Ontario is reporting 590 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday. The provincial total now stands at 538,077.
Thursday’s case count is a slight increase from the previous day. However, test positivity was the same as it was yesterday. It is also the 11th straight day cases are below 1,000.
On Wednesday, there were 411 new cases, with 469 on Tuesday and 525 on Monday.
According to Thursday’s report, 114 cases were recorded in Toronto, 130 in Peel Region, 61 in Waterloo, 38 in Hamilton, and 32 in York Region.
All other local public health units reported fewer than 30 new cases in the provincial report.
The death toll in the province has risen to 8,931 as 11 more deaths were recorded.
As of 8 p.m. on Wednesday, more than 10.6 million total COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered. That marked an increase of 182,350 vaccines (65,250 for a first shot and 117,100 for a second shot) in the last day. There are now nearly 1.4 million people fully vaccinated with two doses.
Meanwhile, 522,682 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is about 97 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 939 from the previous day.
There were more resolved cases than new cases on Thursday.
Active cases in Ontario now stand at 6,464 — down from the previous day when it was at 6,824, and is down from June 3 when it was at 10,664. 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.
The seven-day average has now reached 617, which is down from yesterday at 657, and is down from last week at 940. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 3,000.
The government said 31,423 tests were processed in the last 24 hours. There is currently a backlog of 12,428 tests awaiting results. A total of 15,486,313 tests have been completed since the start of the pandemic.
Test positivity for Thursday was 2.0 per cent. That figure is the same as Wednesday’s at 2.0 per cent and is down from last week when it was at 2.8 per cent.
Ontario reported 516 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 (down by 55 from the previous day) with 371 patients in intensive care units (down by 12) and 219 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (down by 23). 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 (now named by WHO as “Alpha” and was first detected in the United Kingdom), B.1.351 (now named by WHO as “Beta” and was first detected in South Africa), and P.1 (now named by WHO as “Gamma” and was first detected in Brazil).
“Alpha” the B.1.1.7 VOC: 136,117 variant cases, which is up by 1,509 since the previous day,
“Beta” the B.1.351 VOC: 1,128 variant cases, which is up by 3 since the previous day.
“Gamma” the P.1 VOC: 4,098 variant cases which is up by 25 since the previous day.
Here is a breakdown of the total cases in Ontario by gender and age:
- 268,069 people are male — an increase of 255 cases.
- 266,260 people are female — an increase of 311 cases.
- 86,022 people are 19 and under — an increase of 122 cases.
- 201,562 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 257 cases.
- 153,899 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 132 cases.
- 71,618 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 72 cases.
- 24,875 people are 80 and over — an increase of 8 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: 4
- Deaths reported in ages 20 to 39: 73
- Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 535 (-1 — one death was removed)
- Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 2,796 (+6)
- Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 5,522 (+6)
- 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 3,780 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario which is unchanged since yesterday. Thirteen virus-related deaths in total have been reported among staff.
There are 17 current outbreaks in homes, which is down by two from the previous day.
The ministry also indicated there are currently 35 active cases among long-term care residents 38 active cases among staff — unchanged and down by two, respectively, in the last day.