Ontario reports 293 new coronavirus cases with majority in Toronto, Peel Region and Ottawa

Ontario is reporting 293 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Thursday, bringing the provincial total to 45,676.

Thursday’s case count is a slight decrease from Wednesday which saw 315 new cases but is higher than Tuesday, which saw 251 cases.

According to Thursday’s provincial report, 85 new cases were recorded in Toronto, 63 in Peel Region, 39 in Ottawa, 37 in York Region and 12 in Halton Region.

All other public health units in Ontario reported 10 or fewer cases.

Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said more than 35,000 tests were processed in the last 24 hours. A total of 3,433,697 tests have been completed since the pandemic began. There are currently 37,624 people awaiting test results.

She also said 70 per cent of Thursday’s cases are people under the age of 40.

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

• 21,495 people are male — an increase of 144 cases.
• 23,859 people are female — an increase of 152 cases.
• 3,294 people are 19 and under — an increase of 37 cases.
• 14,924 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 169 cases.
• 13,384 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 66 cases.
• 7,897 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 19 cases.
• 6,169 people are 80 and over — an increase of four cases.

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

The province also notes that the number of cases publicly reported 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 death toll in the province has risen to 2,825 as three more deaths were reported.

Meanwhile, 40,424 Ontarians have recovered from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, which is 89 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 179 from the previous day.

Ontario has 53 people hospitalized due to COVID-19 (up by nine from the previous day), with 21 patients in an intensive care unit (up by one) and 12 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (unchanged).

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.

Ontario child care centres and schools

Meanwhile, government figures show there have been a total of 62 school-related COVID-19 cases in Ontario — 20 among students and 22 among staff (20 individuals were not identified). This is an increase of 21 more cases since the previous day.

The COVID-19 cases are currently from 51 out of 4,828 schools in the province. Affected schools are in Toronto, Oakville, Pickering, Mississauga, Brampton, Waterloo, Orillia, Amherstburg, Cambridge, Maple, Woodbridge, Markham, Ottawa and Pembroke.

One school is closed as a result of the positive cases, the government indicated.

There have been a total of 72 confirmed cases within child care centres and homes — an increase of two more since the previous day.

Ontario long-term care homes

According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 1,854 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario, which is unchanged from the previous day. There are 22 current outbreaks in homes, which is up by two. Eight health-care workers and staff in long-term care homes have died.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 56 active cases among long-term care residents and 56 active cases among staff.