Ontario reports largest single-day jump in COVID-19 cases in more than 2 months

Ontario reported 2,453 cases of the novel coronavirus Saturday, bringing the total number of cases in the province to 340,692.

It marks the largest single-day increase in COVID-19 cases for the province since Jan. 22, when 2,662 were reported. Saturday also marks the third day in a row that Ontario has reported more than 2,000 new cases.

“Locally, there are 814 new cases in Toronto, 411 in Peel, 263 in York Region, 156 in Hamilton, 139 in Durham and 115 in Ottawa,” Health Minister Christine Elliott said.

Sixteen new deaths were also reported on Saturday, bringing the provincial death toll to 7,308.

A total of 315,865 COVID-19 cases are considered resolved, which is up by 1,481 and is 92.7 per cent of all confirmed cases.

Just over 61,000 additional tests were completed. Ontario has now completed a total of 12,372,873 tests and 33,065 remain under investigation.

The province indicated that the positivity rate for the last day was 4.5 per cent, which is up from Friday’s report, when it was 3.8 per cent, and up from last Saturday’s report, when it was 3.6 per cent.

There have been 1,523 confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 variant, first discovered in the U.K. (up by 29), as well as 63 of the B.1.351 variant which was discovered in South Africa (up by three), and 61 cases of the P.1 variant, first found in Brazil (up by three).

There have been 17,611 other COVID-19 cases that have screened positive for a virus mutation, which is up by 931.

Provincial figures showed there are 985 people hospitalized with the virus (up by 72), with 365 in intensive care (up by six), 192 of whom are on a ventilator (down by 23).

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

• 168,347 people are male
• 170,437 people are female
• 48,221 people are 19 and under
• 124,851 people are 20 to 39
• 97,964 people are 40 to 59
• 48,342 people are 60 to 79
• 21,233 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.

According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 3,753 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario, which has remained unchanged since March 19. There are currently 50 outbreaks in long-term care homes, 45 of which are reported to have no resident cases.

There are nine active cases among long-term care residents and 115 among staff.

As of Friday evening, 1,916,332 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Ontario, marking an increase of 77,740.

So far, 308,301 people in the province are considered to be fully vaccinated.