Ontario reported 356 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Thursday, bringing the provincial total to 29,403.
The death toll has risen to 2,357, as 45 more deaths were reported. This is the highest number of deaths recorded within a 24-hour period since May 12.
Meanwhile, 23,208 people have recovered from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, which is almost 79 per cent of cases.
Ontario has completed 786,323 tests so far for the virus. This is up 20,822 tests from the previous day which is more than the daily testing capacity of 20,000 tests a day according to the province.
Premier Doug Ford has urged Ontarians to “go get tested” after expanding the criteria to include a wide range of people, with or without symptoms. Mobile testing units have also been deployed across the Greater Toronto Area, where reported COVID-19 case numbers are higher.
Thursday’s report marks an increase of 1.2 per cent in total cumulative cases. That figure has mostly hovered between 1.2 and 1.6 per cent over the past week.
Ontario has 776 patients (down by 15 from the previous day) hospitalized due to COVID-19, with 121 patients in an intensive care unit (down by six) and 94 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (up by two).
Greater Toronto Area public health units account for 66 per cent of all cases in the province.
Here is a breakdown of Ontario cases by gender and age:
- 13,021 people are male (44.3 per cent).
- 16,139 people are female (54.9 per cent).
- 1,096 people are 19 and under (3.7 per cent).
- 7,841 people are 20 to 39 (26.7 per cent).
- 9,040 people are 40 to 59 (30.7 per cent).
- 5,871 people are 60 to 79 (20 per cent).
- 5,538 people are 80 and over (19 per cent).
- 243 cases did not specify male or female, and 17 cases had an unknown age.
There are 12,760 people currently under investigation awaiting test results.
According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 1,679 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario, which is an increase of 18 deaths, and there are 89 current outbreaks. Seven health-care workers in long-term care homes have died.
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.
The ministry also indicated there are currently 970 confirmed cases among long-term care residents and 805 cases among staff.
Health-care workers in Ontario account for 4,854 of the total reported cases, which is 16.5 per cent of the infected population.
The newly reported numbers are valid as of 2 p.m. Wednesday and Ottawa public health units and 4 p.m. for the rest of the province.
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