Ontario reports 865 new COVID-19 cases, 14 more deaths | Globalnews.ca

Ontario is reporting 865 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, the largest increase since early June. The provincial case total now stands at 567,071.

Thursday’s case count is the highest count since June 4 when 914 cases were recorded, and the province also marked another daily total in the 800s on Saturday when it hit 835.

Of the 865 new cases recorded, the data showed 540 were unvaccinated people, 88 were partially vaccinated people, 173 were fully vaccinated people and for 64 people the vaccination status was unknown.

According to Thursday’s report, 175 cases were recorded in Toronto, 104 in Peel Region, 91 in York Region, 89 in Hamilton, 51 in Simcoe-Muskoka, 48 in Windsor-Essex and 33 in Niagara Region.

All other local public health units reported fewer than 30 new cases in the provincial report.

The death toll in the province has risen to 9,530 as 14 more deaths were recorded. However, the ministry of health said four of the deaths occurred in the last week with the other 10 having occurred more than a week ago.

Hospitalizations in Ontario

Ontario reported 320 people in general hospital wards with COVID-19 (down by 19 from the previous day) with 162 patients in intensive care units (down by one) and 137 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (up by two).

Provincial officials recently 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.

The most recent data showed for those in general hospital wards with COVID, 141 were unvaccinated, 12 were partially vaccinated and 28 were fully vaccinated. For those in ICUs, 90 were unvaccinated while 8 were partially vaccinated and 14 were fully vaccinated.

In the third wave peak, which was the worst wave for hospitalizations, the province saw as many as 900 patients in ICUs with COVID. The province’s data has recorded 5,633 patients in total have ever been in ICU with 29,042 patients having been hospitalized due to COVID since the start of the pandemic.

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

As of 8 p.m. on Wednesday, 35,152 vaccines (15,692 for a first shot and 19,460 for a second shot) were administered in the last day.

There are more than 9.9 million people fully immunized with two doses, which is 76.6 per cent of the eligible (12 and older) population. First dose coverage stands at 83.2 per cent.

Meanwhile, 551,510 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is about 97 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 681 from the previous day.

Active cases in Ontario now stand at 6,031— up from the previous day when it was at 5,861, and up from Aug. 26 when it was at 5,305. 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 728 which is the up from yesterday’s at 701, and is up from last week when it was 646. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 200.

The government said 27,293 tests were processed in the last 24 hours. There is currently a backlog of 13,835 tests awaiting results.

Test positivity for Thursday hit 3 per cent. Last week, test positivity was at 2.8 per cent.

Variants of concern in Ontario

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): 146,425 variant cases, which is up by 84 since the previous day. This strain dominated Ontario’s third wave.

“Beta” the B.1.351 VOC (first detected in South Africa): 1,501 variant cases, which is unchanged since the previous day.

“Gamma” the P.1 VOC (first detected in Brazil): 5,222 variant cases, which is unchanged since the previous day.

“Delta” the B.1.617.2 VOC (first detected in India): 10,994 variant cases, which is up by 451 since the previous day. This strain is currently the dominating strain for Ontario’s fourth wave.

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:

• 282,638 people are male — an increase of 407 cases.
• 280,567 people are female — an increase of 440 cases.
• 15,420 people are under the age of four — an increase of 53 cases.
• 27,265 people are 5 to 11 — an increase of 83 cases.
• 50,406 people are 12 to 19 — an increase of 76 cases.
• 213,888 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 379 cases.
• 160,309 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 191 cases.
• 74,235 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 74 cases.
• 25,449 people are 80 and over — an increase of 10 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: 5
• Deaths reported in ages 20 to 39: 90
• Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 629 (+2)
• Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 3,086 (+8)
• Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 5,719 (+4)
• The province notes there may be a reporting delay for deaths and data

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

According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 3,794 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 6 current outbreaks in homes, which is unchanged from the previous day.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 28 active cases among long-term care residents and 17 active cases among staff — down by two and unchanged, respectively, in the last day.

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