Ontario reports 321 new COVID-19 cases, 10 more deaths

Ontario is reporting 321 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, as active cases across the province have dropped below 3,000. The provincial case total now stands at 598,431.

Of the 321 new cases recorded, the data showed 158 were unvaccinated people, 12 were partially vaccinated people, 118 were fully vaccinated people and for 33 people the vaccination status was unknown.

According to Wednesday’s report, 66 cases were recorded in Toronto, 33 in York Region, 27 each in Ottawa and Sudbury, 17 each in Halton Region and Windsor Essex, 16 each in Peel Region and Middlesex-London, and 15 in Niagara Region.

All other local public health units reported fewer than 15 new cases in the provincial report.

The death toll in the province has remained at 9,862 as 10 new deaths were recorded, with one death having occurred more than a month ago.

As of 8 p.m. on Tuesday, 21,761 vaccines (7,388 for a first shot and 14,373 for a second shot) were administered in the last day.

There are more than 10.9 million people fully immunized with two doses, which is 84.1 per cent of the eligible (12 and older) population. First dose coverage stands at 88 per cent.

Meanwhile, 585,591 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is about 98 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 384 from the previous day.

Active cases in Ontario now stand at 2,978 — down from the previous day when it was at 3,051, and is down from Oct. 20 when it was at 3,435. At the peak of the second wave coronavirus surge in January, active cases hit just above 30,000. In the third wave in April, active cases topped 43,000.

The seven-day average has now reached 366, which is down from the week prior when it was 407. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 600.

The government said 30,776 tests were processed in the previous 24 hours. There are 13,925 tests currently under investigation.

Test positivity hit 1.4 per cent. Last week, test positivity was at 1.3 per cent.

Ontario reported 215 people in general hospital wards with COVID-19 (down by 18 from the previous day) with 134 patients in intensive care units (down by four) and 105 patients in intensive care units on a ventilator (down by two).

In the third wave peak, which was the worst wave for hospitalizations, the province saw as many as 900 patients in ICUs with COVID and almost 2,400 in general hospital wards.

Provincial officials announced they would start including the vaccination status of those hospitalized due to COVID-19 as part of their daily COVID-19 data reporting. They noted the new dataset will grow and improve over time as more information is collected. There may be a discrepancy due to how and when the information for both is collected.

For those in general hospital wards with COVID, 92 were unvaccinated, 13 were partially vaccinated and 27 were fully vaccinated. For those in ICUs, 60 were unvaccinated while 8 were partially vaccinated and 16 were fully vaccinated.

Officials have listed breakdown data for the new VOCs (variants of concern) detected so far in the province which consists of:

“Alpha” the B.1.1.7 VOC (first detected in the United Kingdom): 146,503 variant cases, which is unchanged since the previous day. This strain dominated Ontario’s third wave.

“Delta” the B.1.617.2 VOC (first detected in India): 20,618 variant cases, which is up by 7 since the previous day. This strain is dominating Ontario’s fourth wave.

“Beta” the B.1.351 VOC (first detected in South Africa): 1,503 variant cases, which is unchanged since the previous day.

“Gamma” the P.1 VOC (first detected in Brazil): 5,231 variant cases, which is unchanged since the previous day.

NOTE: It takes several days for positive COVID-19 tests to be re-examined for the exact variant. Therefore, there may be more variant cases than overall cases in daily reporting.

Here is a breakdown of the total cases in Ontario by gender and age:

Here is a breakdown of the total deaths related to COVID-19 by age:

Meanwhile, government figures show there are currently 533 out of 4,844 schools in Ontario with at least one COVID-19 case.

On Wednesday, Ontario reported 90 new COVID-19 cases in schools — with 85 among students and 5 among staff. The data was collected between Monday afternoon and Tuesday afternoon — a 24-hour period.

There are 1,020 active infections among both students and staff, a decrease from 1,187 active cases reported Tuesday.

Two schools are closed as a result of positive cases.

According to the Ontario Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 3,824 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario, which is unchanged since the previous day. Thirteen virus-related deaths in total have been reported among staff.

There are 3 current outbreaks in homes, which is a decrease of two from the previous day.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 12 active cases among long-term care residents and 9 active cases among staff — down by two for both in the last day.

by Global News