Ontario reports more than 200 new COVID-19 cases for 1st time in three weeks

Ontario is reporting 218 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, jumping back into the 200s for the first time in three weeks. The provincial case total now stands at 549,952.

The last time a daily case count reached above 200 was on July 8 when there were 210 cases reported.

According to Thursday’s report, 38 cases were recorded in both Toronto and Peel Region, 25 in Hamilton, 19 in Waterloo, 13 in Grey Bruce, 12 in Halton Region, and 10 in both Middlesex-London and York Region.

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 9,328 as three more deaths were recorded.

As of 8 p.m. on Wednesday, 89,157 vaccines (16,859 for a first shot and 72,298 for a second shot) were administered in the last day.

There are more than 8.8 million people fully immunized with two doses which is 67.9 per cent of the eligible (12+) population. First dose coverage stands at 80 per cent.

Meanwhile, 539,200 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is about 98 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 169 from the previous day.

Active cases in Ontario now stand at 1,424 — up  from the previous day when it was at 1,378, and is up from July 22 when it was at 1,363. 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 165 which is up from yesterday at 161, and is up from last week at 156. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 300.

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The government said 19,425 tests were processed in the last 24 hours. There is currently a backlog of 8,054 tests awaiting results. A total of 16,530,453 tests have been completed since the start of the pandemic.

Test positivity for Thursday hit 1.3 per cent. Last week, test positivity was at 0.9 per cent.

Ontario reported 105 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 (down by 12 from the previous day) with 121 patients in intensive care units (down by one) and 86 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (up by one).

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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: 145,508 variant cases, which is up by 34 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: 5,161 variant cases, which is up by two since the previous day.

“Delta” B.1.617.2 VOC: 4,421 variant cases, which is up by 377 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.

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

• 274,155 people are male — an increase of 111 cases.
• 272,122 people are female — an increase of 102 cases.
• 88,985 people are 19 and under — an increase of 61 cases.
• 206,004 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 92 cases.
• 156,705 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 48 cases.
• 72,957 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 15 cases.
• 25,206 people are 80 and over — an increase of two 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: 84
• Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 603
• Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 2,991 (+2)
• Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 5,645 (+1)
• 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 unchanged since yesterday. Thirteen virus-related deaths in total have been reported among staff.

There are 4 current outbreaks in homes, which is down by one from the previous day.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 14 active cases among long-term care residents 4 active cases among staff — down by one and unchanged, respectively, in the last day.