Ontario is reporting 574 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, as the province reaches a new daily milestone for the most shots administered in 24 hours hitting almost 200,000 doses. The provincial total now stands at 538,651.
Friday’s case count is a slight decrease from the previous day. However, test positivity was the same as it was yesterday. It is also the 12th straight day cases are below 1,000.
On Thursday, there were 590 new cases, with 411 on Wednesday and 469 on Tuesday.
According to Friday’s report, 109 cases were recorded in Toronto, 84 in Peel Region, 79 in Waterloo, 51 in Porcupine Health Unit, 31 in Hamilton and 30 in Halton 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 8,935 as four more deaths were recorded.
As of 8 p.m. on Thursday, more than 10.8 million total COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered. That marked a new daily record of 199,951 vaccines (65,985 for a first shot and 133,966 for a second shot) in the last day. There are more than 1.5 million people fully vaccinated with two doses.
Meanwhile, 523,532 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is about 97 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 850 from the previous day.
There were more resolved cases than new cases on Friday.
Active cases in Ontario now stand at 6,184 — down from the previous day when it was at 6,464, and is down from June 4 when it was at 9,459. 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 568, which is down from yesterday at 617, and is down from last week at 889. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 2,800.
The government said 28,949 tests were processed in the last 24 hours. There is currently a backlog of 10,953 tests awaiting results. A total of 15,515,262 tests have been completed since the start of the pandemic.
Test positivity for Friday was 2.0 per cent. That figure is the same as Thursday’s at 2.0 per cent and is down from last week when it was at 2.8 per cent.
Ontario reported 489 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 (down by 27 from the previous day) with 366 patients in intensive care units (down by five) and 292 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (up by one). 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: 137,307 variant cases, which is up by 1,190 since the previous day,
“Beta” the B.1.351 VOC: 1,128 variant cases, which is unchanged 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:
- 268,334 people are male — an increase of 265 cases.
- 266,540 people are female — an increase of 280 cases.
- 86,165 people are 19 and under — an increase of 143 cases.
- 201,794 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 232 cases.
- 154,027 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 128 cases.
- 71,677 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 59 cases.
- 24,888 people are 80 and over — an increase of 13 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: 536 (+1)
- Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 2,799 (+3)
- Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 5,522
- 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 3,781 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 16 current outbreaks in homes, which is down by one from the previous day.
The ministry also indicated there are currently 33 active cases among long-term care residents 32 active cases among staff — down by two and down by six, respectively, in the last day.