The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, M ar ch 11 ,2 02 1 | 14 The Ontario govern- ment kept Halton region under the "red-control" zone of the COVID-19 framework, as total variant cases in the region contin- ue to inch up. The March 5 announce- ment said that decisions were made by Ontario in consultation with the local medical officers of health and are based on the latest trends in public health in- dicators and local context and conditions. "As we continue vacci- nating more Ontarians, it remains critical for every- one to continue to follow public health measures and stay home as much as possible to protect them- selves, their loved ones and their communities," said Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. As of Friday (Mar. 5), the number of total variant cases almost doubled from the previous week to 97, with 19 confirmed cases and 78 more "screened pos- itive" as variants. The public health unit states on its website that "individuals who have screened positive are high- ly likely to become variant of concern cases, but it can take several weeks for con- firmatory test results to be received." As for the weekly CO- VID-19 cases, the website shows that from Feb. 26 to March 4 there were 265 new cases in the region, up from 206 the week before. The number of active cases stood at 264, including 91 in Oakville, 68 in Milton, 55 in Burlington and 50 in Hal- ton Hills, As of March 5, there have been 9,628 COVID-19 cases in Halton since the pandemic started, with 9,166 marked as resolved and 198 deaths. -- with files from Louie Rosella WEEKLY ROUNDUP: HALTON STAYS IN COVID-19 RED ZONE BAMBANG SADEWO bsadewo@metroland.com NEWS WEEKLY ROUNDUP: HALTON REMAINS IN COVID-19 RED ZONE SCAN FOR MORE Scan this code to view Halton vaccine tracker. MARCH 13 & 14 FRoM 11 AM to 6 pM New and used items for sale 1026 Unit 9 SpeeRS Rd. oAkville Bazaar & Bake SALE All day lunch available for purchase ALL procEEdS to bEnEfit thE fLbJ MArching bAnd