Ontario reports 959 new COVID-19 cases, 7 more deaths

Ontario is reporting 959 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, as the counts continue to rise week over week. The provincial case total now stands at 620,229.

For comparison, last Thursday saw 748 new cases and the previous Thursday saw 711. All three Thursday’s saw similar testing volumes in the 30,000 range.

Of the 959 new cases recorded, the data showed 446 were unvaccinated people, 23 were partially vaccinated people, 429 were fully vaccinated people and for 61 people the vaccination status was unknown.

According to Thursday’s report, 118 cases were recorded in Toronto, 91 in Windsor-Essex, 75 each in Peel Region and Simcoe Muskoka, 59 in Ottawa, and 53 in York Region. All other local public health units reported fewer than 50 new cases in the provincial report.

The death toll in the province has risen to 10,012 as seven more deaths were reported.

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

As of 8 p.m. Wednesday, Ontario’s ministry of health said first dose vaccination for those aged 12 and older stands at 90 per cent, while second dose coverage is at 87.2 per cent.

Meanwhile, 603,285 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is around 97 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 770 from the previous day.

Active cases in Ontario now stand at 6,932— up from the previous day when it was at 6,750, and up from Nov. 25 when it was at 5,552. 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 851, which is up from the week prior when it was 692. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 375.

The government said 38,480 tests were processed in the previous 24 hours — the most number of tests in a single day since early October. There are 17,333 tests currently under investigation.

Test positivity hit 2.9 per cent. Last week, test positivity was at 2.6 per cent.

Hospitalizations in Ontario

Ontario reported 291 people in general hospital wards with COVID-19 (down by five from the previous day) with 155 patients in intensive care units (unchanged) and 139 patients in intensive care units on a ventilator (unchanged).

As of Dec. 1, 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, 89 were unvaccinated, 11 were partially vaccinated and 50 were fully vaccinated. For those in ICUs, 67 were unvaccinated while 5 were partially vaccinated and 26 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:

• 310,064 people are male — an increase of 482 cases.
• 307,970 people are female — an increase of 470 cases.
• 18,147 people are under the age of four — an increase of 57 cases.
• 35,334 people are 5 to 11 — an increase of 165 cases.
• 55,088 people are 12 to 19 — an increase of 83 cases.
• 231,625 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 285 cases.
• 173,040 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 237 cases.
• 80,245 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 119 cases.
• 26,639 people are 80 and over — an increase of 11 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
• Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 699
• Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 3,293
• Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 5,905
• 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 761 out of 4,844 schools in Ontario with at least one COVID-19 case.

On Thursday, Ontario reported 164 new COVID-19 cases in schools — with 148 among students, 15 among staff and one individual was not identified. The data was collected between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday afternoon — a 24 hour period.

There are 1,748 active infections among both students and staff, compared with 1,720 active cases reported the previous day.

Ten 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 in several weeks. Thirteen virus-related deaths in total have been reported among staff.

There are seven current outbreaks in homes, which is an increase of three from the previous day.

The ministry also indicated there are currently four active cases among long-term care residents and 20 active cases among staff — unchanged and up by two, respectively, in the last day.