Ontario is reporting 3,784 new COVID cases on Monday, as daily positive infections continue to rise amid the highly contagious Omicron variant. The provincial case total now stands at 653,727.
For comparison, last Monday saw 1,536 new cases and the previous Monday saw 887. Over the last three days, there were 4,177 new cases reported Sunday, 3,301 on Saturday, and 3,124 on Friday.
The Ontario COVID-19 Science Table, a panel of doctors who advise the provincial government, noted on their dashboard that Omicron now accounts for at least 83 per cent of all positive cases, up from Friday when it was around 50 per cent.
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 that included a stay-at-home order 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 3,784 new cases recorded, the data showed 746 were unvaccinated people, 119 were partially vaccinated people, 2,781 were fully vaccinated people and for 138 people the vaccination status was unknown.
According to Monday’s report, 1,056 cases were recorded in Toronto, 381 in Peel Region, 310 for York Region, 273 in Ottawa, 240 in Halton and 181 in Hamilton. All other local public health units reported fewer than 150 new cases in the provincial report.
Deaths, vaccinations, recoveries, testing, 7-day average in Ontario
The death toll in the province has remained at 10,113 as no new deaths were reported.
As of 8 p.m. on Sunday, 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 90.5 per cent. There are more than 1.9 million Ontarians who have received a booster shot.
For young children aged five to 11, first dose coverage stands at 37.4 per cent — 403,153 doses out of just over 1 million eligible children.
Meanwhile, 620,023 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is 95 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 1,040 from the previous day.
Active cases in Ontario now stand at 23,591 — up from the previous day when it was at 20,847, and is up from Dec. 13 when it was at 11,538. 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 2,863, a months-long high since late May as Ontario emerged from a devastating third wave. This is up from the week prior when it was 1,328. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 600.
The government said 44,123 tests were processed in the previous 24 hours. There are 40,962 tests currently under investigation.
Test positivity hit 9.7 per cent — the highest seen since early May. Last week, test positivity was at 5.5 per cent.
Hospitalizations in Ontario
Ontario reported 284 people in general hospital wards with COVID-19 (up by one from the previous day) with 164 patients in intensive care units (up by 5) and 152 patients in intensive care units on a ventilator (up by 6).
Ontario Health officials have recently said intensive care occupancy can hit between 250 or 300 patients with COVID 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.
Due to the weekend, the latest data come from Saturday. For those in general hospital wards with COVID, 121 were unvaccinated, 9 were partially vaccinated and 88 were fully vaccinated. For those in ICUs, 75 were unvaccinated while 5 were partially vaccinated and 33 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:
- 326,851 people are male — an increase of 1,904 cases.
- 324,506 people are female — an increase of 1,852 cases.
- 19,400 people are under the age of four — an increase of 96 cases.
- 40,291 people are 5 to 11 — an increase of 375 cases.
- 58,221 people are 12 to 19 — an increase of 381 cases.
- 243,935 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 1,633 cases.
- 181,369 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 974 cases.
- 83,288 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 279 cases.
- 27,093 people are 80 and over — an increase of 42 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: 113
- Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 717
- Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 3,336
- Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 5,939
- The province notes there may be a reporting delay for deaths and data
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