Ontario reports nearly 2,300 new coronavirus cases, highest number of tests processed

Ontario reported 2,290 new cases of coronavirus on Friday — marking the second highest one-day increase to date — bringing the provincial total to 151,257.

Friday’s case count is the fourth consecutive day that cases are above 2,000 after 2,432 new infections were recorded on Thursday (a record high), 2,139 on Wednesday, and 2,275 on Tuesday.

According to Friday’s provincial report, 691 cases were recorded in Toronto, 361 in Peel Region, 296 in York Region, 207 in Windsor-Essex and 126 in Hamilton.

All other public health units in Ontario reported under 100 new cases in the provincial report.

The death toll in the province has risen to 4,098 as 40 more deaths were reported.

Ontario has 877 people hospitalized with COVID-19 (down by 42 from the previous day), with 261 patients in an intensive care unit (down by two) and 168 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (down by four).

The government said 68,246 tests were processed in the last 24 hours — a record number for testing. There is currently a backlog of 81,235 tests that need results. A total of 7,234,913 tests have been completed since the pandemic began.

Meanwhile, 129,417 Ontarians have recovered from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, which is 85 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 1,992 from the previous day.

Active cases in Ontario now stand at 17,742, up from the previous day at 17,484, and up from last Friday at 16,283.

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

• 74,172 people are male — an increase of 1,182 cases.
• 76,145 people are female — an increase of 1,083 cases.
• 19,283 people are 19 and under — an increase of 365 cases.
• 55,354 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 848 cases.
• 43,320 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 642 cases.
• 21,697 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 308 cases.
• 11,574 people are 80 and over — an increase of 126 cases.
• The province notes that not all cases have a reported age or gender.

The province 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. Data may also be pulled at different times.

Ontario long-term care homes

According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 2,471 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario which is an increase of 25 deaths.

Eight health-care workers and staff in long-term care homes have died which has remained unchanged for months.

There are 139 current outbreaks in homes, a decrease of one from the previous day.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 757 active cases among long-term care residents and 843 active cases among staff — down by 62 cases and up by 16 cases, respectively, in the last day.

Ontario child care centres and schools

Meanwhile, government figures show there have been a total of 7,151 school-related COVID-19 cases in Ontario — 4,996 among students and 1,060 among staff (1,095 individuals were not identified). This is an increase of 133 more cases over a 24-hour period.

In the last 14 days, the province indicates there are 1,529 cases reported among students and 297 cases among staff (seven individuals were not identified) — totaling 1,833 cases.

The COVID-19 cases are currently from 957 out of 4,828 schools in the province.

Twenty-two schools in Ontario are currently closed, the government indicated. The province notes that all schools in the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit are all currently closed for in-person classes.

There have been a total of 1,201 confirmed cases within child care centres and homes — an increase of 13 (nine child cases and four staff cases.) Out of 5,251 child care centres in Ontario, 225 currently have cases and 50 centres are closed.

Numbers for cases in schools and child care centres are updated weekdays only, at 10:30 a.m. On Friday’s, numbers are included from Wednesday afternoon to Thursday afternoon.