Ontario reports nearly 800 COVID-19 cases, 3 new deaths with 14 more following data cleanup

Ontario is reporting 781 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, the highest one-day count since early June. The provincial case total now stands at 562,756.

Of the 781 new cases recorded, the data showed 485 were unvaccinated people, 83 were partially vaccinated people, 147 were fully vaccinated people and for 66 people the vaccination status was unknown.

According to Friday’s report, 185 cases were recorded in Toronto, 96 in Peel Region, 93 in York Region, 67 in Windsor-Essex, 66 in Hamilton and 40 in Durham Region.

All other local public health units reported fewer than 40 new cases in the provincial report.

The death toll in the province has risen to 9,489 as 17 new deaths were recorded. However, the ministry of health said 14 of the deaths occurred more than two months ago. Three of the deaths are new.

As of 8 p.m. on Thursday, 36,195 vaccines (12,934 for a first shot and 23,261 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 75.7 per cent of the eligible (12 and older) population. First dose coverage stands at 82.6 per cent.

Hospitalizations in Ontario

Ontario reported 306 people in general hospital wards with COVID-19 (up by four from the previous day) with 158 patients in intensive care units (down by seven) and 128 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (down by six).

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, 140 were unvaccinated, 16 were partially vaccinated and 27 were fully vaccinated. For those in ICUs, 90 were unvaccinated while 6 were partially vaccinated and 9 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 5,590 patients in total have ever been in ICU with 28,861 patients having been hospitalized due to COVID since the start of the pandemic.

Recoveries, testing, 7-day average in Ontario

Meanwhile, 547,823 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is about 97 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 625 from the previous day.

Active cases in Ontario now stand at 5,444 — up from the previous day when it was at 5,305, and up from Aug. 20 when it was at 4,447. 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 665 which is up from yesterday at 646, and is up from last week when it was 518. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 160.

The government said 30,063 tests were processed in the last 24 hours. There is currently a backlog of 11,588 tests awaiting results.

Test positivity for Friday hit 3 per cent. Last week, test positivity was at 2.4 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: 146,105 variant cases, which is up by 80 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: 5,222 variant cases, which is up by 1 since the previous day.

“Delta” B.1.617.2 VOC: 8,732 variant cases, which is up by 486 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:

• 280,557 people are male — an increase of 381 cases.
• 278,406 people are female — an increase of 382 cases.
• 15,202 people are under the age of four — an increase of 34 cases.
• 26,828 people are 5 to 11 — an increase of 76 cases.
• 49,962 people are 12 to 19 — an increase of 101 cases.
• 212,090 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 340 cases.
• 159,346 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 165 cases.
• 73,853 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 54 cases.
• 25,374 people are 80 and over — an increase of 13 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: 3,068 (+7)
• Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 5,703 (+10)
• 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 for several weeks. Thirteen virus-related deaths in total have been reported among staff.

There are 5 current outbreaks in homes, which is an increase of one from the previous day.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 11 active cases among long-term care residents and 13 active cases among staff — up by one and up by four, respectively, in the last day.