Ontario reports more than 200 new COVID-19 cases, 14 deaths with 12 due to data cleanup

Ontario is reporting 213 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, as the daily case count jumps back above 200. The provincial case total now stands at 551,338.

Although the last three days saw daily cases below 200, Thursday’s data shows more tests were processed and the test positivity remains the same.

According to Thursday’s report, 44 cases were recorded in Toronto, 31 in Peel Region, 18 each in Hamilton and York Region, 17 in Windsor-Essex, 14 in Waterloo, 11 in Halton Region and 10 in Middlesex-London.

All other local public health units reported fewer than 10 new cases in the provincial report.

The death toll in the province has risen to 9,374 as 14 more deaths were recorded. However, the ministry of health indicated 12 of those deaths occurred between February and May 2021 and were included due to a data clean-up.

As of 8 p.m. on Wednesday, 58,213 vaccines (12,080 for a first shot and 46,133 for a second shot) were administered in the last day.

There are more than 9.1 million people fully immunized with two doses which is 70.5 per cent of the eligible (12+) population. First dose coverage stands at 80.7 per cent.

Meanwhile, 540,258 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is about 98 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 183 from the previous day.

Active cases in Ontario now stand at 1,706 — up from the previous day when it was at 1,690, and is up from July 29 when it was at 1,491. 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 198 which is the same as yesterday’s, but is up from last week when it was 165. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 300.

The government said 23,494 tests were processed in the last 24 hours, the most number of tests in the last couple weeks. There is currently a backlog of 8,669 tests awaiting results. A total of 16,648,462 tests have been completed since the start of the pandemic.

Test positivity for Wednesday hit 1.2 per cent. Last week, test positivity was at 1.3 per cent.

Ontario reported 113 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 (up by one from the previous day) with 110 patients in intensive care units (up by two) and 78 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (unchanged).

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Variants of concern in Ontario

Officials have listed breakdown data for the new VOCs (variants of concern) detected so far in the province which consist of the B.1.1.7 (now named by WHO as “Alpha” and was first detected in the United Kingdom), B.1.351 (now named by WHO as “Beta” and was first detected in South Africa), P.1 (now named by WHO as “Gamma” and was first detected in Brazil), and B.1.617.2 (now named by WHO as “Delta” and was first detected in India).

“Alpha” the B.1.1.7 VOC: 145,543 variant cases, which is up by 5 since the previous day,

“Beta” the B.1.351 VOC: 1,493 variant cases, which is unchanged since the previous day.

“Gamma” the P.1 VOC: 5,168 variant cases, which is up by 4 since the previous day.

“Delta” B.1.617.2 VOC: 5,094 variant cases, which is up by 185 since the previous day.

NOTE: It takes several days for positive COVID-19 tests to be re-examined for the exact variant. Therefore, there may be more variant cases than overall cases in daily reporting.

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

• 274,832 people are male — an increase of 115 cases.
• 272,811 people are female — an increase of 95 cases.
• 89,374 people are 19 and under — an increase of 32 cases.
• 206,567 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 102 cases.
• 157,005 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 54 cases.
• 73,071 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 19 cases.
• 25,228 people are 80 and over — an increase of 5 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: 4
• Deaths reported in ages 20 to 39: 87
• Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 611 (+5)
• Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 3,014 (+7)
• Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 5,657 (+2)
• The province notes there may be a reporting delay for deaths and data

Cases, deaths and outbreaks in Ontario long-term care homes

According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 3,793 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario which is unchanged since yesterday. Thirteen virus-related deaths in total have been reported among staff.

There are 4 current outbreaks in homes, which is down by one from the previous day.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 6 active cases among long-term care residents and 12 active cases among staff — down by four and down by three, respectively, in the last day.

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