Ontario is reporting 384 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, as the province reaches a new daily milestone for the most shots administered in 24 hours hitting nearly 203,000 doses. The provincial total now stands at 540,810.
Wednesday’s case count is an increase from Tuesday’s, however, test positivity dropped to below two per cent. It is also the 10th straight day cases are below 600.
On Tuesday, there were 293 new cases, with 447 on Monday and 530 on Sunday.
According to Wednesday’s report, 71 cases were recorded in Waterloo, 60 in Peel Region, 54 in Toronto, 23 in Middlesex-London and 21 in Ottawa. Waterloo Region surpassed Toronto and Peel for the most cases within the count.
All other local public health units reported fewer than 20 new cases in the provincial report.
The death toll in the province has risen to 8,986 as 12 more deaths were recorded.
As of 8 p.m. on Tuesday, more than 11.7 million total COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered. That marked an record increase of 202,984 vaccines (42,020 for a first shot and 160,964 for a second shot) in the last day. There are nearly 2.2 million people fully vaccinated with two doses.
Meanwhile, 527,162 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is about 97 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 722 from the previous day.
There were more resolved cases than new cases on Wednesday.
Active cases in Ontario now stand at 4,662 — down from the previous day when it was at 5,012, and is down from June 9 when it was at 6,824. 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 475, which is down from yesterday at 479, and is down from last week at 657. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 2,300.
The government said 28,076 tests were processed in the last 24 hours. There is currently a backlog of 13,336 tests awaiting results. A total of 15,618,918 tests have been completed since the start of the pandemic.
Test positivity for Wednesday was 1.5 per cent — the lowest seen since early October. That figure is down from Tuesday’s at 2.3 per cent and is down from last week when it was at 2 per cent.
Ontario reported 438 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 (up by five from the previous day) with 377 patients in intensive care units (down by five) and 242 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (down by two). 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), P.1 (now named by WHO as “Gamma” and was first detected in Brazil), and B.1.617.2 (now named by WHO as “Delta” and was first detected in India).
“Alpha” the B.1.1.7 VOC: 141,106 variant cases, which is up by 488 since the previous day,
“Beta” the B.1.351 VOC: 1,141 variant cases, which is up by four since the previous day.
“Gamma” the P.1 VOC: 4,156 variant cases which is up by 54 since the previous day.
“Delta” B.1.617.2 VOC: 497 variant cases which is up by 54 since the previous day.
Here is a breakdown of the total cases in Ontario by gender and age:
- 269,388 people are male — an increase of 191 cases.
- 267,577 people are female — an increase of 192 cases.
- 86,738 people are 19 and under — an increase of 81 cases.
- 202,594 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 145 cases.
- 154,523 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 104 cases.
- 71,906 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 43 cases.
- 24,945 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: 77 (+1)
- Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 544 (+3)
- Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 2,822 (+6)
- Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 5,536 (+2)
- 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 unchanged since yesterday. Thirteen virus-related deaths in total have been reported among staff.
There are nine current outbreaks in homes, which is down by five from the previous day.
The ministry also indicated there are currently 22 active cases among long-term care residents 17 active cases among staff — unchanged and down by eight, respectively, in the last day.