Ontario reports 721 new coronavirus cases as more than 32K tests processed

Ontario is reporting 721 new cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing the provincial total to 61,413.

Wednesday’s case count is a slight decrease from Tuesday’s which saw 746 new infections and Monday’s with 807.

According to Wednesday’s provincial report, 270 new cases were recorded in Toronto, 170 in Peel Region, 79 in York Region, 41 in Hamilton and 39 in Ottawa. All other public health units in Ontario reported under 25 new cases.

Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said more than 32,200 tests were processed in the last 24 hours. However, there is currently a backlog of 26,558 tests that need results.

A total of 4,494,373 tests have been completed since the pandemic began.

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

• 29,330 people are male — an increase of 344 cases.
• 31,650 people are female — an increase of 368 cases.
• 5,750 people are 19 and under — an increase of 102 cases.
• 22,010 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 281 cases.
• 17,414 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 230 cases.
• 9,506 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 76 cases.
• 6,719 people are 80 and over — an increase of 32 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 remained at 3,017 as no new deaths were reported.

Meanwhile, 52,512 Ontarians have recovered from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, which is 85 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 783 from the previous day.

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Ontario has 231 people hospitalized due to COVID-19 (up by one from the previous day), with 64 patients in an intensive care unit (up by four) and 35 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (up by one). All hospitalizations have, overall, increased over the last several weeks.

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

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Ontario child care centres and schools

Meanwhile, government figures show there have been a total of 1,040 school-related COVID-19 cases in Ontario — 580 among students and 168 among staff (292 individuals were not identified). This is an increase of 96 more cases from the previous day.

In the last 14 days, the province indicates there are 376 cases reported among students and 95 cases among staff (174 individuals were not identified) — totaling 645 cases.

The COVID-19 cases are currently from 421 out of 4,828 schools in the province.

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

There have been a total of 261 confirmed cases within child care centres and homes — an increase of 15 since the previous day (nine new child cases and six new staff cases).

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 1,896 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario. Eight health-care workers and staff in long-term care homes have died.

There are 65 current outbreaks in homes, a decrease of one.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 142 active cases among long-term care residents and 189 active cases among staff — down by 12 and six cases respectively in the last day.

More to come.