in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, F eb ru ar y 11 ,2 02 1 | 6 FAMILY PHYSICIAN ACCEPTING NEW PATIENTS & WALK IN PATIENTS WELCOME Lower level next to the pharmacy Bronte Medical Centre & Pharmacy Proudly serving Bronte since 1987 78 Jones Street,Oakville 905-847-0002 Please call to arrange an appointment at 905-847-1640 Dr. Ihab Habashi Welcome to Bronte Medical Centre www.brontemedicalcentre.ca Care that's extra careful V for Vistamere We're very proud of our family of Vistamere staffers during these difficult times. They go above and beyond each and every day to help ensure the safety of our residents. So our residents just want to say, "Thank You." Vistamere Retirement Residence is located in a quiet, residential neighbourhood in west Oakville. You can still come for a virtual tour. Just go to vistamere.ca TAKE A VIRTUAL TOUR TODAY vistamere.ca 380 Sherin Drive Oakville, Ontario L6L 4J3 905.847.1413 vistamere.ca Like us onFollow us on A 20-year-old Brampton man has been charged with online ex- tortion after a woman in Oakville was reportedly forced to surren- der nude images, money and more. Halton police said in Novem- ber 2020 the Oakville Criminal In- vestigations Bureau began an in- vestigation after a woman came forward and said she had been contacted over social media on multiple occasions by an un- known person and asked to send a nude image in exchange for money. Police allege that after receiv- ing the image, the suspect began to extort the victim for additional images, money and passwords to her social media accounts, by threatening to distribute the im- ages to her family and friends. On Thursday, Feb. 4, police ex- ecuted a search warrant at a resi- dence in Brampton and made one arrest. A 20-year-old Brampton man has been charged with extortion and mischief to computer data. Police are asking anyone who had contact with the Instagram account "buggsbunnyy2" to con- tact them. Officers are reminding resi- dents: • that all images shared over the internet can be saved without your knowledge; • to never send images to un- known persons over the internet; and • to increase all privacy and se- curity settings to all of your so- cial media accounts. For additional Internet safety tips, visit www.cybertip.ca/app/ en. Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact Halton police at 905-825- 4747 ext. 2260 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). MAN CHARGED WITH EXTORTING NUDE IMAGES FROM WOMAN CRIME A Brampton man has been charged with online extortion after a woman in Oakville reported being forced to surrender nude images and money. Metroland file photo The roundup last week incor- rectly stated that the first dose vaccine rollout was completed for residents of long-term care and retirement homes. In fact, it should have stated "residents of long-term care and high-risk re- tirement homes." CORRECTION Halton Public Health con- firmed that an Oakville resident has been infected with the U.K. variant of COVID-19. According to the public health unit, there was only one reported case of the variant in the region as of Feb. 2. The case was deter- mined to be travel related. "Regardless of certain strains, COVID-19 spreads easily if we let it. Public Health Ontario is close- ly monitoring for the different variants, however it's important to behave as if the virus is every- where," Halton Region said in a statement, urging residents to continue to follow public health measures and only go out for es- sential purposes. Evidence shows that the U.K. variant could be up to 56 per cent more transmissible, according to the Ontario government. Across Halton, there was still a downward trend in the number of new COVID-19 cases. Data from the region's website shows that from Jan. 29 to Feb. 4, there were 397 new infections, down from 407 posted the previ- ous week. The number of active cases stood at 353, including 159 in Milton, 65 in Burlington, 65 in Halton Hills and 64 in Oakville. As of Feb. 5, there have been 8,674 COVID-19 cases in Halton since the pandemic started, with 8,109 marked as resolved and 171 deaths. - with files from Louie Rosella WEEKLY ROUNDUP: UK VARIANT REPORTED IN HALTON NEWS SCAN THIS CODE TO WATCH VIDEO OF COVID VIOLATION DISPUTE