New COVID-19 cases in Ontario soar above 700 for first time in months
Ontario is reporting another surge in COVID-19 cases as new infections jump above 700 for the first time in months.
Health officials confirmed 722 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, which is an increase from the 689 infections on Saturday.
It's the highest number of new cases in a single day since June 5 when 744 cases were reported.
Today's case count also increased Ontario’s rolling seven-day average, which now stands at 564.
On this day last year, Ontario reported 108 new COVID-19 cases.
On Sunday, 564 cases were in people not fully vaccinated or had an unknown vaccination status. There were 158 cases in fully vaccinated people.
Ontario's test positivity rate also increased on Sunday to 3.2 per cent, with about 23,000 tests performed in the previous 24-hour period.
Ontario also logged two additional COVID-19-related deaths on Sunday, bringing the total number of fatalities to 9,453.
In the Greater Toronto Area, officials reported 170 new cases in Toronto, 63 new cases in Peel Region, 70 new cases in York Region, 39 new cases Durham Region.
There were 101 new cases in Hamilton and 22 in Halton Region.
Today’s report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 559,512, including deaths and recoveries.
The province says 178 people are in hospital due to COVID-19, including 141 people in intensive care.
Ontario is currently in Step 3 of its reopening plan. On Tuesday, health officials said the province is putting the brakes on any further reopening ahead of a "difficult fall and winter" due to the Delta variant.
The province reports that 9,754,737 people in Ontario have received both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and are now considered fully vaccinated against the disease.
More than 20.4 million vaccine doses have been administered in the province since the rollout began last year.
To date, 82 per cent of eligible Ontario residents have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 75 per cent are fully vaccinated.
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