Ontario reports 994 new coronavirus cases, 10 more deaths

Ontario is reporting 994 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, bringing the provincial total to 304,757.

Thursday’s case count is slightly higher than Wednesday’s which saw 958 new infections — however, there were more tests processed on Thursday. On Tuesday, 966 cases were recorded and 1,023 on Monday.

According to Thursday’s provincial report, 298 cases were recorded in Toronto, 171 in Peel Region and 64 in York Region.

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

The death toll in the province has risen to 7,024 as 10 more deaths were recorded.

Officials have listed 644 U.K. variant cases (B.1.1.7) which is up by 92 since yesterday, 31 South African variant cases (B.1.351) which is up by four, and three Brazilian variant cases (P.1) which is unchanged, that have been detected so far in the province.

Meanwhile, 287,424 Ontarians were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is 94 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 1,072 from the previous day. There were more resolved cases than new cases on Thursday.

Active cases in Ontario now stand at 10,309 — down from the previous day when it was 10,397, but up from last Thursday at 10,071. At the peak of the coronavirus surge in January, active cases hit above 30,000.

The seven-day average has now reached 1,064, down from yesterday at 1,084, and down from last week at 1,099.

The government said 65,643 tests were processed in the last 24 hours. There is currently a backlog of 42,723 tests awaiting results. A total of 11,229,191 tests have been completed since the start of the pandemic.

Test positivity — the percentage of tests that come back positive — for Thursday was 2.1 per cent, down from Wednesday when it was 2.4 per cent, but up from a week ago when it was at two per cent.

Ontario reported 649 people hospitalized with COVID-19 (down by 19 from the previous day) with 281 patients in intensive care units (up by seven) and 183 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (down by five).

As of 8 p.m. Wednesday, the province has administered 784,828 COVID-19 vaccine doses, representing an increase of 30,409 in the last day. There are 268,118 people fully vaccinated with two doses. Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and the newly approved Oxford-AstraZeneca, are the only vaccines currently approved in Canada and all require two shots several weeks apart.

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

• 149,992 people are male — an increase of 516 cases.
• 153,182 people are female — an increase of 457 cases.
• 40,944 people are 19 and under — an increase of 165 cases.
• 111,696 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 382 cases.
• 87,960 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 277 cases.
• 43,787 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 142 cases.
• 20,303 people are 80 and over — an increase of 24 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: 1,931
• Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 4,774
• 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 unchanged from yesterday. Eleven virus-related deaths in total have been reported among staff.

There are 94 current outbreaks in homes, which is a decrease of four from the previous day.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 62 active cases among long-term care residents and 163 active cases among staff — down by three and no change, 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 9,049 school-related COVID-19 cases in Ontario to date — 6,455 among students and 1,456 among staff (1,138 individuals were not identified). This is an increase of 101 more cases in the last day — 77 student cases, 21 staff cases and three were not identified.

In the last 14 days, the province indicates there are 991 cases reported among students, 164 cases among staff and 13 individuals were not identified — totaling 1,168 cases.

The COVID-19 cases are currently from 683 out of 4,828 schools in the province. Twenty-six schools in Ontario are currently closed as a result of positive cases, the government indicated.

There have been a total of 2,763 confirmed cases within child care centres and homes — an increase of 22 (11 new child cases and 11 staff cases). Out of 5,268 child care centres in Ontario, 153 currently have cases and 36 centres are closed.

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