Ontario is reporting 495 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, the second day in a row the count is under 500. The provincial case total now stands at 585,502.
Of the 495 new cases recorded, the data showed 302 were unvaccinated people, 36 were partially vaccinated people, 115 were fully vaccinated people and for 42 people the vaccination status was unknown.
According to Wednesday’s report, 107 cases were recorded in Toronto, 39 each in Ottawa and Hamilton, 35 in York Region, 33 each in Peel Region and Windsor-Essex, and 32 in Niagara 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 9,723 as eight more deaths were recorded.
Vaccinations, recoveries, testing, 7-day average in Ontario
As of 8 p.m. on Tuesday, 38,297 vaccines (14,916 for a first shot and 23,381 for a second shot) were administered in the last day.
There are more than 10.5 million people fully immunized with two doses, which is 80.7 per cent of the eligible (12 and older) population. First dose coverage stands at 86.1 per cent.
Meanwhile, 570,790 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is about 97 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 760 from the previous day.
Active cases in Ontario now stand at 4,989 — down from the previous day when it was at 5,262, and is down from Sept. 22 when it was at 5,851. 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 610 which is down from yesterday’s at 606, and is also down from the week prior when it was 692. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 700.
The government said 36,404 tests were processed in the previous 24 hours. There are 19,128 tests currently under investigation.
Test positivity hit 1.7 per cent. Last week, test positivity was at 1.8 per cent.
Hospitalizations in Ontario
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Ontario reported 292 people in general hospital wards with COVID-19 (down by 23 from the previous day) with 172 patients in intensive care units (down by eight) and 149 patients in intensive care units on a ventilator (down by three).
In the third wave peak, which was the worst wave for hospitalizations, the province saw as many as 900 patients in ICUs with COVID and almost 2,400 in general hospital wards.
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, 123 were unvaccinated, 7 were partially vaccinated and 32 were fully vaccinated. For those in ICUs, 99 were unvaccinated while 10 were partially vaccinated and 8 were fully vaccinated.
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): 146,465 variant cases, which is up by four since the previous day. This strain dominated Ontario’s third wave.
“Delta” the B.1.617.2 VOC (first detected in India): 18,569 variant cases, which is up by 61 since the previous day. This strain is dominating Ontario’s fourth wave.
“Beta” the B.1.351 VOC (first detected in South Africa): 1,502 variant cases, which is unchanged since the previous day.
“Gamma” the P.1 VOC (first detected in Brazil): 5,228 variant cases, which one case was removed 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:
- 291,631 people are male — an increase of 225 cases.
- 289,734 people are female — an increase of 265 cases.
- 16,426 people are under the age of four — an increase of 22 cases.
- 29,606 people are 5 to 11 — an increase of 62 cases.
- 52,276 people are 12 to 19 — an increase of 40 cases.
- 221,007 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 191 cases.
- 164,403 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 133 cases.
- 75,867 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 44 cases.
- 25,806 people are 80 and over — an increase of 4 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: Six
- Deaths reported in ages 20 to 39: 95
- Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 663 (+2)
- Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 3,165 (+4)
- Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 5,793 (+2)
- The province notes there may be a reporting delay for deaths and data
Cases among students and staff at Ontario schools
Meanwhile, government figures show there are currently 808 out of 4,844 schools in Ontario with at least one COVID-19 case.
On Wednesday, Ontario reported 170 new COVID-19 cases in schools — with 159 among students and 11 among staff.
There are 1,582 active infections among both students and staff, an increase from 1,564 active cases reported Tuesday.
One school is closed as a result of positive cases.
Cases, deaths and outbreaks in Ontario long-term care homes
According to the Ontario Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 3,817 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario, which is unchanged since the previous day. Thirteen virus-related deaths in total have been reported among staff.
There are 17 current outbreaks in homes, which is unchanged from the previous day.
The ministry also indicated there are currently 54 active cases among long-term care residents and 39 active cases among staff — up by two for both in the last day.
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