Ontario reports 1,396 new coronavirus cases, 19 more deaths

Ontario reported 1,396 new cases of coronavirus on Friday, ending three days of record-breaking case counts, bringing the provincial total to 91,180.

Friday’s case count is a decrease from Thursday’s which saw 1,575 new infections — a record single-day high. On Wednesday, 1,426 cases were reported, Tuesday saw 1,388 and Monday with 1,242.

However, this is the eighth straight day that daily case counts have been above 1,000.

The seven-day average is now at 1,355 which is up from last Friday at 977 showing a sharp growth in cases.

Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said 440 new cases were recorded in Toronto, 440 in Peel Region, 155 in York Region and 55 in Halton Region.

All other public health units in Ontario reported under 50 new cases.

The death toll in the province has risen to 3,312 as 19 more deaths were reported.

More than 40,500 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 44,507 tests that need results. A total of 5,556,879 tests have been completed since the pandemic began.

Meanwhile, 76,238 Ontarians have recovered from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, which is 84 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 1,018 from the previous day.

Active cases in Ontario now stand at 11,630.

Ontario has 452 people hospitalized due to COVID-19 (up by 21 from the previous day), with 106 patients in an intensive care unit (up by eight) and 67 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:

• 44,051 people are male — an increase of 702 cases.
• 46,676 people are female — an increase of 686 cases.
• 10,251 people are 19 and under — an increase of 212 cases.
• 32,936 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 514 cases.
• 26,020 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 409 cases.
• 13,433 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 183 cases.
• 8,529 people are 80 and over — an increase of 85 cases.

The province notes that not all cases have a reported age or gender.

The newly reported numbers for Friday’s report are valid as of Thursday afternoon.

Ontario long-term care homes

According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 2,060 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario which is an increase of 12 deaths. Eight health-care workers and staff in long-term care homes have died which has remained unchanged for months.

There are 93 current outbreaks in homes, a decrease of one.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 702 active cases among long-term care residents and 478 active cases among staff — up by seven cases and 43 cases respectively in the last day.

Ontario child care centres and schools

Meanwhile, government figures show there have been a total of 3,282 school-related COVID-19 cases in Ontario — 1,850 among students and 410 among staff (1,022 individuals were not identified). This is an increase of 116 more cases from the previous day.

In the last 14 days, the province indicates there are 637 cases reported among students and 117 cases among staff (347 individuals were not identified) — totaling 1,101 cases.

The COVID-19 cases are currently from 670 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 579 confirmed cases within child care centres and homes — an increase of 22 (11 child cases and 11 staff cases.) Out of 5,241 child care centres in Ontario, 122 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.