Ontario reported 566 new cases of COVID-19 as its worrisome stretch continues.
It’s now the seventh-straight day that Ontario has surpassed the 500-daily case mark, which it had not previously hit since May 2.
The latest cases were identified after the province completed 39,661 tests, shrinking its backlog to 78,953. The 1.4 per cent positivity rate is one the province’s top five highest since June.
Of the recent cases, 196 were identified in Toronto, 123 in Peel and 81 in Ottawa, which are considered Ontario’s three hotspots as they face enhanced restrictions compared to the rest of the province. There were also 42 cases in York, 25 in Halton, 17 in Niagara, 14 in Waterloo and 13 in Durham. The remaining 26 public health units reported 10 or fewer, while eight of them identified no new patients at all.
Four more people have died in the past 24 hours in Ontario, but the Ministry of Health also announced three additional fatalities that occurred during the spring or summer, and are now being recorded as part of a data review.
Since 534 more people have recovered, there are now 5,405 active cases across Ontario, the most since April 28, when the province was at the peak of its first wave.
Toronto currently leads the way with 2,187 currently infected patients, followed by Peel (1,002), Ottawa (863) and York (448). The remaining 30 public health units have fewer than 125 active cases.
Of the province’s 5,203 currently infected patients, there are 169 people in hospital, up by 14 since Saturday. It’s the most people the province has had in hospital since July 1, even though the Ministry of Health noted that about 35 hospitals did not report data over the weekend. In comparison, on Sept. 4, there were 66 people in hospital throughout Ontario.
No data was provided on Sunday on the amount of people in ICU or on those who require a ventilator. As of the last update on Saturday, there were 41 in intensive care and 23 who require a ventilator, the most since July 1 and July 21, respectively.
“Earlier this week, we received a real wake-up call. We saw from the modelling update that if we don’t act now we could see 1,000 new cases a day by mid-October. We could have 200-300 people a day arriving in our hospitals and ICUs,” said Ford on Friday as his imposed new province-wide restrictions.
Of the recent 566 cases, 247 of them are among people between 20-39 years old, the most of any age group. There are also 141 new cases among those 40-59 and 103 among those 19 and under. Two cases involve long-term care residents, while of the seven fatalities added to the death toll on Sunday, one involves an LTC patient.
