Ontario reports 975 new coronavirus cases, 12 more deaths

Ontario is reporting 975 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, bringing the provincial total to 295,119.

Tuesday’s case count is lower than Monday’s which saw 1,058 new infections. On Sunday, 1,087 new cases were recorded and 1,228 on Saturday.

It is also the first time in the last six days that the daily case count dipped below 1,000. However, tests completed were the lowest it’s been in a couple months.

According to Tuesday’s provincial report, 343 cases were recorded in Toronto, 186 in Peel Region and 89 in York Region.

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

Officials have included a section for confirmed variant cases and have listed 390 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. No new variant cases were recorded since yesterday.

The death toll in the province has risen to 6,884 as 12 more deaths were reported.

Meanwhile, 277,939 Ontarians were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is 94 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 1,002 from the previous day.

There were marginally more resolved cases on Tuesday than new cases.

Active cases in Ontario now stand at 10,296 — down from the previous day when it was 10,335, and down from last Tuesday at 11,604. At the peak of the coronavirus surge in January, active cases hit above 30,000.

The seven-day average has now reached 1,055, up slightly from yesterday at 1,045, and up from last week at 1,035.

The government said 25,979 tests were processed in the last 24 hours — the lowest number of tests completed since early November. There is currently a backlog of 28,802 tests awaiting results. A total of 10,751,300 tests have been completed since the start of the pandemic.

Test positivity — the percentage of tests that come back positive — for Tuesday was 4.2 per cent, up from Monday when it was 3.3 per cent, and up from a week ago at 3.6 per cent.

Ontario reported 718 people hospitalized with COVID-19 (up by 72 from the previous day) with 280 patients in intensive care units (up by three) and 186 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (down by three).

As of 8 p.m. on Monday, the province has administered 585,707 COVID-19 vaccine doses, representing an increase of 16,252 in the last day. There are 247,042 people fully vaccinated with two doses. Both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, the only vaccines currently approved in Canada, require two shots.

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

• 144,955 people are male — an increase of 527 cases.
• 148,595 people are female — an increase of 432 cases.
• 39,070 people are 19 and under — an increase of 160 cases.
• 108,023 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 365 cases.
• 85,329 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 278 cases.
• 42,576 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 153 cases.
• 20,059 people are 80 and over — an increase of 18 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: 1,880
• Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 4,696
• The province notes there may be a reporting delay for deaths and data corrections or updates can result in death records being removed.

Cases, deaths and outbreaks in Ontario long-term care homes

According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 3,736 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario which is an increase of two deaths. Eleven virus-related deaths in total have been reported among staff.

There are 127 current outbreaks in homes, which is a decrease of two from the previous day.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 125 active cases among long-term care residents and 228 active cases among staff — down by one and down by 14 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 8,169 school-related COVID-19 cases in Ontario to date — 5,706 among students and 1,333 among staff (1,130 individuals were not identified). This is an increase of 175 more cases in the last three days — 149 student cases, 22 staff cases and four not identified.

In the last 14 days, the province indicates there are 450 cases reported among students and 78 cases among staff (four individuals were not identified) — totaling 532 cases.

The COVID-19 cases are currently from 352 out of 4,828 schools in the province.

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

There have been a total of 2,581 confirmed cases within child care centres and homes — an increase of 43 (29 new child cases and 14 staff cases). Out of 5,264 child care centres in Ontario, 136 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 Tuesday’s, numbers are included from Friday afternoon to Monday afternoon.