Ontario is reporting 3,295 new COVID-19 cases and 19 additional deaths on Thursday.
There were over 63,800 tests completed in the last 24 hour period, up from the nearly 50,000 tests a day ago. Testing numbers are typically down earlier in the week.
The province reports a test positivity rate of 6 per cent, down from 6.7 per cent a day ago. The province reported a positivity rate of 4.8 per cent one week ago.
Locally, there are 933 new cases in Toronto, 649 in Peel, 386 in York Region, 165 in Durham and 160 in Ottawa.
Ontario reported 3,215 cases and 17 deaths on Wednesday.
There are now 1,417 people hospitalized in the province due to COVID-19 with 525 in the ICU. It is the highest number of hospitalizations since Jan. 26 and another record-high for ICU patients.
According to the latest provincial numbers, there are 1,317 additional cases of the B.1.1.7 variant. The province is now including all cases presumed to be the B.1.1.7 variant in there count.
There are now 9,632 cumulative cases of the B.1.1.7 variant, 131 cases of the P.1 variant and 75 cases of the B.1.351 variant first detected in South Africa.
The province reports another 1,719 cases where a mutation has been detected but the exact lineage cannot be determined.
A state of emergency and new stay-at-home order has taken effect in Ontario in yet another effort to control the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The order was announced following criticism that the province is not doing enough to stop the spread of the virus that is once again overwhelming the health care system.
The province has not yet finalized the protocols to deal with who gets life-saving treatment should ICUs get overrun with COVID-19 patients.
Health minister Christine Elliott says the province has not made any changes to indemnify doctors who may soon be put in the position of deciding who to give critical care to.
There were 108,563 vaccine doses administered in the last 24 hour period. It marks a new single-day record for daily vaccinations for the second day in a row.
As of 8:00 p.m. Wednesday, 2,834,784 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered.
The Ford government confirmed Wednesday that education workers who provide daily support to students with special education needs and all education workers in high-risk neighbourhoods in Toronto and Peel will be eligible to get a vaccine.
Additionally, the province says mobile teams are being arranged to administer vaccines in high-risk congregate settings, residential buildings, faith-based locations, and locations occupied by large employers in hot spot neighbourhoods to individuals aged 18-and-up.
Premier Doug Ford says if there is a vaccine supply, 40 per cent of Ontarian adults could be vaccinated by the end of the stay-at-home order. As it stands now, the order is set to be lifted on May 6.
“That’s when things start to change dramatically in our favour,” said Ford in a tweet on Thursday.
