Ontario coronavirus cases surpass 10K as 485 new cases reported

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Ontario has surpassed 10,000 as 485 additional cases were reported Saturday morning.

Thirty-six new deaths were reported, bringing the death toll in the province to 514.

The number of confirmed cases sits at 10,010.

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However, officials said Saturday’s update may be incomplete, due to “technical issues” in data reporting from Toronto Public Health.

“There was a situation where the City of Toronto’s data wasn’t able to be fed into the provincial data, but we are working on that,” Health Minister Christine Elliott said.

“We hope to have that problem resolved very quickly.”

Nearly 4,900 cases are considered resolved, or about 49 per cent.

There have been 108 outbreaks reported at long-term care homes.

Saturday’s increase in cases marks a 5.1 per cent jump compared to the day prior. That is around 1 per cent less than reported increases over the past several days, which hovered at or above 6 per cent.

Dr. David Williams, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, said Saturday that he is seeing “positive signs,” including a drop in the number of community-reported cases.

The reported number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 is 828 (a drop of one) with 250 in intensive care (an increase of five) and 197 on a ventilator (a decrease of three).

More than 12 per cent of all cases in Ontario have resulted in hospitalization.

Nearly 9,500 additional tests have been conducted according to Saturday’s report, bringing the total number of tests done in the province to 146,454. More than 6,800 cases remain under investigation — an increase of over 800.

The newly-reported numbers are valid as of 4 p.m. Friday.

Here is a breakdown of Ontario’s cases by age and gender:

• Just under 43 per cent of cases are male, with 56.5 per cent reported in females. Seventy-five cases did not specify male or female.
• 19 and under: 223 cases, or 2.2 per cent
• 20 to 39: 2,269 cases, or 22.7 per cent
• 40 to 59: 3,201 cases, or 32 per cent
• 60 to 79: 2,313 cases, or 23.1 per cent
• 80 and over: 1,996 cases, or 19.9 per cent

In a press conference Saturday, Premier Doug Ford said until there’s a vaccine “going back to normal means putting lives at risk” and said any reopening would be gradual.

The province also announced $20 million in funding for vaccine research.

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