Ontario is reporting 3,519 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, and a record high in the number of deaths, with 89 lives lost.
Compared to Wednesday, this is a 7.7 per cent uptick in case numbers, and a 140.5 per cent increase in deaths.
There are 2,776 additional resolved cases, a drop of 7.6 per cent compared to the day before.
65,772 tests have been completed, with a 6.1 per cent positivity rate.
There are 1,472 people hospitalized, 363 are in ICU, and 242 are in ICU on a ventilator.
There have been an additional 12,251 daily vaccine doses administered, bringing the total to 72,631, and 2,173 total vaccinations.
Toronto sees the highest case count with 891 infections, an increase compared to Tuesday’s 805.
Also seeing an increase on Thursday is Peel with 568, up from 523, York Region with 457, increase compared to 349, and Durham with 174 cases, up from 145.
Meanwhile, Windsor-Essex remained at 208 new infections, and Waterloo saw a decline with 175 cases reported.
It appears as if virtual learning for Ontario students could last longer than planned. Premier Ford said the Ontario chief medical officer of health will make an announcement on Thursday regarding a possible extension of school closures.
“You’ll hear an announcement about that,” Ford said, “[the] number one priority is not to put our kids in jeopardy. And I will never do that especially at the rates we’re seeing. We’re seeing the numbers climb, again I want to repeat what I said, young kids under 13 positivity rate is up towards 20 per cent, one in five kids are showing COVID right now.”
On Wednesday, the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario sent an open letter to the premier, minister of education and provincial health officials asking for an extension of virtual learning because of a sharp rise of COVID-19 cases in the community.
There is a total of 204,145 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the province reported to date, and 172,571 are resolved.
