Ontario reports highest number of COVID-19 cases in a week due to glitch

The Ontario government is reporting the highest number of coronavirus cases in a week due to a glitch that led to the under-reporting of multiple cases on Thursday.

Health Minister Christine Elliott confirmed the glitch Friday morning, saying the actual number should have been 345 cases on Thursday, instead of the 258 that was previously reported.

Friday’s true number would then be 341 new cases, however the official report says there are 428 new cases.

“We’ve learned of a small glitch with yesterday’s COVID-19 reporting,” Elliott said in a tweet. “Because of a one-time data upload issue, yesterday missed 87 cases.”

In a daily press briefing on Friday, Elliott revealed that the 87 cases were from Toronto and weren’t uploaded due to a technological glitch.

“While the number isn’t as good as we thought yesterday, it still is good,” Elliot said.

“That means Ontario’s new daily cases continue to trend downward as we expand our COVID-19 testing guidelines to ensure we keep a close eye on any shifts in community spread and identify and contain new cases,” Elliott continued.

The announcement of the glitch comes just a day after the provincial government outlined Stage 1 of restarting the economy that saw numerous businesses and workplaces allowed to reopen in the coming days.

0:59 Coronavirus outbreak: Technical glitch in Ontario’s reporting system causes under-reporting of COVID-19 cases

• Coronavirus outbreak: Technical glitch in Ontario’s reporting system causes under-reporting of COVID-19 cases
• Nurse working in long-term care home hard hit by COVID-19 describes scenario
• Coronavirus impacts May long weekend traffic to Ontario’s cottage country
• Toronto cancels all summer camps, major events and festivals through end of August

Previous Video

Next Video

Elliott said that the government only found out about the missing cases after the reported numbers had already come out and after they announced the new easing of restrictions.

Get weekly health news

Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday.

Sign up for weekly health newsletter Sign Up

By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

“It has been rectified. We don’t expect it’s going to be happening again.”

The provincial total now stands at 21,922 cases.

The death toll has risen to 1,825 as 27 more deaths were reported.

Meanwhile, 16,641 people have recovered from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, which is nearly 76 per cent of cases.

The province has completed 510,841 tests so far for the virus. This is up 18,354 from the previous day.

Ontario has 986 patients (down by 40) hospitalized due to COVID-19, with 179 patients in an intensive care unit (down by five) and 135 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (down by six).

According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 1,320 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario, which is up by 12 deaths, and there are 186 outbreaks.

Ontario officials have said there may be a discrepancy between overall deaths and deaths at long-term care homes due to how the province’s health database system, called iPHIS, is tracking data and how the Ministry of Long-Term Care is tracking data.

2:22 Coronavirus: People react to reopening of some services in Ontario

The ministry also indicated there are 2,429 confirmed cases among long-term care residents and 1,647 cases among staff.

Health-care workers in Ontario account for 3,722 of the total reported cases, which is 17 per cent of the infected population.

Greater Toronto Area public health units account for 62.6 per cent of all cases in the province.

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

• 9,225 people are male (42.1 per cent).
• 12,533 people are female (57.2 per cent).
• 601 people are 19 and under (2.7 per cent).
• 5,251 people are 20 to 39 (24 per cent).
• 6,693 people are 40 to 59 (30.5 per cent).
• 4,659 people are 60 to 79 (21.3 per cent).
• 4,702 people are 80 and over (21.4 per cent).

There are 14,373 people currently under investigation awaiting test results.

The newly reported numbers are valid as of 2 p.m. Thursday for Toronto and 4 p.m. for the rest of the province.