Ontario reports 653 COVID-19 cases as 7-day average continues to drop

Ontario reported 653 COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the total number of cases in the province to 583,928.

Health Minister Christine Elliott said of the new cases, 499 involve people who are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status, while 154 are fully vaccinated individuals.

For comparison, last Sunday 715 cases were reported, meaning the seven-day average continues to drop. On Sept. 19, the seven-day average was 709 while this Sunday it stands at 621. On Saturday, it was 629.

Six additional deaths were also announced on Sept. 26, bringing the provincial virus-related death toll to 9,704. Officials said three of the six deaths occurred within the past month, while three occurred more than one month ago and were added due to a data clean-up.

A total of 568,633 coronavirus cases are considered resolved, which is up by 639.

Nearly 31,100 additional tests were completed. Ontario has now administered a total of 17,954,556 tests and 11,512 remain under investigation.

The province indicated that the positivity rate for the last day was 2.0 per cent, which is up slightly from Saturday’s report when it was 1.9 per cent, and down from last Sunday’s report, when it was 2.3 per cent.

2:09 World Health Organization approves antibody treatment for certain COVID-19 patients

Provincial figures showed there are 177 people in intensive care due to COVID-19 (down by one), 127 of whom are on a ventilator (down by one).

As of 8 p.m. Saturday, 21,651,850 COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered in Ontario, marking an increase of 37,645. Of the latest shots given, 13,412 were first doses and 24,233 were second doses.

In Ontario, 85.8 per cent of people aged 12-plus have received at least one vaccine dose and more than 80.2 per cent are fully vaccinated.