Ontario reported 1,575 new cases of coronavirus on Thursday, which is yet another new single-day record for the third day in a row, bringing the provincial total to 89,784.
Thursday’s case count beats Wednesday’s which saw 1,426 — the previous single-day high. On Tuesday, 1,388 cases were reported and 1,242 on Monday.
This is also the seventh straight day that daily case counts have been above 1,000.
Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said 472 new cases were recorded in Toronto, 448 in Peel Region, 155 in York Region and 91 in Ottawa, 61 in Durham Region, 58 in Waterloo and 54 in Halton Region.
All other public health units in Ontario reported under 50 new cases.
The death toll in the province has risen to 3,293 as 18 more deaths were reported which is also the largest increase in deaths since beginning of October.
More than 39,500 tests were processed in the last 24 hours. The government has previously said it hoped to increase testing capacity to 50,000 per day by mid-October, and 68,000 tests per day by mid-November.
There is currently a backlog of 41,977 tests that need results. A total of 5,516,370 tests have been completed since the pandemic began.
Meanwhile, 75,220 Ontarians have recovered from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, which is 84 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 917 from the previous day. Active cases in Ontario now stand at 11,271.
Ontario has 431 people hospitalized due to COVID-19 (up by seven from the previous day), with 98 patients in an intensive care unit (up by ten) and 62 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (up by five). Hospitalizations have overall steadily increased over the past several weeks.
Here is a breakdown of the total cases in Ontario by gender and age:
- 43,349 people are male — an increase of 780 cases.
- 45,990 people are female — an increase of 785 cases.
- 10,039 people are 19 and under — an increase of 242 cases.
- 32,422 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 533 cases.
- 25,611 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 472 cases.
- 13,250 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 242 cases.
- 8,444 people are 80 and over — an increase of 84 cases.
The province notes that not all cases have a reported age or gender.
The newly reported numbers for Thursday’s report are valid as of Wednesday afternoon.
Ontario long-term care homes
According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 2,048 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario which is an increase of seven deaths. Eight health-care workers and staff in long-term care homes have died which has remained unchanged for months.
There are 94 current outbreaks in homes, an increase of one.
The ministry also indicated there are currently 695 active cases among long-term care residents and 435 active cases among staff — up by 12 cases and 25 cases respectively in the last day.
Ontario child care centres and schools
Meanwhile, government figures show there have been a total of 3,166 school-related COVID-19 cases in Ontario — 1,794 among students and 397 among staff (975 individuals were not identified). This is an increase of 103 more cases from the previous day.
In the last 14 days, the province indicates there are 619 cases reported among students and 110 cases among staff (317 individuals were not identified) — totaling 1,046 cases.
The COVID-19 cases are currently from 653 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 557 confirmed cases within child care centres and homes — an increase of 10 (five child cases and five staff cases.) Out of 5,242 child care centres in Ontario, 118 currently have cases and 20 centres are closed.
Numbers for cases in schools and child care centres is updated weekdays only, at 10:30 a.m.