Ontario reports largest increase in COVID-19 cases since early June, 1 additional death

Ontario reported 689 COVID-19 cases on Saturday, bringing the total number of cases in the province to 558,790.

It marks the largest jump in COVID-19 cases for Ontario since June 5, when 744 were reported.

Health Minister Christine Elliott said of the new cases, 552 are in those who are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status, while 137 are in fully vaccinated individuals.

For comparison, last Saturday 578 cases were reported.

One new death was also announced on Aug. 21, bringing the provincial virus-related death toll to 9,451.

A total of 544,679 coronavirus cases are considered resolved, which is up by 475.

Nearly 26,100 additional tests were completed. Ontario has now completed a total of 16,994,372 tests and 12,848 remain under investigation.

The province indicated that the positivity rate for the last day was 2.7 per cent, which is up from Friday’s report when it was 2.4 per cent, and up from last Saturday’s report, when it was also 2.4 per cent.

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Provincial figures showed there are 130 people in intensive care due to COVID-19 (down by five), 78 of whom are on a ventilator (up by one).

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Elliott said of those in intensive care, 123 are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status while seven are fully vaccinated.

As of 8 p.m. Friday, 20,433,440 COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered in Ontario, marking an increase of 46,629. Of those, 31,641 were second doses.

In Ontario, more than 82 per cent of people aged 12-plus have received at least one vaccine dose and 74.6 per cent are fully vaccinated.