Canada records more than 15,000 COVID-19 deaths

Canada has now counted more than 15,000 deaths from COVID-19.

Health officials made the grim announcement on Monday.

The milestone comes as cases of a new, more contagious variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 has been confirmed in the Toronto area, Ottawa and on Vancouver Island in B-C.

The Public Health Agency of Canada said while early data suggests the new variant may be more transmissible, there is no evidence the variant causes more severe symptoms or impacts vaccine effectiveness.

Ontario did not provide an update on COVID-19 numbers on Monday. The province will provide two days of data in its 10:30 a.m. update on Tuesday.

Here are the COVID-19 numbers for our region:

Haldimand-Norfolk

• 865 total cases
• 750 resolved cases
• 76 active cases
• 34 deaths

Brant

• 826 total cases
• 686 resolved cases
• 135 active cases
• 5 deaths
• 5 in hospital

Hamilton

• 4,202 total cases
• 5,664 resolved cases
• 1,250 active cases
• 158 deaths

Halton

• 5,637 total cases
• 5,027 resolved cases
• 503 active cases
• 107 deaths

Niagara

• 3,615 total cases
• 2,772 resolved cases
• 722 active cases
• 121 deaths