Ontario reports 478 new coronavirus cases, largest 1-day jump since early May

Ontario is reporting 478 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Tuesday, bringing the provincial total to 47,752.

Tuesday’s case count is another increase from Monday which saw 425 new cases, and marks the highest one-day increase since May 2. Ontario cases have been on the upward trend over the last couple weeks.

According to Tuesday’s provincial report, 153 new cases were recorded in Toronto, 95 in Peel Region, 90 in Ottawa, 27 in both York Region and Waterloo, and 16 in Durham Region.

All other public health units in Ontario reported 15 or fewer cases.

Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said more than 34,200 tests were processed in the last 24 hours. The province has said it is looking at increasing testing capacity to 50,000 tests a day.

A total of 3,614,544 tests have been completed since the pandemic began. There are currently 39,788 people awaiting test results.

Elliott also said 68 per cent of Tuesday’s cases are people under the age of 40.

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

• 22,529 people are male — an increase of 228 cases.
• 24,865 people are female — an increase of 243 cases.
• 3,649 people are 19 and under — an increase of 82 cases.
• 15,988 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 242 cases.
• 13,826 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 99 cases.
• 8,073 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 42 cases.
• 6,206 people are 80 and over — an increase of 12 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 2,832 as three more deaths were reported.

Meanwhile, 41,342 Ontarians have recovered from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, which is 87 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 196 from the previous day.

Ontario has 82 people hospitalized due to COVID-19 (up by 17 from the previous day), with 24 patients in an intensive care unit (up by two) and 11 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (down by one).

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

Ontario child care centres and schools

Meanwhile, government figures show there have been a total of 141 school-related COVID-19 cases in Ontario — 59 among students and 33 among staff (49 individuals were not identified). This is an increase of 51 more cases since the previous day.

The COVID-19 cases are currently from 116 out of 4,828 schools in the province.

Affected schools are in Toronto, Oakville, Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa, Mississauga, Brampton, Caledon, Milton, Waterloo, Brantford, Welland, Ancaster, Balmertown, Niagara Falls, Barrie, Orillia, Amherstburg, Cambridge, Thornhill, Maple, Woodbridge, Vaughan, Markham, Ottawa, Kemptville, Kingsville, Elmira, and Pembroke.

Two schools in Ontario are closed as a result of positive cases, the government indicated.

There have been a total of 95 confirmed cases within child care centres and homes — an increase of 15 more since the previous day.

Numbers for cases in schools and child care centres is updated weekdays only, at 10:30 a.m.

Ontario long-term care homes

According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 1,859 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario, which is unchanged from the previous day. There are 29 current outbreaks in homes, which is an increase of six. Eight health-care workers and staff in long-term care homes have died.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 51 active cases among long-term care residents and 82 active cases among staff.