Ontario reports 4,177 new COVID cases, 2 deaths

Ontario is reporting 4,177 new COVID cases on Sunday, as daily positive infections continue to rise rapidly amid the highly contagious Omicron variant. The provincial case total now stands at 649,943.

The most number of cases ever reported in a single day throughout the pandemic was on April 16 when there were 4,812 new cases amid the third wave when the province was under a strict lockdown and when a large portion of the population was still unvaccinated.

However, as infections soar, patients with COVID in ICUs (intensive care units) have remained relatively stable but are overall on a slow rise. Experts have said it could take up to two weeks or more following a surge in new cases to see a sharper rise in hospitalizations/ICUs.

Of the 4,177 new cases recorded, the data showed 905 were unvaccinated people, 142 were partially vaccinated people, 2,977 were fully vaccinated people and for 153 people the vaccination status was unknown.

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According to Sunday’s report, 1,039 cases were recorded in Toronto, 334 in Ottawa, 365 in York Region, 311 in Peel Region, 245 in Halton Region, 240 in Durham Region, 175 in Hamilton and 173 in Simcoe-Muskoka . All other local public health units reported fewer than 150 new cases in the provincial report.

The death toll in the province has risen to 10,113 as two more deaths were reported.

As of 8 p.m. on Saturday, there are more than 11.3 million people fully immunized with two doses, which is 87.8 per cent of the aged 12 and older population. First dose coverage stands at 90.4 per cent. There are more than 1.5 million Ontarians who have received a booster shot.

For young children aged five to 11, first dose coverage stands at 36.55 per cent — 394,255 doses out of just over 1 million eligible children.

Over 165,000 doses were administered in the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, 618,983 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19.

Active cases in Ontario now stand at 20,847 — up from the previous day when it was at 17,882.

The government said 51,151 tests were processed in the previous 24 hours. There are 40,373 tests currently under investigation.

Test positivity hit 8.7 per cent on Sunday.

Ontario reported 283 people in general hospital wards with COVID-19 with 159 patients in intensive care units and 146 patients in intensive care units on a ventilator.

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.