated.
Locally, Health Minister Christine Elliott says 708 of the new cases are in Toronto, 422 in Peel, 220 in York Region, 107 in Hamilton and 101 in Ottawa.
There were more than 63,500 tests completed, Elliott says.
Meanwhile, 24 more residents in long-term care have died for a total of 3,322 since the pandemic began, according to the latest report released by the province.
Ontario is reporting seven fewer long-term-care homes in outbreak, for a total of 244 or 39 per cent of LTC homes.
There are 99 more active cases of positive residents than the previous day for a total of 13,746.
Additionally, there are 71 more staff members with an active case, for a total of 5,009.
Since the pandemic began, 12 staff members in Ontario's long-term-care homes have died due to the virus, according to the province.
This data is self-reported by long-term-care homes to the Ministry of Long-Term Care. Daily case and death figures may not immediately match the numbers posted by the local public health units due to lags in reporting time.
Correction (Jan. 24): This article has been updated from a previous version that mistakenly said 50 new cases of COVID-19 and three deaths were reported in a long-term-care home near London, Ont., on Saturday. In fact those are the daily totals for the entire Middlesex-London Health Unit.
Rhythm Sachdeva is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star's radio room in Toronto. Reach her via email: rsachdeva@thestar.ca
Zena Salem is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star's radio room in Toronto. Reach her via email: zsalem@thestar.ca