Ontario is reporting close to 3,800 new COVID-19 infections today, more than double the number recorded last Monday, as the provincewide positivity rate approaches 10 per cent.
Provincial health officials logged 3,784 new cases today, down from 4,177 on Sunday but up dramatically from the 1,536 infections reported just one week ago.
The seven-day rolling average of new cases is now 2,863, compared to 1,328 last Monday.
Of the confirmed cases today, 746 involve people who are unvaccinated, 119 involve those who are partially immunized, 2,781 involve fully vaccinated people, and 138 involve those with an unknown vaccination status.
Unvaccinated Ontarians represent about 18 per cent of the province’s population and account for about 20 per cent of all new infections today.
No new deaths were confirmed over the past 24 hours.
With 44,123 tests processed over the past 24 hours, officials are reporting a provincewide positivity rate of 9.7 per cent, the highest that number has been since May 3.
Ontario’s known active COVID-19 caseload now stands at more than 23,000, up from 11,538 last Monday.
The number of COVID-19 patients receiving treatment in intensive care units increased to 164 today, up slightly from 159 on Sunday and 161 last Monday.
Meanwhile, another 331 new school-related cases of COVID-19 were confirmed over a 24-hour period ending on Friday afternoon, which was the last day of classes for most boards before the holiday break. That is up from 214 cases during the same time-period last week.
The number of active infectious associated with the public school system now stands at 2,768. That is higher than at any point throughout the entire pandemic.
Case growth continues to surge in Ontario as the more infectious Omicron COVID-19 variant circulates widely in the province.
Ontario’s Science Advisory Table now estimates that Omicron has a doubling time of 2.7 days and the estimated percentage of new COVID-19 cases linked to Omicron is nearly 84 per cent. The science table tweeted Sunday that recent data suggests that there is a rapid drop in protection from infection with just two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, although it appears vaccination does provide protection against severe illness.
Today, the province officially opened up booster shot bookings to everyone aged 18 and older who received their second dose at least three months ago. But as of about 9 a.m., the earliest available appointments at most Toronto mass immunization sites were in February.
Toronto is among the regions now seeing the highest levels of transmission in the province.
