Ontario reports 438 new COVID-19 cases, 5 more deaths

Ontario is reporting 438 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, a slight uptick from a week ago. The provincial case total now stands at 601,524.

For comparison, last Thursday saw 409 new cases and the previous Thursday saw 413. All three Thursday’s saw comparable testing volumes in the 30,000 range.

Of the 438 new cases recorded, the data showed 227 were unvaccinated people, 15 were partially vaccinated people, 159 were fully vaccinated people and for 37 people the vaccination status was unknown.

According to Thursday’s report, 72 cases were recorded in Toronto, 40 in Niagara, 37 in York Region, 34 in Simcoe Muskoka, 28 in Ottawa, 26 in Peel Region, and 26 in Sudbury. All other local public health units reported fewer than 20 new cases in the provincial report.

The death toll in the province has risen to 9,891 as five new deaths were recorded.

Vaccinations, recoveries, testing, 7-day average in Ontario

As of 8 p.m. on Wednesday, 16,588 vaccines (5,850 for a first shot and 10,738 for a second shot) were administered in the last day.

There are more than 11 million people fully immunized with two doses, which is 84.8 per cent of the eligible (12 and older) population. First dose coverage stands at 88.3 per cent.

Meanwhile, 588,444 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is about 98 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 337 from the previous day.

Active cases in Ontario now stand at 3,189 — up from the previous day when it was at 3,093, and is up from Oct. 28 when it was at 3,018. 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 383, which is up from the week prior when it was 366. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 575.

The government said 32,129 tests were processed in the previous 24 hours. There are 13,726 tests currently under investigation.

Test positivity hit 1.7 per cent. Last week, test positivity was at 1.3 per cent.

Hospitalizations in Ontario

Ontario reported 234 people in general hospital wards with COVID-19 (down by three from the previous day) with 130 patients in intensive care units (down by seven) and 109 patients in intensive care units on a ventilator (down by five).

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 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. There may be a discrepancy due to how and when the information for both is collected.

For those in general hospital wards with COVID, 78 were unvaccinated, 11 were partially vaccinated and 57 were fully vaccinated. For those in ICUs, 62 were unvaccinated while 5 were partially vaccinated and 15 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): 146,513 variant cases, which is up by 2 since the previous day. This strain dominated Ontario’s third wave.

“Delta” the B.1.617.2 VOC (first detected in India): 21,323 variant cases, which is up by 91 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): 5,231 variant cases, which is unchanged since the previous day.

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

• 300,707 people are male — an increase of 211 cases.
• 298,672 people are female — an increase of 224 cases.
• 17,231 people are under the age of four — an increase of 29 cases.
• 32,057 people are 5 to 11 — an increase of 55 cases.
• 53,681 people are 12 to 19 — an increase of 30 cases.
• 226,109 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 134 cases.
• 168,371 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 122 cases.
• 77,826 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 62 cases.
• 26,141 people are 80 and over — an increase of 5 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: 103
• Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 689
• Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 3,242 (+4)
• Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 5,850 (+1)
• 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 501 out of 4,844 schools in Ontario with at least one COVID-19 case.

On Thursday, Ontario reported 86 new COVID-19 cases in schools — with 72 among students and 14 among staff. The data was collected between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday afternoon — a 24-hour period.

There are 959 active infections among both students and staff, an increase from 943 active cases reported Wednesday.

Four 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 3,824 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 2 current outbreaks in homes, which is down by one from the previous day.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 2 active cases among long-term care residents and 9 active cases among staff — down by one and unchanged, respectively, in the last day.