Ontario reports more than 1,100 new coronavirus cases, 23 more deaths

Ontario is reporting 1,138 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, bringing the provincial total to 297,311.

Thursday’s case count is higher than Wednesday’s which saw 1,054 new infections. On Tuesday, 975 new cases were recorded and 1,058 on Monday.

According to Thursday’s provincial report, 339 cases were recorded in Toronto, 204 in Peel Region, 106 in York Region, 64 in Ottawa and 56 in Waterloo Region.

All other local public health units reported fewer than 50 new cases in the provincial report.

Officials have listed 449 U.K. variant cases (B.1.1.7) which is up by 54 since yesterday, 11 South African variant cases (B.1.351) which is up by two, and two Brazilian variant cases (P.1) which is up by one, that have been detected so far in the province.

The death toll in the province has risen to 6,916 as 23 more deaths were reported.

Meanwhile, 280,324 Ontarians were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is 94 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 1,094 from the previous day.

There were more new cases than resolved cases on Thursday, after several weeks of seeing the opposite.

Active cases in Ontario now stand at 10,071 — up from the previous day when it was 10,050, but down from last Thursday at 10,702. At the peak of the coronavirus surge in January, active cases hit above 30,000.

The seven-day average has now reached 1,099, up from yesterday at 1,084, but down from last week at 1,016.

The government said 66,351 tests were processed in the last 24 hours. There is currently a backlog of 40,639 tests awaiting results. A total of 10,872,503 tests have been completed since the start of the pandemic.

Test positivity — the percentage of tests that come back positive — for Thursday was two per cent, the lowest it’s been since the beginning of October, down from Wednesday when it was 2.4 per cent, and down from a week ago when it was at 2.2 per cent.

Ontario reported 687 people hospitalized with COVID-19 (up by 12 from the previous day) with 283 patients in intensive care units (down by four) and 182 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (unchanged).

As of 8 p.m. on Wednesday, the province has administered 621,960 COVID-19 vaccine doses, representing an increase of 19,112 in the last day. There are 255,449 people fully vaccinated with two doses. Both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, the only vaccines currently approved in Canada, require two shots.

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

• 146,083 people are male — an increase of 598 cases.
• 149,659 people are female — an increase of 555 cases.
• 39,458 people are 19 and under — an increase of 200 cases.
• 108,846 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 422 cases.
• 85,983 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 332 cases.
• 42,838 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 147 cases.
• 20,124 people are 80 and over — an increase of 37 cases.
• The province notes that not all cases have a reported age or gender.

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

• Deaths reported in ages 19 and under: 2
• Deaths reported in ages 20 to 39: 29
• Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 278
• Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 1,886
• Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 4,720
• The province notes there may be a reporting delay for deaths and data corrections or updates can result in death records being removed.

Cases, deaths and outbreaks in Ontario long-term care homes

According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 3,742 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario which is an increase of three deaths. Eleven virus-related deaths in total have been reported among staff.

There are 111 current outbreaks in homes, which is a decrease of six from the previous day.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 105 active cases among long-term care residents and 206 active cases among staff — down by four and down by 12 cases, respectively, in the last day.

Cases among students and staff at Ontario schools, child care centres

Meanwhile, government figures show there have been a total of 8,361 school-related COVID-19 cases in Ontario to date — 5,865 among students and 1,365 among staff (1,131 individuals were not identified). This is an increase of 83 more cases in the last day — 70 student cases, 12 staff cases and one not identified.

In the last 14 days, the province indicates there are 564 cases reported among students and 104 cases among staff (seven individuals were not identified) — totaling 675 cases.

The COVID-19 cases are currently from 430 out of 4,828 schools in the province.

Eighteen schools in Ontario are currently closed as a result of positive cases, the government indicated.

There have been a total of 2,633 confirmed cases within child care centres and homes — an increase of 25 (14 new child cases and 11 staff cases). Out of 5,264 child care centres in Ontario, 133 currently have cases and 18 centres are closed.

Data for cases in schools and child care centres are updated weekdays only, at 10:30 a.m. On Thursday, numbers are included from Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday afternoon.