Ontario reports 525 COVID-19 cases, 2 new deaths with 3 more following data cleanup

Ontario is reporting 525 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, a dip in the daily total from the last several days although Tuesday’s typically see lower counts due to fewer testing numbers from the weekend. The provincial case total now stands at 565,550.

Of the 525 new cases recorded, the data showed 326 were unvaccinated people, 43 were partially vaccinated people, 91 were fully vaccinated people and for 65 people the vaccination status was unknown.

According to Tuesday’s report, 120 cases were recorded in Toronto, 60 each in both Peel Region and Windsor-Essex, 41 in Hamilton, 41 in Niagara Region, and 30 in York Region.

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 9,503 as five more deaths were recorded. However, the ministry of health said three of the deaths occurred more than two months ago. Two of the deaths are recent.

As of 8 p.m. on Monday, 31,176 vaccines (11,948 for a first shot and 19,228 for a second shot) were administered in the last day.

There are more than 9.9 million people fully immunized with two doses, which is 76.3 per cent of the eligible (12 and older) population. First dose coverage stands at 83 per cent.

Hospitalizations in Ontario

Ontario reported 336 people in general hospital wards with COVID-19 (up by 110 from the previous day) with 160 patients in intensive care units (down by two) and 131 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (down by three).

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, 137 were unvaccinated, 19 were partially vaccinated and 33 were fully vaccinated. For those in ICUs, 83 were unvaccinated while 8 were partially vaccinated and 10 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, 550,179 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is about 97 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 680 from the previous day.

Active cases in Ontario now stand at 5,868 — down from the previous day when it was at 6,028, and up from Aug. 24 when it was at 5,053. 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 701 which is up from yesterday at 696, and is up from last week when it was 600. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 200.

The government said 19,643 tests were processed in the last 24 hours. There is currently a backlog of 13,044 tests awaiting results.

Test positivity for Tuesday hit 3.1 per cent. Last week, test positivity was at 3 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: 146,341 variant cases, which is up by 12 since the previous day.

“Beta” the B.1.351 VOC: 1,501 variant cases, which is up by 1 since the previous day.

“Gamma” the P.1 VOC: 5,222 variant cases, which is unchanged since the previous day.

“Delta” B.1.617.2 VOC: 9,779 variant cases, which is up by 80 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.

2:38 Ontario expected to implement vaccine certificate

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

• 281,937 people are male — an increase of 263 cases.
• 279,790 people are female — an increase of 260 cases.
• 15,334 people are under the age of four — an increase of 32 cases.
• 27,115 people are 5 to 11 — an increase of 69 cases.
• 50,260 people are 12 to 19 — an increase of 56 cases.
• 213,259 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 188 cases.
• 159,963 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 123 cases.
• 74,097 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 51 cases.
• 25,421 people are 80 and over — an increase of 6 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: 623
• Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 3,076
• Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 5,708
• 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 3,794 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario which is unchanged since three previous day. Thirteen virus-related deaths in total have been reported among staff.

There are 8 current outbreaks in homes, which is an increase of two from the previous day.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 29 active cases among long-term care residents and 20 active cases among staff — up by 16 and up by 7, respectively, in the last day.