Ontario reports new single-day record of 1,050 coronavirus cases, 14 more deaths

Ontario reported 1,050 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, bringing the provincial total to 78,705.

Tuesday’s case count is a new single-day high ever recorded in Ontario. The previous record was set on Oct. 25 with 1,042 cases.

According to Tuesday’s provincial report, 408 new cases were recorded in Toronto, 212 in Peel Region, 86 in Halton Region, 76 in York Region, 57 in Durham Region, 34 each in Ottawa and Hamilton, and 31 in Niagara.

All other public health units in Ontario reported under 30 new cases.

The death toll in the province rose to 3,166 as 14 more deaths were reported.

Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said nearly 25,300 tests were processed in the last 24 hours which is the lowest number of tests in the last week. The government has said it hoped to increase testing capacity to 50,000 per day by mid-October.

There is currently a backlog of 20,758 tests that need results. A total of 5,200,247 tests have been completed since the pandemic began.

The per cent positivity for processed tests and positive cases in Tuesday’s report was 4.2 per cent.

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

• 37,930 people are male — an increase of 551 cases.
• 40,374 people are female — an increase of 492 cases.
• 8,333 people are 19 and under — an increase of 171 cases.
• 28,484 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 360 cases.
• 22,419 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 317 cases.
• 11,765 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 153 cases.
• 7,694 people are 80 and over — an increase of 50 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, 67,244 Ontarians have recovered from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, which is 85 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 837 from the previous day.

Active cases in Ontario now stand at 8,295.

Ontario has 357 people hospitalized due to COVID-19 (up by 29 from the previous day), with 73 patients in an intensive care unit (down by two) and 47 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (up by two). Hospitalizations have overall steadily increased over the last several weeks.

The newly reported numbers for Tuesday’s report are valid as of Monday afternoon.

Ontario long-term care homes

According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 1,963 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario which is an increase of four deaths. Eight health-care workers and staff in long-term care homes have died which has remain unchanged for months.

There are 78 current outbreaks in homes, which remains unchanged from the previous day.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 530 active cases among long-term care residents and 329 active cases among staff — up by 28 and up by 11 cases respectively in the last day.

Ontario child care centres and schools

Meanwhile, government figures show there have been a total of 2,360 school-related COVID-19 cases in Ontario — 1,318 among students and 306 among staff (736 individuals were not identified). This is an increase of 134 more cases from the previous day.

In the last 14 days, the province indicates there are 505 cases reported among students and 79 cases among staff (339 individuals were not identified) — totaling 923 cases.

The COVID-19 cases are currently from 578 out of 4,828 schools in the province.

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

There have been a total of 453 confirmed cases within child care centres and homes — an increase of 23 (seven new child cases and 16 new staff cases). Out of 5,231 child care centres in Ontario, 122 currently have cases and 33 centres are closed.

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