Ontario reports 642 new COVID-19 cases, largest daily count in over a month

Ontario is reporting 642 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, the largest one-day increase in new infections in over a month. The provincial case total now stands at 605,248.

It is the highest daily count since Oct. 9 when 654 new cases were reported. For comparison, last Thursday saw 438 new cases and the previous Thursday saw 409. All three Thursday’s saw similar testing volumes in the 30,000 range.

Of the 642 new cases recorded, the data showed 334 were unvaccinated people, 18 were partially vaccinated people, 245 were fully vaccinated people and for 45 people the vaccination status was unknown.

According to Thursday’s report, 74 cases were recorded in Toronto, 62 in York Region,  61 in Peel Region, 52 in Simcoe Muskoka, 48 in Windsor-Essex, and 39 in Ottawa. 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 9,916 as four more deaths were recorded.

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

As of 8 p.m. on Wednesday, 15,962  vaccines (5,721 for a first shot and 10,241 for a second shot) were administered in the last day.

There are more than 11.1 million people fully immunized with two doses, which is 85.3 per cent of the eligible (12 and older) population. First dose coverage stands at 88.6 per cent.

Meanwhile, 591,063 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is about 98 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 422 from the previous day.

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Active cases in Ontario now stand at 4,269 — up from the previous day when it was at 4,053, and is up from Nov. 4 when it was at 3,189. 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 532, which is up from the week prior when it was 383. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 500.

The government said 29,814 tests were processed in the previous 24 hours. There are 13,635 tests currently under investigation.

Test positivity hit 2.1 per cent. Last week, test positivity was at 1.7 per cent.

Hospitalizations in Ontario

Ontario reported 251 people in general hospital wards with COVID-19 (up by eight from the previous day) with 132 patients in intensive care units (down by four) and 108 patients in intensive care units on a ventilator (down by eight).

As of Wednesday, there were 13 patients from Saskatchewan in Ontario — all in ICUs, officials noted.

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.

For those in general hospital wards with COVID, 89 were unvaccinated, 15 were partially vaccinated and 64 were fully vaccinated. For those in ICUs, 62 were unvaccinated while 4 were partially vaccinated and 18 were fully vaccinated.

Provincial officials noted this new dataset with vaccination status for hospitalizations will grow and improve over time as more information is collected. There may also be a discrepancy due to how and when the information for both is collected.

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: 146,508 variant cases, which five cases were removed since the previous day. This strain dominated Ontario’s third wave.

Delta: 22,007 variant cases, which is up by 34 since the previous day. This strain is dominating Ontario’s fourth wave.

Beta: 1,503 variant cases, which is unchanged since the previous day.

Gamma: 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:

• 302,583 people are male — an increase of 357 cases.
• 300,531 people are female — an increase of 332 cases.
• 17,418 people are under the age of four — an increase of 40 cases.
• 32,628 people are 5 to 11 — an increase of 113 cases.
• 53,962 people are 12 to 19 — an increase of 45 cases.
• 227,308 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 195 cases.
• 169,254 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 161 cases.
• 78,272 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 64 cases.
• 26,299 people are 80 and over — an increase of 24 cases.
• The province notes that not all cases have a reported age or gender.

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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: 105
• Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 692
• Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 3,245
• Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 5,867
• 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 81 new COVID-19 cases in schools — with 72 among students, 8 among staff and one individual was not identified. The data was collected between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday afternoon — a 24-hour period.

There are 974 active infections among both students and staff, compared with 999 active cases reported the previous day.

Two schools are closed as a result of positive cases.