Ontario reports 1,536 new COVID cases as daily infections continue to soar | Globalnews.ca

Ontario is reporting 1,536 new COVID cases on Monday, as case counts continue to soar over the last week and test positivity has hit an almost seven month high. The provincial case total now stands at 633,683.

For comparison, last Monday saw 887 new cases and the previous Monday saw 788. Over the last three days, there were 1,476 new cases reported Sunday, 1,607 on Saturday and 1,453 on Tuesday.

However, as infections surge, patients with COVID in ICUs (intensive care units) have remained relatively stable but are on an overall slow rise.

Of the 1,536 new cases recorded, the data showed 601 were unvaccinated people, 33 were partially vaccinated people, 809 were fully vaccinated people and for 93 people the vaccination status was unknown.

The death toll in the province has risen to 10,079 as one more death was reported.

Vaccinations, recoveries, testing, 7-day average in Ontario

As of 8 p.m. on Sunday, there are more than 11.3 million people fully immunized with two doses, which is 87.6 per cent of the aged 12 and older population. First dose coverage stands at 90.3 per cent. There are 1,128,482 Ontarians who have received a booster shot.

For young children aged five to 11, first dose coverage stands at 30.9 per cent — 332,757 doses out of just over 1 million eligible children.

Meanwhile, 612,066 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is 97 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 800 from the previous day.

Active cases in Ontario now stand at 11,538 — up from the previous day when it was at 10,803, and is up from Dec. 6 when it was at 8,439. 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 1,328, a months-long high since late May as Ontario emerged from a devastating third wave. It is up from the week prior when it was 940. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 600.

The government said 38,331 tests were processed in the previous 24 hours. There are 15,048 tests currently under investigation.

Test positivity hit 5.5 per cent — the highest seen since late May. Last week, test positivity was at 3.5 per cent.

Hospitalizations in Ontario

Ontario reported 253 people in general hospital wards with COVID-19 (up by 31 from the previous day) with 161 patients in intensive care units (up by three) and 143 patients in intensive care units on a ventilator (up by five).

Ontario Health officials have recently said intensive care occupancy can hit between 250 or 300 patients before the health care system would be impacted and require ramping down some non-urgent surgeries and procedures.

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.

Due to the weekend, the latest data comes from Saturday. For those in general hospital wards with COVID, 166 were unvaccinated, 14 were partially vaccinated and 84 were fully vaccinated. For those in ICUs, 68 were unvaccinated while 3 were partially vaccinated and 25 were fully vaccinated.

Provincial officials noted this new dataset with vaccination status for hospitalizations will grow and improve over time as more information is collected. There may also be a discrepancy due to how and when the information for both is collected.

More to come.

More to come.