Ontario reports 1,429 new COVID cases as test positivity hits 7-month high | Globalnews.ca

Ontario is reporting 1,429 new COVID cases on Tuesday, as case counts continue to rise over the last week and test positivity has reached a seven-month high. The provincial case total now stands at 635,112.

For comparison, last Tuesday saw 928 new cases and the previous Tuesday saw 687. Over the last three days, there were 1,536 new cases reported Monday, 1,476 on Sunday and 1,607 on Saturday.

However, as infections surge, patients with COVID in ICUs (intensive care units) have remained relatively stable but are on an overall slow rise.

Of the 1,429 new cases recorded, the data showed 493 were unvaccinated people, 33 were partially vaccinated people, 809 were fully vaccinated people and for 94 people the vaccination status was unknown.

According to Tuesday’s report, 239 cases were recorded in Toronto, 128 in York Region, 120 in Ottawa, 103 in Peel Region, 85 in the Kingston-area, and 84 in Middlesex-London. All other local public health units reported fewer than 80 new cases in the provincial report.

Deaths, vaccinations, recoveries, testing, 7-day average in Ontario

The death toll in the province has risen to 10,084 as five more deaths were reported.

As of 8 p.m. on Monday, there are more than 11.3 million people fully immunized with two doses, which is 87.6 per cent of the aged 12 and older population. First dose coverage stands at 90.3 per cent. There are 1,213,727 Ontarians who have received a booster shot.

For young children aged five to 11, first dose coverage stands at 31.5 per cent — 339,296 doses out of just over 1 million eligible children.

Meanwhile, 612,996 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is 97 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 930 from the previous day.

Active cases in Ontario now stand at 12,032 — up from the previous day when it was at 11,538, and is up from Dec. 7 when it was at 8,479. 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 1,400, a months-long high since late May as Ontario emerged from a devastating third wave. It is up from the week prior when it was 975. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 600.

The government said 33,400 tests were processed in the previous 24 hours. There are 22,855 tests currently under investigation.

Test positivity hit 6.6 per cent — the highest seen since mid-May. Last week, test positivity was at 3.8  per cent.

Hospitalizations in Ontario

Ontario reported 385 people in general hospital wards with COVID-19 (up by 132 from the previous day) with 162 patients in intensive care units (up by one) and 143 patients in intensive care units on a ventilator (unchanged).

Ontario Health officials have recently said intensive care occupancy can hit between 250 or 300 patients before the health care system would be impacted and require ramping down some non-urgent surgeries and procedures.

In the third wave peak, which was the worst wave for hospitalizations, the province saw as many as 900 patients in ICUs with COVID and almost 2,400 in general hospital wards.

For those in general hospital wards with COVID, 130 were unvaccinated, 12 were partially vaccinated and 85 were fully vaccinated. For those in ICUs, 71 were unvaccinated while 6 were partially vaccinated and 31 were fully vaccinated.

Provincial officials noted this new dataset with vaccination status for hospitalizations will grow and improve over time as more information is collected. There may also be a discrepancy due to how and when the information for both is collected.

More to come.