Ontario reports 4,301 new coronavirus cases over past 2 days

Ontario has reported a total of 4,301 new cases of the novel coronavirus over the past two days, bringing the total number of COVID-19 infections in the province to 169,411.

The province published two days’ worth of coronavirus data on Saturday morning. No numbers were released on Christmas Day on Friday.

There were 2,159 new cases on Friday and 2,142 new cases on Saturday.

Eighty-one additional deaths have been reported over the past two days — 43 on Friday and 38 on Saturday — raising the provincial death toll to 4,359.

Testing data was not immediately available for both days.

“There are 541 new cases in Toronto, 344 in Peel, 262 in York Region, 136 in Hamilton and 131 in Windsor-Essex,” Health Minister Christine Elliott said of Saturday’s data.

A total of 145,173 cases are considered resolved, which is 85.7 per cent of all confirmed cases.

There are 755 people reported to be hospitalized with the virus, which is down by 243 compared to Friday when that figure was at 998. However, the province noted that more than 10 per cent of hospitals did not submit their daily bed census for Saturday’s report, likely causing the reported number of hospitalizations to be lower than it actually is.

There are 286 people in intensive care (up by six compared to Friday) and 187 on a ventilator (up by 31).

Get weekly health news

Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday.

Sign up for weekly health newsletter Sign Up

By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

“Ontario’s provincewide shutdown is in effect as of 12:01 a.m. today,” Elliott added.

“All Ontarians are advised to stay home as much as possible and limit trips outside of your home to necessities.”

3:09 Ontario’s lockdown timeline sparks criticism and concern

Here is a breakdown of Ontario’s cases by age and gender:

• 83,025 people are male
• 85,314 people are female
• 21,812 people are 19 and under
• 61,847 people are 20 to 39
• 48,630 people are 40 to 59
• 24,381 people are 60 to 79
• 12,699 people are 80 and over

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. Data may also be pulled at different times.