Ontario reports 270 new COVID-19 cases, 3 deaths

Ontario is reporting 270 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, the smallest single-day increase since mid-September. The provincial case total now stands at 542,468.

Monday’s case count is the seventh straight day cases are below 400. On Sunday, there were 318 new cases with 355 on Saturday and 345 on Friday.

According to Monday’s report, 47 cases were recorded in Toronto, 44 in Waterloo Region, 42 in Peel Region, and 22 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 9,022 as three more deaths were recorded.

As of 8 p.m. on Sunday, more than 12.1 million total COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered. That marked an increase of 118,625 vaccines (20,205 for a first shot and 98,420 for a second shot) in the last day.

There are more than 2.9 million people fully vaccinated with two doses which is 24.4 per cent of the adult population. First dose adult coverage sits at 76.1 per cent.

Meanwhile, 529,992 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is about 97 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 486 from the previous day.

There were more resolved cases than new cases on Monday.

Active cases in Ontario now stand at 3,454 — down from the previous day when it was at 3,673, and is down from June 14 when it was at 5,374. 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 334, which is down from yesterday at 359, and is down from last week at 503. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 2,000.

The government said 13,828 tests were processed in the last 24 hours. There is currently a backlog of 4,589 tests awaiting results. A total of 15,736,274 tests have been completed since the start of the pandemic.

Test positivity for Monday was 2.5 per cent. That figure is up from Sunday’s at 1.7 per cent but is down from last week when it was at 2.8 per cent.

Ontario reported 261 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 (down by five from the previous day) with 323 patients in intensive care units (down by 10) and 202 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (down by six). 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: 142,215 variant cases, which is up by 102 since the previous day,

“Beta” the B.1.351 VOC: 1,154 variant cases, which is unchanged since the previous day.

“Gamma” the P.1 VOC: 4,254 variant cases which is up by 24 since the previous day.

“Delta” B.1.617.2 VOC: 887 variant cases which is up by 136 since the previous day.

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

• 270,226 people are male — an increase of 142 cases.
• 268,394 people are female — an increase of 130 cases.
• 87,127 people are 19 and under — an increase of 62 cases.
• 203,243 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 108 cases.
• 154,912 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 67 cases.
• 72,103 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 26 cases.
• 24,979 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
• Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 550
• Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 2,839
• Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 5,550
• 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 3,782 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 unchanged from the previous day.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 18 active cases among long-term care residents 15 active cases among staff — down by five and down by four, respectively, in the last day.