189 new coronavirus cases, 10 deaths in Ontario; total cases at 34,205

Ontario reported 189 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Thursday, bringing the provincial total to 34,205.

Overall, new daily infection numbers have been on the decline for Ontario. It is the 18th day in a row with fewer than 300 new cases reported. Eight of the last 10 days have seen cases in the 100s.

The death toll in the province has risen to 2,641, as 10 more deaths were reported.

Meanwhile, 29,528 Ontarians have recovered from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, which is 86 per cent of cases.

Ontario has completed 1,263,534 tests so far for the virus. This is up 27,511 tests from the previous day. The province has said it has a testing capacity of more than 20,000 tests a day.

Thursday’s report indicates the majority of new cases came from the Greater Toronto Area, with Toronto seeing 58 new cases followed by Peel Region with 50 and York Region with 19 more cases.

Outside of the GTA, Windsor-Essex, the centre of recent farm outbreaks, reported only three more cases. Waterloo Region reported 10 new cases.

All other public health units across Ontario reported either zero or fewer than 10 new cases.

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

• 15,546 people are male.
• 18,385 people are female.
• 1,600 people are 19 and under.
• 9,758 people are 20 to 39.
• 10,433 people are 40 to 59.
• 6,582 people are 60 to 79.
• 5,823 people are 80 and over.

The province notes that not all cases have a reported age or gender.

There are 24,607 people currently under investigation awaiting test results.

1:18 Coronavirus: Ontario to expand COVID-19 testing for farm workers in Windsor-Essex

Ontario has 270 patients (down by eight from the previous day) hospitalized due to COVID-19, with 69 patients in an intensive care unit (down by four) and 47 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (down by one).

According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 1,803 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario, and there are 57 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 189 confirmed cases among long-term care residents and 321 cases among staff.

The newly reported numbers are valid as of 2 p.m. Wednesday for the Toronto, Ottawa and Middlesex-London public health units and 4 p.m. for the rest of the province.