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Ontario reports 1,054 new coronavirus cases, 9 more deaths

Click to play video: 'Coronavirus: Ontario to open an online reservation and call centre for vaccine appointments'
Coronavirus: Ontario to open an online reservation and call centre for vaccine appointments
WATCH ABOVE: Retired Gen. Rick Hillier, chair of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution task force, said on Wednesday that the province will open an online reservation centre for people to get vaccine appointments close to their residences starting on March 15 as phase two of the vaccine rollout plan starts. People will be prioritized depending on their age group with those 80 and over, or those booking for them, being able to access the system – Feb 24, 2021

Ontario is reporting 1,054 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, bringing the provincial total to 296,173.

Wednesday’s case count is higher than Tuesday’s, which saw 975 new infections. On Monday, 1,058 new cases were recorded and 1,087 on Sunday.

The daily case count went above 1,000 after being below the threshold on Tuesday. However, there were almost 30,000 more tests completed on Wednesday than on Tuesday.

According to Wednesday’s provincial report, 363 cases were recorded in Toronto, 186 in Peel Region, 94 in York Region, 53 in Simcoe Muskoka and 50 in Windsor-Essex.

All other local public health units reported fewer than 50 new cases in the provincial report.

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Officials have included a section for confirmed variant cases and have listed 395 U.K. variant cases (B.1.1.7), nine South African variant cases (B.1.351), and one Brazilian variant case (P.1) detected so far in the province. Five new U.K. variant cases were recorded since yesterday.

The death toll in the province has risen to 6,893 as nine more deaths were reported.

Meanwhile, 279,230 Ontarians were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is 94 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 1,291 from the previous day.

There were more resolved cases on Wednesday than new cases.

Active cases in Ontario now stand at 10,050 — down from the previous day when it was 10,296, and down from Feb. 17 at 10,985. At the peak of the coronavirus surge in January, active cases hit above 30,000.

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The seven-day average has now reached 1,084, up slightly from yesterday at 1,055, but down from last week at 1,002.

The government said 54,852 tests were processed in the last 24 hours. There is currently a backlog of 41,251 tests awaiting results. A total of 10,806,152 tests have been completed since the start of the pandemic.

Test positivity — the percentage of tests that come back positive — for Wednesday was 2.4 per cent, down from Tuesday when it was 4.2 per cent, and down from a week ago when it was at three per cent.

Ontario reported 675 people hospitalized with COVID-19 (down by 43 from the previous day) with 287 patients in intensive care units (up by four) and 182 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (down by four).

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As of 8 p.m. on Tuesday, the province has administered 602,848 COVID-19 vaccine doses, representing an increase of 17,141 in the last day. There are 251,590 people fully vaccinated with two doses. Both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, the only vaccines currently approved in Canada, require two shots.

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

  • 145,485 people are male — an increase of 530 cases.
  • 149,104 people are female — an increase of 509 cases.
  • 39,258 people are 19 and under — an increase of 188 cases.
  • 108,424 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 401 cases.
  • 85,651 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 322 cases.
  • 42,691 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 115 cases.
  • 20,087 people are 80 and over — an increase of 28 cases.
  • The province notes that not all cases have a reported age or gender.

Here is a breakdown of the total deaths related to COVID-19 by age:

  • Deaths reported in ages 19 and under: 2
  • Deaths reported in ages 20 to 39: 29
  • Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 276
  • Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 1,882
  • Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 4,703
  • The province notes there may be a reporting delay for deaths and data corrections or updates can result in death records being removed.
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Cases, deaths and outbreaks in Ontario long-term care homes

According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 3,739 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario which is an increase of three deaths. Eleven virus-related deaths in total have been reported among staff.

There are 117 current outbreaks in homes, which is a decrease of ten from the previous day.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 109 active cases among long-term care residents and 218 active cases among staff — down by 16 and down by 10 cases, respectively, in the last day.

Cases among students and staff at Ontario schools, child care centres

Meanwhile, government figures show there have been a total of 8,282 school-related COVID-19 cases in Ontario to date — 5,797 among students and 1,352 among staff (1,133 individuals were not identified). This is an increase of 112 more cases in the last day — 89 student cases, 18 staff cases and five not identified.

In the last 14 days, the province indicates there are 517 cases reported among students and 97 cases among staff (nine individuals were not identified) — totaling 623 cases.

The COVID-19 cases are currently from 401 out of 4,828 schools in the province.

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Sixteen schools in Ontario are currently closed as a result of positive cases, the government indicated.

There have been a total of 2,608 confirmed cases within child care centres and homes — an increase of 27 (19 new child cases and eight staff cases). Out of 5,264 child care centres in Ontario, 126 currently have cases and 15 centres are closed.

Data for cases in schools and child care centres are updated weekdays only, at 10:30 a.m. On Wednesday, numbers are included from Monday afternoon to Tuesday afternoon.

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