Ontario reaches 10,000 COVID-related deaths since start of pandemic

Ontario is reporting three new COVID-19 related deaths Tuesday as the number of fatalities in the province hit the grim milestone of 10,000 since the start of the pandemic.

In a 20-month global pandemic that was formally declared by the World Health Organization in March 2020, the province recorded its first virus-related death on March 17, 2020 — a 77-year-old man from Barrie, Ont.

Then, the first 1,000 deaths were recorded within the next six weeks by April 30, 2020. Ontario reached 5,000 deaths amid the second wave on Jan. 11, as another thousand deaths were recorded just two and a half weeks later.

Ontario hit just over 9,000 deaths on June 19 as it emerged from a devastating third wave while more people were getting vaccinated as supply ramped up.

It took another five months to record the most recent 1,000 deaths to reach the 10,000-death toll mark.

Ontario has the second-highest death toll in Canada, behind Quebec which has recorded more than 11,500 deaths attributed to COVID so far.

Of the 10,000 deaths, there have been 3,824 COVID-related deaths in long term care homes, according to Ontario’s Ministry of Health.

Meanwhile, 687 new COVID-19 cases were also reported on Tuesday. The provincial case total now stands at 618,490.

For comparison, last Tuesday saw 613 new cases and the previous Tuesday saw 481. All three Tuesdays saw similar testing volumes in the 20,000 range.

Of the 687 new cases recorded, the data showed 310 were unvaccinated people, 19 were partially vaccinated people, 308 were fully vaccinated people and for 50 people the vaccination status was unknown.

According to Tuesday’s report, 94 cases were recorded in Toronto, 71 in Windsor-Essex, 60 in Peel Region, 57 in Simcoe Muskoka, and 47 in Halton Region. All other local public health units reported fewer than 45 new cases in the provincial report.

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

As of 8 p.m. on Monday, 27,129 vaccines (21,456 for a first shot and 5,673 for a second shot) were administered in the last day.

There are more than 11.2 million people fully immunized with two doses, which is 86.4 per cent of the aged 12 and older population. First dose coverage stands at 89.9 per cent.

There were 601,550 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is around 97 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 560 from the previous day.

2:12 Ontario reaches 10,000 COVID-related deaths

Active cases in Ontario now stand at 6,940 — up from the previous day when it was at 6,816, and up from Nov. 23 when it was at 5,487. 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 794, which is up from the week prior when it was 675. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 350.

The government said 21476 tests were processed in the previous 24 hours. There are 15,824 tests currently under investigation.

Test positivity hit 3 per cent. Last week, test positivity was at 3.1 per cent.

Hospitalizations in Ontario

Ontario reported 266 people in general hospital wards with COVID-19 (up by 121 from the previous day) with 153 patients in intensive care units (up by five) and 137 patients in intensive care units on a ventilator (up by six).

As of Monday, there are 4 patients from Saskatchewan in Ontario hospitals, three of whom are in the ICU.

Ontario Health officials have recently said intensive care occupancy can hit between 250 or 300 patients before the health care system would be impacted and require ramping down some non-urgent surgeries and procedures.

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, 78 were unvaccinated, 10 were partially vaccinated and 48 were fully vaccinated. For those in ICUs, 57 were unvaccinated while 5 were partially vaccinated and 19 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.

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

• 309,167 people are male — an increase of 351 cases.
• 307,142 people are female — an increase of 334 cases.
• 18,047 people are under the age of four — an increase of 34 cases.
• 35,032 people are 5 to 11 — an increase of 117 cases.
• 54,944 people are 12 to 19 — an increase of 40 cases.
• 231,126 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 212 cases.
• 172,603 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 175 cases.
• 80,021 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 101 cases.
• 26,608 people are 80 and over — an increase of 7 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: Seven
• Deaths reported in ages 20 to 39: 106
• Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 696 (+1)
• Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 3,289
• Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 5,901 (+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 749 out of 4,844 schools in Ontario with at least one COVID-19 case.

On Tuesday, Ontario reported 320 new COVID-19 cases in schools — with 279 among students, 30 among staff and 11 individuals were not identified. The data was collected between Friday afternoon and Monday afternoon — a three-day period.

There are 1,655 active infections among both students and staff, compared with 1,591 active cases reported the previous day.

Twelve 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 three current outbreaks in homes, which is a decrease of one from the previous day.

The ministry also indicated there are currently two active cases among long-term care residents and 10 active cases among staff — down by one and unchanged, respectively, in the last day.