Ontario is reporting 732 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Friday, a new record for the province, bringing the provincial total to 52,980.
The province is reporting its highest case count ever recorded (the previous was Monday’s at 700 new infections). However, Ontario Health Minister Christine said “due to a data review at Toronto Public Health, a number of cases and deaths that occurred in the spring or summer are being reported today.”
Toronto Public Health later told Global News that 73 of the cases are from the spring and summer.
Ontario is also reporting two new recent deaths, though due to “data remediation” 74 more deaths are also being added.
The death toll in the province now stands at 2,927.
“There were 74 deaths reported for cases that occurred in the spring or summer and are now being recorded as part of a data review and data cleaning initiative,” the report indicated.
According to Friday’s provincial report, 323 new cases were recorded in Toronto, 141 in Ottawa, 111 in Peel Region, 38 in York Region and 34 in Durham Region.
All other public health units in Ontario reported 15 or fewer cases.
The province processed nearly 40,100 tests in the last 24 hours.
A total of 4,003,204 tests have been completed since the pandemic began. There is currently a backlog of 90,513 tests that need results, the most Ontario has ever seen.
Elliott also said 58 per cent of the cases are people under the age of 40.
Here is a breakdown of the total cases in Ontario by gender and age:
- 25,264 people are male — an increase of 389 cases.
- 27,349 people are female — an increase of 354 cases.
- 4,440 people are 19 and under — an increase of 107 cases.
- 18,447 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 321 cases.
- 15,100 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 164 cases.
- 8,604 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 84 cases.
- 6,380 people are 80 and over — an increase of 54 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.
Meanwhile, 44,850 Ontarians have recovered from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, which is 85 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 428 from the previous day.
All hospitalizations continue to increase in recent weeks. Ontario has 167 people hospitalized due to COVID-19 (up by five from the previous day), with 38 patients in an intensive care unit (up by two) and 21 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (up by four).
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 484 school-related COVID-19 cases in Ontario — 263 among students and 84 among staff (137 individuals were not identified). This is an increase of 37 more cases from the previous day.
The COVID-19 cases are currently from 318 out of 4,828 schools in the province.
Affected schools with active cases are in Toronto, Oakville, Burlington, Halton Hills, Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa, Mississauga, Brampton, Caledon, Orangeville, Aurora, Milton, Brant, Waterloo, Cambridge, Kitchener, Guelph, Brantford, Bradford West Gwillimbury, Welland, Ancaster, Shelburne, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Niagara Falls, Barrie, Orillia, Wasaga Beach, Innisfill, King, Huntsville, Smith Falls, New Tecumseth, Woodbridge, Vaughan, Markham, Whitchurch-Stouffville, Richmond Hill, London, Windsor, St. Thomas, Woolwich, Whitewater Region, Peterborough, Scugog, Clarence-Rockland, Russell, North Grenville, Ottawa, Kingsville, Greater Napanee, Arran-Elderslie, Township of Alfred & Plantagenet, Thunder Bay, Red Lake and Pembroke.
Three schools in Ontario are currently closed as a result of positive cases, the government indicated.
There have been a total of 156 confirmed cases within child care centres and homes — an increase of 12 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 1,870 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario, which is an increase of one death from the previous day. There are 44 current outbreaks in homes, down by hour from the day prior. Eight health-care workers and staff in long-term care homes have died.
The ministry also indicated there are currently 96 active cases among long-term care residents and 137 active cases among staff.