Ontario is reporting 798 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, breaking a three-day stretch that saw cases below 600 as the number of tests processed have increased following Labour Day weekend. The provincial case total now stands at 572,130.
Of the 798 new cases recorded, the data showed 497 were unvaccinated people, 57 were partially vaccinated people, 178 were fully vaccinated people and for 66 people the vaccination status was unknown.
According to Thursday’s report, 159 cases were recorded in Toronto, 73 in Peel Region, 72 each in both Ottawa and York Region, 66 in Windsor-Essex, 55 in Hamilton, 38 in Niagara Region and 37 in Simcoe-Muskoka.
All other local public health units reported fewer than 35 new cases in the provincial report.
The death toll in the province has risen to 9,579 as three new deaths were recorded. In addition, the Ontario Ministry of Health said seven more deaths occurred more than a month ago due to data cleanup and were added to the overall total.
Hospitalizations in Ontario
Ontario reported 365 people in general hospital wards with COVID-19 (down by 10 from the previous day) with 185 patients in intensive care units (down by nine) and 160 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.
For those in general hospital wards with COVID, 162 were unvaccinated, 14 were partially vaccinated and 28 were fully vaccinated. For those in ICUs, 113 were unvaccinated while seven were partially vaccinated and eight 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 has recorded 5,689 patients in total have ever been in ICU with 29,298 patients having been hospitalized due to COVID since the start of the pandemic.
Vaccinations, recoveries, testing, 7-day average in Ontario
As of 8 p.m. on Tuesday, 38,391 vaccines (18,043 for a first shot and 20,348 for a second shot) were administered in the last day.
There are more than 10.1 million people fully immunized with two doses, which is 77.5 per cent of the eligible (12 and older) population. First dose coverage stands at 84 per cent.
Meanwhile, 556,495 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is about 97 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 772 from the previous day.
Active cases in Ontario now stand at 6,056 — up from the previous day when it was at 6,040, and is up from Sept. 2 when it was at 6,031. 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 723 which is the down from yesterday’s at 732, and is down from last week when it was 728. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 300.
The government said 29,684 tests were processed in the last 24 hours (the most daily tests in two months), the last three days saw testing levels between 17,000 and 22,000. There is currently a backlog of 14,130 tests awaiting results.
Test positivity 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:
“Alpha” the B.1.1.7 VOC (first detected in the United Kingdom): 146,440 variant cases, which is up by three since the previous day. This strain dominated Ontario’s third wave.
“Beta” the B.1.351 VOC (first detected in South Africa): 1,501 variant cases, which is unchanged since the previous day.
“Gamma” the P.1 VOC (first detected in Brazil): 5,223 variant cases, which is unchanged since the previous day.
“Delta” the B.1.617.2 VOC (first detected in India): 13,303 variant cases, which is up by 295 since the previous day. This strain is dominating Ontario’s fourth wave.
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:
- 285,113 people are male — an increase of 396 cases.
- 283,067 people are female — an increase of 375 cases.
- 15,646 people are under the age of four — an increase of 35 cases.
- 27,827 people are 5 to 11 — an increase of 101 cases.
- 50,988 people are 12 to 19 — an increase of 85 cases.
- 215,521 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 295 cases.
- 161,528 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 190 cases.
- 74,660 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 73 cases.
- 25,553 people are 80 and over — an increase of 19 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: 91
- Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 634
- Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 3,107 (+5)
- Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 5,741 (+5)
- 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 3,802 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario which is an increase of three deaths since the previous day. Thirteen virus-related deaths in total have been reported among staff.
There are seven current outbreaks in homes, which is unchanged from the previous day.
The ministry also indicated there are currently 28 active cases among long-term care residents and 19 active cases among staff — up by one and down by four, respectively, in the last day.
Editor’s note: the number of cases originally shown in this story was in error. The number of new cases has been updated.
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