Ontario reports 146 new COVID-19 cases as more than 7 million Ontarians fully vaccinated

Ontario is reporting 146 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, the fifth straight day cases are below 200. The provincial case total now stands at 547,409.

On Monday, there were 114 cases with 166 on Sunday and 179 on Saturday.

According to Tuesday’s report, 43 cases were recorded in Toronto, 36 in Waterloo Region, 13 in Peel Region, 11 in Hamilton and 10 in Middlesex-London.

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

The death toll in the province has risen to 9,258 as seven more deaths were recorded.

As of 8 p.m. on Monday, more than 17.1 million total COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered. That marked an increase of 176,834 vaccines (19,100 for a first shot and 157,734 for a second shot) in the last day.

There are more than 7.1 million people fully immunized with two doses which is 57.2 per cent of the adult (18+) population. First dose adult coverage stands at 79.4 per cent.

Meanwhile, 536,603 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is about 98 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 201 from the previous day.

There were more resolved cases than new cases on Tuesday.

Active cases in Ontario now stand at 1548 — down from the previous day when it was at 1,610, and is down from July 6 when it was at 1,883. 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 170, which is down from yesterday’s at 184, and is down from last week at 215. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 500.

The government said 17,489 tests were processed in the last 24 hours. There is currently a backlog of 140,23 tests awaiting results. A total of 16,221,898 tests have been completed since the start of the pandemic.

Test positivity for Tuesday hit 0.8 per cent. Last week, test positivity was at 0.9 per cent.

Ontario reported 173 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 (up by 31 from the previous day) with 192 patients in intensive care units (down by 12) and 123 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (unchanged). 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: 144,745 variant cases, which is up by 31 since the previous day,

“Beta” the B.1.351 VOC: 1,448 variant cases, which is up by eight since the previous day.

“Gamma” the P.1 VOC: 4,859 variant cases, which is up by 41 since the previous day.

“Delta” B.1.617.2 VOC: 2,752 variant cases, which is up by 41 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:

• 272,807 people are male — an increase of 75 cases.
• 270,893 people are female — an increase of 67 cases.
• 88,282 people are 19 and under — an increase of 48 cases.
• 205,017 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 56 cases.
• 156,134 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 27 cases.
• 72,725 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 18 cases.
• 25,153 people are 80 and over — one case was removed.
• 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
• Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 592 (+1)
• Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 2,955 (+3)
• Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 5,623 (+3)
• The province notes there may be a reporting delay for deaths and data

Cases, deaths and outbreaks in Ontario long-term care homes

According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 3,788 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario which is up by two deaths since yesterday. Thirteen virus-related deaths in total have been reported among staff.

There are 5 current outbreaks in homes, which is an increase of one from the previous day.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 13 active cases among long-term care residents 14 active cases among staff — down by five and up by four, respectively, in the last day.