Ontario reports 194 new COVID-19 cases, zero deaths for the first time since last year

Ontario is reporting 194 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, as the province also reported no new deaths for the first time since 2020. The provincial case total now stands at 546,411.

The death toll in the province remained at 9,224. The last time the province reported zero deaths was on Oct. 14.

According to Wednesday’s report, 42 cases were recorded in Waterloo, 35 in Toronto, 26 in Peel Region, 16 in Hamilton and 11 in Grey Bruce.

All other local public health units reported fewer than 10 new cases in the provincial report.

As of 5 p.m. on Tuesday, more than 16.1 million total COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered. That marked an increase of 204,594 vaccines (18,588 for a first shot and 186,006 for a second shot) in the last day.

There are more than 6 million people fully immunized with two doses which is 49.3 per cent of the adult (18+) population. First dose adult coverage stands at 78.6 per cent.

Meanwhile, 535,346 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is about 98 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 236 from the previous day.

There were more resolved cases than new cases on Wednesday.

Active cases in Ontario now stand at 1,841 — down from the previous day when it was at 1,883, and is down from June 30 when it was at 2,257. 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 216, which is up from yesterday’s at 215, and is down from last week at 268. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 700.

The government said 26,976 tests were processed in the last 24 hours. There is currently a backlog of 12,072 tests awaiting results. A total of 16,093,172 tests have been completed since the start of the pandemic.

Test positivity for Wednesday hit 0.9 per cent, which was the same as the previous day. Last week, test positivity was at 1 per cent.

Ontario reported 201 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 (down by one from the previous day) with 220 patients in intensive care units (down by six) and 155 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (down by six). 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: 144,338 variant cases, which is up by 349 since the previous day,

“Beta” the B.1.351 VOC: 1,420 variant cases, which is up by five since the previous day.

“Gamma” the P.1 VOC: 4,650 variant cases, which is up by 18 since the previous day.

“Delta” B.1.617.2 VOC: 2,222 variant cases, which is up by 173 since the previous day.

NOTE: It takes several days for positive COVID-19 tests to be re-examined for the exact variant. Therefore, there may be more variant cases than overall cases in daily reporting.

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

• 272,267 people are male — an increase of 115 cases.
• 270,376 people are female — an increase of 101 cases.
• 88,042 people are 19 and under — an increase of 32 cases.
• 204,608 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 76 cases.
• 155,909 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 52 cases.
• 72,610 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 28 cases.
• 25,142 people are 80 and over — an increase of six 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: 82 (-1)
• Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 583
• Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 2,942
• Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 5,612 (+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 3,783 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 3 current outbreaks in homes, which is unchanged from the previous day.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 23 active cases among long-term care residents nine active cases among staff — unchanged and up by three, respectively, in the last day.