Ontario reported 78 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Thursday, bringing the provincial total to 40,367.
However, Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said numbers from Toronto are not included in Thursday’s provincial case count, which has resulted in an underestimation of the count.
“Today, Ontario is reporting 78 cases of COVID-19, a 0.2% increase — however, updated numbers from the Toronto Public Health CORES system were not available,” Elliott said.
The death toll in the province remains at 2,787 as no new deaths were reported.
Meanwhile, 36,689 Ontarians have recovered from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, which is 90 per cent of cases. Resolved cases increased by 99 from the previous day.
Thursday’s provincial report indicates the majority of new cases came from Peel Region with 19 new cases and Ottawa with 10 cases.
All other public health units across Ontario reported zero or fewer than 10 new cases.
Here is a breakdown of the total cases in Ontario by gender and age:
- 18,827 people are male — an increase of 42 cases.
- 21,248 people are female — an increase of 36 cases.
- 2,456 people are 19 and under — an increase of 19 cases.
- 12,459 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 30 cases.
- 12,112 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 20 cases.
- 7,288 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of nine cases.
- 6,047 people are 80 and over — no increase in cases.
The province notes that not all cases have a reported age or gender.
Ontario has completed 2,498,266 tests so far for the virus. This is up 29,626 tests from the previous day. There are 29,049 people currently under investigation awaiting test results.
Ontario has 43 people hospitalized due to COVID-19 (up by six from the previous day), with 20 patients in an intensive care unit (unchanged) and 10 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (unchanged).
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 Thursday’s report are valid as of 2 p.m. Wednesday for Ottawa and Middlesex-London public health units, and 4 p.m. Wednesday for the rest of the province. Numbers from Toronto Public Health were not included in the report for Thursday.
According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 1,847 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario, which remains unchanged from the previous day, and there are 18 current outbreaks. Eight health-care workers and staff in long-term care homes have died.
The ministry also indicated there are currently three active cases among long-term care residents and 34 active cases among staff.