Ontario is reporting 660 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, a jump in daily cases from the previous day which saw 486 but more tests were processed. The provincial case total now stands at 561,297.
Of the 660 new cases recorded, the data showed 398 were unvaccinated people, 74 were partially vaccinated people, 135 were fully vaccinated people and for 53 people the vaccination status was unknown.
According to Wednesday’s report, 151 cases were recorded in Toronto, 93 in York Region, 86 in Hamilton, 52 in Peel Region, 51 in Windsor-Essex and 34 in Middlesex-London.
All other local public health units reported fewer than 30 new cases in the provincial report.
The death toll in the province has risen to 9,472 as one more death was recorded.
As of 8 p.m. on Tuesday, 40,254 vaccines (14,391 for a first shot and 25,863 for a second shot) were administered in the last day.
There are more than 9.8 million people fully immunized with two doses, which is 75.3 per cent of the eligible (12 and older) population. First dose coverage stands at 82.4 per cent.
Hospitalizations in Ontario
Ontario reported 283 people in general hospital wards with COVID-19 (down by 12 from the previous day) with 161 patients in intensive care units (up by five) and 130 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (up by five).
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, 135 were unvaccinated, 11 were partially vaccinated and 30 were fully vaccinated. For those in ICUs, 78 were unvaccinated while 9 were partially vaccinated and 7 were fully vaccinated.
In the third wave peak, which was the worst wave for hospitalizations, the province saw as many as 900 patients in ICUs with COVID. The province’s data shows 5,573 patients in total have ever been in ICU with 28,788 patients having been hospitalized due to COVID since the start of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, 546,685 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is about 97 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 572 from the previous day.
Active cases in Ontario now stand at 5,140 — up from the previous day when it was at 5,053, and up from Aug. 18 when it was at 4,067. 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 625 which is up from yesterday at 600, and is up from last week when it was 473. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 150.
The government said 26,406 tests were processed in the last 24 hours. There is currently a backlog of 13,055 tests awaiting results.
Test positivity for Wednesday hit 2.4 per cent. Last week, test positivity was at 2.5 per cent.
Variants of concern in Ontario
Officials have listed breakdown data for the new VOCs (variants of concern) detected so far in the province which consists 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: 145,918 variant cases, which is up by 79 since the previous day.
“Beta” the B.1.351 VOC: 1,500 variant cases, which is unchanged since the previous day.
“Gamma” the P.1 VOC: 5,221 variant cases, which is unchanged since the previous day.
“Delta” B.1.617.2 VOC: 8,030 variant cases, which is up by 365 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:
- 279,852 people are male — an increase of 341 cases.
- 277,697 people are female — an increase of 314 cases.
- 15,145 people are under the age of four — an increase of 22 cases.
- 26,691 people are 5 to 11 — an increase of 64 cases.
- 49,770 people are 12 to 19 — an increase of 81 cases.
- 211,452 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 278 cases.
- 159,038 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 156 cases.
- 73,750 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 52 cases.
- 25,350 people are 80 and over — an increase of 8 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: 5
- Deaths reported in ages 20 to 39: 90
- Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 622
- Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 3,061 (+1)
- Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 5,693
- 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 increased by one from the previous day.
The ministry also indicated there are currently 10 active cases among long-term care residents and 7 active cases among staff — up by two and up by five, respectively, in the last day.