Ontario reports more than 600 new COVID-19 cases for 1st time since early June

Ontario is reporting 650 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, the largest one-day increase since June 6 when it was at 663. The provincial case total now stands at 558,101.

Of the 650 new cases recorded, the data showed 426 were unvaccinated people, 64 were partially vaccinated people, 103 were fully vaccinated people and for 57 people the vaccination status was unknown.

According to Friday’s report, 136 cases were recorded in Toronto, 113 in Peel Region, 63 in York Region 58 in Windsor-Essex and 55 in Hamilton.

All other local public health units reported fewer than 50 new cases in the provincial report.

The death toll in the province has risen to 9,450 as two more deaths were recorded.

As of 8 p.m. on Thursday, 45,748 vaccines (16,384 for a first shot and 29,364 for a second shot) were administered in the last day.

There are more than 9.7 million people fully immunized with two doses which is 74.4 per cent of the eligible (12+) population. First dose coverage stands at 82 per cent.

Meanwhile, 544,204 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is about 98 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 444 from the previous day.

Active cases in Ontario now stand at 4,447 — up from the previous day when it was at 4,243, and is up from Aug. 13 when it was at 3,110. 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 518 which is up from yesterday at 498, and is up from last week when it was 399. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 150.

The government said 28,635 tests were processed in the last 24 hours. There is currently a backlog of 12,398 tests awaiting results.

Test positivity for Friday hit 2.4 per cent. Last week, test positivity was at 2 per cent.

Ontario reported 197 people in general hospital wards with COVID-19 (up by 21 from the previous day) with 135 patients in intensive care units (up by four) and 104 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (up by four).

Provincial officials recently announced they would start including the vaccination status of those hospitalized due to COVID-19 as part of their daily COVID-19 data reporting. They noted the new dataset will grow and improve over time as more information is collected.

The most recent data showed for those in general hospital wards with COVID, 85 were unvaccinated, 11 were partially vaccinated and 21 were fully vaccinated. For those in ICUs, 67 were unvaccinated while 7 were partially vaccinated and 5 were fully vaccinated.

Ontario did not release recent data on variant cases due to system upgrades.

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

• 278,254 people are male — an increase of 332 cases.
• 276,138 people are female — an increase of 310 cases.
• 15,028 people are under the age of 4 — an increase of 37 cases.
• 26,433 people are 5 to 11 — an increase of 64 cases.
• 49,429 people are 12 to 19 — an increase of 58 cases.
• 209,934 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 316 cases.
• 158,361 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 132 cases.
• 73,511 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 39 cases.
• 25,308 people are 80 and over — an increase of 5 cases.
• 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: 5
• Deaths reported in ages 20 to 39: 90
• Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 617 (+1)
• Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 3,053 (+1)
• Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 5,684
• 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 3,793 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 an increase of one from the previous day.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 3 active case among long-term care residents and 10 active cases among staff — up by two, and unchanged, respectively, in the last day.