Ontario reports 1,446 new COVID-19 cases Victoria Day, just over 1,000 Tuesday

Ontario is reporting 1,446 new COVID-19 cases on Victoria Day Monday and 1,039 on Tuesday. The provincial total now stands at 524,950.

The province released two sets of data due to the holiday.

Tuesday’s case count is the lowest daily increase since March 6, as daily cases continue to trend downwards. Although testing volumes were well below normal over the last two days relative to daily totals, test positivity remained at a level seen over the last two weeks.

According to Monday’s report, 325 cases were recorded in Toronto, 393 in Peel Region, 97 in York Region and 78 in Durham Region.

According to Tuesday’s report, 387 cases were recorded in Toronto, 231 in Peel Region, 77 in York Region and 60 in Durham Region.

All other local public health units reported fewer than 60 new cases in the provincial report.

The death toll in the province has risen to 8,655 as eight deaths were recorded on Monday and 33 more deaths on Tuesday.

As of 8 p.m. on Monday, more than 8.2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses were  administered. That marked an increase of 99,108 and 86,927 vaccines, respectively, in the last two days. There are 544,288 people fully vaccinated with two doses.

Meanwhile, 497,269 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is about 94 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 2,072 from Monday 2,018 from Tuesday.

There were more resolved cases than new cases on both Monday and Tuesday.

Active cases in Ontario now stand at 19,026 — down from the previous day when it was at 20,038, and is down from May 18 when it was at 24,966. At the peak of the second wave coronavirus surge in January, active cases hit just above 30,000. In the third wave in April, active cases topped 43,000.

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The seven-day average has now reached 1,693, which is down from yesterday at 1,775, and is down from last week at 2,287. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 3,900.

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The government said 16,857 tests were processed for Tuesday’s report, and 20,151 tests for Monday’s — similar to testing volumes in early September. There is currently a backlog of 7,450 tests awaiting results. A total of 15,041,724 tests have been completed since the start of the pandemic.

Test positivity for Tuesday was 6.2 per cent. That figure is slightly down up from Monday’s at 6.4 per cent, and is down from last week when it was 7.6 per cent.

Ontario reported 1,025 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 (up by 42 from the previous day) with 692 patients in intensive care units (up by five) and 498 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (up by 20). Overall, hospitalizations have been on the decline since the third wave peak in April.

Variants of concern in Ontario

Officials have listed breakdown data for the new VOCs (variants of concern) detected so far in the province which consist of the B.1.1.7 (first detected in the United Kingdom), B.1.351 (first detected in South Africa), P.1 (first detected in Brazil), as well as mutations that have no determined lineage.

The B.1.1.7 VOC is currently the dominating known strain at 120,130 variant cases, which is up by 985 since the previous day, 817 B.1.351 variant cases which is up by nine, and 2,462 P.1 variant cases which is up by 40.

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

• 261,176 people are male — an increase of 727 cases Monday, 538 on Tuesday.
• 259,485 people are female — an increase of 657 cases Monday, 467 on Tuesday
• 83,072 people are 19 and under — an increase of 287 cases on Monday, 198 on Tuesday
• 196,269 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 626 cases on Monday, 442 on Tuesday.
• 150,599 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 362 cases on Monday, 254 on Tuesday.
• 70,273 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 140 cases on Monday, 129 on Tuesday
• 24,638 people are 80 and over — an increase of 24 cases on Monday, 22 on Tuesday.
• 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: 4
• Deaths reported in ages 20 to 39: 67
• Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 488 (+6)
• Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 2,661 (+18)
• Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 5,411 (+9)
• 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 3,771 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario which is an increase of one death since yesterday. Thirteen virus-related deaths in total have been reported among staff.

There are 35 current outbreaks in homes, which is unchanged from the previous day.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 51 active cases among long-term care residents 102 active cases among staff — down by one and unchanged, respectively, in the last day.