Ontario reports 129 new COVID-19 cases, 5 deaths

On Monday, there were 119 new cases with 172 on Sunday and 170 on Saturday.

According to Tuesday’s report, 37 cases were recorded in Toronto, 22 in Peel Region and 12 in Hamilton.

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 9,321 as five more deaths were recorded.

As of 8 p.m. on Monday, 92,035 vaccines (15,856 for a first shot and 76,179 for a second shot) were administered in the last day.

There are more than 8.7 million people fully immunized with two doses which is 66.7 per cent of the eligible (12+) population. First dose coverage stands at 79.8 per cent.

Meanwhile, 538,860 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is about 98 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 158 from the previous day.

There were more resolved cases than new cases on Tuesday.

Active cases in Ontario now stand at 1,395 — down from the previous day when it was at 1,429, but is up from July 20 when it was at 1,354. 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 157 which is the same as yesterday’s, and is up from last week at 152. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 300.

The government said 13,644 tests were processed in the last 24 hours. There is currently a backlog of 7,222 tests awaiting results. A total of 16,490,501 tests have been completed since the start of the pandemic.

Test positivity for Tuesday hit 1 per cent. Last week, test positivity was at 0.9 per cent.

Ontario reported 125 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 (up by 29 from the previous day) with 127 patients in intensive care units (down by four) and 91 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (down by four).

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: 145,412 variant cases, which is up by 7 since the previous day,

“Beta” the B.1.351 VOC: 1,492 variant cases, which is unchanged since the previous day.

“Gamma” the P.1 VOC: 5,142 variant cases, which is unchanged since the previous day.

“Delta” B.1.617.2 VOC: 3,921 variant cases, which is up by 5 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:

• 273,957 people are male — an increase of 70 cases.
• 271,910 people are female — an increase of 60 cases.
• 88,874 people are 19 and under — an increase of 30 cases.
• 205,855 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 53 cases.
• 156,622 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 27 cases.
• 72,929 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 21 cases.
• 25,202 people are 80 and over — two cases were removed.
• The province notes that not all cases have a reported age or gender.

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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: 84
• Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 603
• Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 2,985 (+1)
• Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 5,644 (+4)
• 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 3,791 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario which is an increase of one death since yesterday. Thirteen virus-related deaths in total have been reported among staff.

There are 5 current outbreaks in homes, which is unchanged from the previous day.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 24 active cases among long-term care residents 8 active cases among staff — down by three and unchanged, respectively, in the last day.