Ontario reported 76 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Thursday, however an issue with the province’s data system iPHIS meant latest numbers from 11 local public health units were not available.
The 11 public health units not included in Thursday’s case count are from Algoma, Brant County, Chatham-Kent, City of Hamilton, Niagara Region, Peterborough, Simcoe Muskoka District, Southwestern, Sudbury & Districts, Timiskaming and Windsor-Essex County.
Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said all 11 public health units on Wednesday reported only eight cases among them and that could be an indication for roughly how many cases may be under reported on Thursday.
“This glitch is another reminder of why it’s so important that we replace the outdated iPHIS with our custom-built COVID-19 system,” Elliott said. “We’re making great progress: in fact, all 11 impacted units are transitioning to the new system today, at which point 31 of 34 PHUs will be using it.”
Ontario is reporting 76 cases of #COVID19. Due to an issue with iPHIS, updated numbers are not available from 11 PHUs. These 11 units reported a total of eight cases yesterday and while not a direct proxy for today it’s an indication of how many cases may be under-reported.
— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) August 20, 2020
The 11 units not included in today's numbers are: Algoma, Brant County, Chatham-Kent, City of Hamilton, Niagara Region, Peterborough, Simcoe Muskoka District, Southwestern, Sudbury & Districts, Timiskaming and Windsor-Essex County.
— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) August 20, 2020
The provincial total now stands at 41,048 cumulative cases.
The death toll in the province has risen to 2,793 as one new death was reported.
Meanwhile, 37,291 Ontarians have recovered from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, which is 90 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 76 from the previous day.
Thursday’s provincial report, although incomplete, indicates the majority of new cases came from Toronto with 21 new cases, Peel Region added 19 more cases and Ottawa reported 11 new 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:
- 19,204 people are male — an increase of 42 cases.
- 21,552 people are female — an increase of 34 cases.
- 2,575 people are 19 and under — an increase of 11 cases.
- 12,750 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 40 cases.
- 12,269 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 16 cases.
- 7,381 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of eight cases.
- 6,069 people are 80 and over — an increase of three cases.
The province notes that not all cases have a reported age or gender.
Ontario has completed 2,682,845 tests so far for the virus. This is up 25,917 tests from the previous day. There are 22,104 people currently under investigation awaiting test results.
Ontario has 35 people hospitalized due to COVID-19 (down by seven from the previous day), with 15 patients in an intensive care unit (unchanged) and eight patients in ICUs on a ventilator (down by two).
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 Toronto, Ottawa and Middlesex-London public health units, and 4 p.m. Wednesday for the rest of the province.
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. There are 11 current outbreaks in homes, an increase of one. 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 24 active cases among staff.
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