Ontario reports 370 new COVID-19 cases, another daily record of vaccinations

Ontario is reporting 370 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, as the province reaches another new daily milestone for the most shots administered in 24 hours hitting just over 210,000 doses. The provincial case total now stands at 541,180.

Thursday’s case count is a decrease from Wednesday’s, with a lower test positivity as well. It is also the 11th straight day cases are below 600.

On Wednesday, there were 384 new cases with 293 on Tuesday and 447 on Monday.

According to Thursday’s report, 67 cases were recorded in Toronto, 57 in Waterloo, 47 in Peel Region, 34 in Ottawa and 27 in York Region.

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 8,993 as seven more deaths were recorded.

As of 8 p.m. on Wednesday, more than 11.9 million total COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered. That marked another record increase of 210,611 vaccines (38,291 for a first shot and 172,320 for a second shot) in the last day. There are more than 2.3 million people fully vaccinated with two doses.

Meanwhile, 527,797 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is about 97 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 635 from the previous day.

There were more resolved cases than new cases on Thursday.

Active cases in Ontario now stand at 4,390 — down from the previous day when it was at 4,662, and is down from June 10 when it was at 6,464. 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 443, which is down from yesterday at 475, and is down from last week at 617. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 2,200.

The government said 30,454 tests were processed in the last 24 hours. There is currently a backlog of 11,462 tests awaiting results. A total of 15,649,372 tests have been completed since the start of the pandemic.

Test positivity for Thursday was 1.3 per cent — the lowest seen since early October. That figure is down from Wednesday’s at 1.5 per cent and is down from last week when it was at 2 per cent.

Ontario reported 397 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 (down by 41 from the previous day) with 362 patients in intensive care units (down by 15) and 232 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (down by 10). 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: 141,472 variant cases, which is up by 366 since the previous day,

“Beta” the B.1.351 VOC: 1,144 variant cases, which is up by three since the previous day.

“Gamma” the P.1 VOC: 4,187 variant cases which is up by 31 since the previous day.

“Delta” B.1.617.2 VOC: 586 variant cases which is up by 89 since the previous day.

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

• 269,562 people are male — an increase of 174 cases.
• 267,767 people are female — an increase of 190 cases.
• 86,828 people are 19 and under — an increase of 90 cases.
• 202,720 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 126 cases.
• 154,622 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 99 cases.
• 71,954 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 48 cases.
• 24,952 people are 80 and over — an increase of seven 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: 78 (+1)
• Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 545 (+1)
• Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 2,824 (+2)
• Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 5,541 (+5)
• 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 10 current outbreaks in homes, which is up by one from the previous day.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 21 active cases among long-term care residents 20 active cases among staff — down by one and up by three, respectively, in the last day.