Ontario reports 17 more COVID-19 deaths as total surpasses 7,000 since start of pandemic

Ontario is reporting 17 more COVID-19-related deaths, pushing the provincial total past the 7,000 milestone to 7,014.

The province also reported 958 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, bringing the cumulative total to 303,763.

Wednesday’s case count is slightly lower than Tuesday which saw 966 new infections. On Monday, 1,023 new cases were recorded and 1,062 on Sunday.

According to Wednesday’s provincial report, 249 cases were recorded in Toronto, 164 in Peel Region, 92 in York Region and 57 in Ottawa.

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

Officials have listed 552 U.K. variant cases (B.1.1.7) which is up by 10 since yesterday, 27 South African variant cases (B.1.351) which is unchanged, and three Brazilian variant cases (P.1) which is unchanged, that have been detected so far in the province.

Meanwhile, 286,352 Ontarians were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is 94 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 1,090 from the previous day. There were more resolved cases than new cases on Wednesday.

Active cases in Ontario now stand at 10,397 — down from the previous day when it was 10,546, but up from last Wednesday at 10,050. At the peak of the coronavirus surge in January, active cases hit above 30,000.

The seven-day average has now reached 1,084, down from yesterday at 1,098, but it was the same as last week at 1,084.

The government said 52,613 tests were processed in the last 24 hours. There is currently a backlog of 43,139 tests awaiting results. A total of 11,163,548 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 2.9 per cent, but the same as a week ago when it was at 2.4 per cent.

Ontario reported 668 people hospitalized with COVID-19 (down by nine from the previous day) with 274 patients in intensive care units (down by 10) and 188 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (down by one).

As of 8 p.m. on Tuesday, the province has administered 754,419 COVID-19 vaccine doses, representing an increase of 27,398 in the last day. There are 266,710 people fully vaccinated with two doses.

Last week, the federal government approved Oxford-AstraZeneca’s vaccine for use following Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, the only vaccines currently approved in Canada which all require two shots.

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

• 149,476 people are male — an increase of 506 cases.
• 152,725 people are female — an increase of 457 cases.
• 40,779 people are 19 and under — an increase of 175 cases.
• 111,314 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 370 cases.
• 87,683 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 256 cases.
• 43,645 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 129 cases.
• 20,279 people are 80 and over — an increase of 29 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: 30
• Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 286
• Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 1,928
• Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 4,767
• 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 3,745 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario which is an decrease of one death from yesterday. A decrease in deaths can be the result of new information that can remove previously recorded deaths.

Eleven virus-related deaths in total have been reported among staff.

There are 98 current outbreaks in homes, which is an increase of one from the previous day.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 65 active cases among long-term care residents and 163 active cases among staff — down by six and up by one, respectively, in the last 24 hours.

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

Meanwhile, government figures show there have been a total of 8,952 school-related COVID-19 cases in Ontario to date — 6,379 among students and 1,438 among staff (1,135 individuals were not identified). This is an increase of 160 more cases in the last day — 138 student cases, 21 staff cases and one was not identified.

In the last 14 days, the province indicates there are 967 cases reported among students, 164 cases among staff and 10 individuals were not identified — totaling 1,141 cases.

The COVID-19 cases are currently from 672 out of 4,828 schools in the province. Twenty-four schools in Ontario are currently closed as a result of positive cases, the government indicated.

There have been a total of 2,741 confirmed cases within child care centres and homes — an increase of 25 (16 new child cases and nine staff cases). Out of 5,268 child care centres in Ontario, 153 currently have cases and 34 centres are closed.

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