Ontario is reporting 476 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, the second day in a row the count is under 500. The provincial case total now stands at 589,517.
Of the 476 new cases recorded, the data showed 294 were unvaccinated people, 13 were partially vaccinated people, 141 were fully vaccinated people and for 28 people the vaccination status was unknown.
According to Wednesday’s report, 84 cases were recorded in Toronto, 44 in York Region, 44 in Windsor-Essex, 39 in Peel Region, 33 in Hamilton, and 25 in Middlesex-London.
All other local public health units reported fewer than 25 new cases in the provincial report.
The death toll in the province has risen to 9,771 as 14 more deaths were recorded including four deaths that occurred more than a month ago due to data cleanup.
Vaccinations, recoveries, testing, 7-day average in Ontario
As of 8 p.m. on Tuesday, 32,296 vaccines (12,075 for a first shot and 20,221 for a second shot) were administered in the last day.
There are more than 10.6 million people fully immunized with two doses, which is 81.7 per cent of the eligible (12 and older) population. First dose coverage stands at 86.7 per cent.
Meanwhile, 575,167 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is about 97 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 617 from the previous day.
Active cases in Ontario now stand at 4,579 — down from the previous day when it was at 4,734, and is down from Sept. 29 when it was at 4,989. 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 574 which is down from yesterday’s at 576, and is also down from the week prior when it was 610. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 750.
The government said 39,460 tests were processed in the previous 24 hours. There are 16,552 tests currently under investigation.
Test positivity hit 1.7 per cent. Last week, test positivity was also at 1.7 per cent.
Hospitalizations in Ontario
Ontario reported 280 people in general hospital wards with COVID-19 (down by three from the previous day) with 156 patients in intensive care units (up by one) and 132 patients in intensive care units on a ventilator (up by one).
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, 118 were unvaccinated, 11 were partially vaccinated and 46 were fully vaccinated. For those in ICUs, 72 were unvaccinated while 7 were partially vaccinated and 12 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): 146,479 variant cases, which is up by two since the previous day. This strain dominated Ontario’s third wave.
“Delta” the B.1.617.2 VOC (first detected in India): 18,941 variant cases, which is up by 44 since the previous day. This strain is dominating Ontario’s fourth wave.
“Beta” the B.1.351 VOC (first detected in South Africa): 1,503 variant cases, which is unchanged since the previous day.
“Gamma” the P.1 VOC (first detected in Brazil): 5,229 variant cases, which is unchanged 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:
- 293,587 people are male — an increase of 231 cases.
- 291,769 people are female — an increase of 233 cases.
- 16,639 people are under the age of four — an increase of 24 cases.
- 30,215 people are 5 to 11 — an increase of 58 cases.
- 52,618 people are 12 to 19 — an increase of 37 cases.
- 222,374 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 152 cases.
- 165,376 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 132 cases.
- 76,300 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 44 cases.
- 25,888 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: 98
- Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 671
- Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 3,181
- Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 5,814
- 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 773 out of 4,844 schools in Ontario with at least one COVID-19 case.
On Wednesday, Ontario reported 173 new COVID-19 cases in schools — with 156 among students, 16 among staff and one was unspecified.
There are 1,556 active infections among both students and staff, a decrease from 1,606 active cases reported Tuesday.
Eight schools are 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 3,822 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario, which is up by one death since the previous day. Thirteen virus-related deaths in total have been reported among staff.
There are 14 current outbreaks in homes, which is down by three from the previous day.
The ministry also indicated there are currently 40 active cases among long-term care residents and 27 active cases among staff — down by eight and down by 10, respectively, in the last day.