Ontario reports 134 new coronavirus cases, 3 deaths; total cases at 39,209

Ontario reported 134 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Friday, bringing the provincial total to 39,209.

Friday’s case count is a considerable increase after seeing case numbers below 100 for the last two days.

The death toll in the province has risen to 2,775, as three new deaths were reported.

Meanwhile, 35,074 Ontarians have recovered from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, which is 89 per cent of cases.

Friday’s provincial report indicates the majority of new cases came from Ottawa with 26 new cases, Windsor-Essex with 24 new cases, Peel Region with 20 more cases, Toronto with 19 new cases and Southwestern Public Health also with 19 new cases.

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

“While a slight uptick over the past two days, 28 of 34 PHUs (public health units) are reporting five or fewer cases, with 16 of them reporting no new cases,” Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said.

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

• 18,216 people are male — an increase of 72 cases.
• 20,704 people are female — an increase of 62 cases.
• 2,237  people are 19 and under — an increase of 32 cases.
• 11,985 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 60 cases.
• 11,800 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 27 cases.
• 7,148 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 15 cases.
• 6,034 people are 80 and over — an increase of two cases.

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

Ontario has completed 2,171,972 tests so far for the virus. This is up 30,033 tests from the previous day. There are 29,215 people currently under investigation awaiting test results.

Ontario has 78 people hospitalized due to COVID-19 (down by six from the previous day), with 29 patients in an intensive care unit (down by two) and 15 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (down by one).

The province notes that the number of cases publicly reported by the province each day may not align with case counts reported by the local public health unit on a given day. Local public health units report when they were first notified of a case, which can be updated and changed as information becomes available.

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

According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 1,845 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario, which is an increase of one death from the previous day, and there are 17 current outbreaks. Eight health-care workers and staff in long-term care homes have died.

The ministry also indicated there are currently nine active cases among long-term care residents and 37 active cases among staff.