Ontario is reporting 780 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, as the counts continue to rise week over week. The provincial case total now stands at 619,270.
For comparison, last Wednesday saw 591 new cases and the previous Wednesday saw 512. All three Wednesday’s saw similar testing volumes in the 30,000 range.
Of the 780 new cases recorded, the data showed 369 were unvaccinated people, 24 were partially vaccinated people, 336 were fully vaccinated people and for 51 people the vaccination status was unknown.
According to Wednesday’s report, 96 cases were recorded in Toronto, 88 in Windsor-Essex, 64 in Simcoe Muskoka, 56 in Sudbury, 44 in Ottawa and 43 in Waterloo. All other local public health units reported fewer than 40 new cases in the provincial report.
The death toll in the province has risen to 10,005 as five more deaths were reported.
Meanwhile, 602,515 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is around 97 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 965 from the previous day.
Active cases in Ontario now stand at 6,750— down from the previous day when it was at 6,940, but up from Nov. 24 when it was at 5,407. 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.
Get weekly health news
The seven-day average has now reached 821, which is up from the week prior when it was 686. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 350.
The government said 35,364 tests were processed in the previous 24 hours. There are 16,736 tests currently under investigation.
Test positivity hit 3.1 per cent. Last week, test positivity was at 2.5 per cent.
Hospitalizations in Ontario
Ontario reported 296 people in general hospital wards with COVID-19 (up by 30 from the previous day) with 155 patients in intensive care units (up by two) and 137 patients in intensive care units on a ventilator (up by two).
As of Tuesday, 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, 94 were unvaccinated, 12 were partially vaccinated and 50 were fully vaccinated. For those in ICUs, 59 were unvaccinated while 5 were partially vaccinated and 22 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:
- 309,582 people are male — an increase of 415 cases.
- 307,500 people are female — an increase of 358 cases.
- 18,090 people are under the age of four — an increase of 43 cases.
- 35,169 people are 5 to 11 — an increase of 137 cases.
- 55,005 people are 12 to 19 — an increase of 61 cases.
- 231,340 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 214 cases.
- 172,803 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 200 cases.
- 80,126 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 105 cases.
- 26,628 people are 80 and over — an increase of 20 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: 107 (+1)
- Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 698 (+2)
- Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 3,290 (+1)
- Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 5,902 (+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 763 out of 4,844 schools in Ontario with at least one COVID-19 case.
On Wednesday, Ontario reported 185 new COVID-19 cases in schools — with 167 among students, 16 among staff and two individuals were not identified. The data was collected between Monday afternoon and Tuesday afternoon — a 24-hour period.
There are 1,720 active infections among both students and staff, compared with 1,655 active cases reported the previous day.
Thirteen 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 four current outbreaks in homes, which is a decrease of one from the previous day.
The ministry also indicated there are currently four active cases among long-term care residents and 18 active cases among staff — down by two and down by eight, respectively, in the last day.
Comments