Ontario is reporting 345 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, as the province reaches 20 per cent of adults who are fully immunized as well as another new daily milestone for the most shots administered in 24 hours. The provincial case total now stands at 541,525.
Friday’s case count is the fifth straight day cases are below 500. On Thursday, there were 370 new cases with 384 on Wednesday and 293 on Tuesday.
According to Friday’s report, 85 cases were recorded in Waterloo Region, 50 in Toronto, 50 in Peel Region, 29 in Hamilton and 22 in York Region. Waterloo Region surpassed Toronto and Peel for the most cases within the count for the second time this week.
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 8,994 as one more death was recorded. It is the fewest number of daily deaths since Oct. 14 when zero deaths were reported.
As of 8 p.m. on Thursday, more than 12.1 million total COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered. That marked another record increase of 210,638 vaccines (34,432 for a first shot and 176,206 for a second shot) in the last day.
There are more than 2.5 million people fully vaccinated with two doses which is 20.96 per cent of the adult population. This is the percentage needed to move into Step 2 of Ontario’s reopening plan.
Meanwhile, 528,421 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is about 97 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 624 from the previous day.
There were more resolved cases than new cases on Friday.
Active cases in Ontario now stand at 4,110 — down from the previous day when it was at 4,390, and is down from June 11 when it was at 6,184. 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 411, which is down from yesterday at 443, and is down from last week at 568. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 2,100.
The government said 26,643 tests were processed in the last 24 hours. There is currently a backlog of 11,236 tests awaiting results. A total of 15,676,015 tests have been completed since the start of the pandemic.
Test positivity for Friday was 1.4 per cent. That figure is up slightly from Thursday’s at 1.3 per cent and is down from last week when it was at 2 per cent.
Ontario reported 378 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 (down by 19 from the previous day) with 352 patients in intensive care units (down by 10) and 221 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (down by 11). 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: 141,700 variant cases, which is up by 228 since the previous day,
“Beta” the B.1.351 VOC: 1,146 variant cases, which is up by two since the previous day.
“Gamma” the P.1 VOC: 4,200 variant cases which is up by 13 since the previous day.
“Delta” B.1.617.2 VOC: 657 variant cases which is up by 71 since the previous day.
Here is a breakdown of the total cases in Ontario by gender and age:
- 269,728 people are male — an increase of 166 cases.
- 267,931 people are female — an increase of 164 cases.
- 86,893 people are 19 and under — an increase of 65 cases.
- 202,878 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 158 cases.
- 154,694 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 72 cases.
- 71,994 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 40 cases.
- 24,962 people are 80 and over — an increase of 10 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
- Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 545
- Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 2,824
- Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 5,542 (+1)
- 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 9 current outbreaks in homes, which is down by one from the previous day.
The ministry also indicated there are currently 23 active cases among long-term care residents 20 active cases among staff — up by two and unchanged, respectively, in the last day.
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