Ontario is reporting 409 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Friday, bringing the provincial total to 48,905.
Friday’s case count is the exact same number of cases also reported on Thursday. Five out of the last seven days have recorded cases in the 400s.
According to Friday’s provincial report, 204 new cases were recorded in Toronto, 66 in Peel Region, 40 in Ottawa and 33 in York Region.
All other public health units in Ontario reported 15 or fewer cases.
Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said more than 41,800 tests were processed in the last 24 hours which is technically a new record for the province. However, the government said: “Due to PHO’s LIS downtime on Tuesday and inability to report full volumes yesterday, today’s reported number includes the missed volumes that were not included in yesterday’s reporting.”
The province has said it is looking at increasing testing capacity to 50,000 tests a day.
A total of 3,722,479 tests have been completed since the pandemic began. There are currently 65,227 people awaiting test results.
Elliott also said 65 per cent of Friday’s cases are people under the age of 40.
Here is a breakdown of the total cases in Ontario by gender and age:
- 23,120 people are male — an increase of 210 cases.
- 25,429 people are female — an increase of 202 cases.
- 3,849 people are 19 and under — an increase of 53 cases.
- 16,552 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 213 cases.
- 14,088 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 97 cases.
- 8,179 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 41 cases.
- 6,232 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 2,837 as one more death was reported.
Meanwhile, 42,169 Ontarians have recovered from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, which is 86 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 283 from the previous day.
Ontario has 87 people hospitalized due to COVID-19 (down by one from the previous day), with 25 patients in an intensive care unit (down by two) and 13 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (up by two).
The newly reported numbers for Friday’s report are valid as of 2 p.m. Thursday for Toronto, Ottawa and Middlesex-London public health units, and 4 p.m. Thursday for the rest of the province.
Ontario child care centres and schools
Meanwhile, government figures show there have been a total of 238 school-related COVID-19 cases in Ontario — 110 among students and 50 among staff (78 individuals were not identified). This is an increase of 29 more cases since the previous day.
The COVID-19 cases are currently from 198 out of 4,828 schools in the province.
Affected schools are in Toronto, Oakville, Burlington, Halton Hills, Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa, Mississauga, Brampton, Caledon, Orangeville, Aurora, Milton, Tottenham, Waterloo, Cambridge, Kitchener, Brantford, Welland, Ancaster, St. Catharines, Balmertown, Hamilton, Niagara Falls, Barrie, Orillia, Huntsville, Smith Falls, Amherstburg, New Tecumseth, Thornhill, Maple, Woodbridge, Vaughan, Markham, London, Windsor, Embrun, Orleans, Nepean, Clarence-Rockland, Russell, North Grenville, Ottawa, Kemptville, Kingsville, Elmira, Thunder Bay, Red Lake and Pembroke.
Two schools in Ontario are closed as a result of positive cases, the government indicated.
There have been a total of 109 confirmed cases within child care centres and homes — an increase of two 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 1,861 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario, which is unchanged from the previous day. There are 32 current outbreaks in homes, an decrease of one. Eight health-care workers and staff in long-term care homes have died.
The ministry also indicated there are currently 69 active cases among long-term care residents and 85 active cases among staff.