TORONTO -- For the second day in a row, Ontario has recorded fewer than 300 new cases of COVID-19.
On Wednesday, provincial health officials confirmed 292 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 32 more deaths, bringing the total number of patients in Ontario to 26,483, including 2,155 deaths and 20,372 recoveries.
The province recorded less than 300 new patients in a single day for the first time in two months on Tuesday. The 287 cases logged that day came after Ontario saw daily case counts above 400 for five days in a row.
According to Wednesday’s epidemiological summary, eight of Ontario’s deceased COVID-19 patients were between the ages of 20 and 39. There have been no deaths recorded in people 19 years of age or younger. Eighty-seven of all deceased patients in the province were between the ages of 40 and 59 and 563 people were between the ages of 60 and 79. People 80 years of age or older continue to be the hardest hit age group with 1,497 deaths.
There are currently 847 people infected with COVID-19 in Ontario hospitals. Of those patients, 150 of them are being treated in the intensive care unit.
According to the province, there have been 298 outbreaks of the disease at long-term care homes, 136 at retirement homes and 84 at hospitals.
In Ontario, 4,536 health-care workers have become infected with COVID-19.
Quick facts on all COVID-19 patients in Ontario:
- 43.2 per cent of all patients in the province are male and 56 per cent are female – 223 cases did not specify male or female gender
- 40.6 per cent of all patients are 60 years of age or older – 15 cases did not specify their age
- 3.4 per cent of all patients are 19 years of age or younger
- 25.4 per cent of all patients are between the ages of 20 and 39
- 30.6 per cent of all patients are between the ages of 40 and 59
- 20.5 per cent of all patients are between the ages of 60 and 79
- 20.1 per cent of all patients are 80 years of age or older
- Public health units in the Greater Toronto Area account for 65.3 per cent of all cases
- 5.7 per cent of all patients had travelled in the 14 days prior to becoming ill
- 61 per cent of all patients had close contact with a previously confirmed case or were "outbreak-associated"
- 14.5 per cent of all patients had "sporadic community transmission"
- 18.8 per cent of all patients had exposure information listed as "missing or unknown"
COVID-19 testing in Ontario is on the rise
Across the province, thus far, 644,547 novel coronavirus tests have been conducted.
The number of daily tests has consistently remained well below the provincial capacity of 20,000, but Wednesday’s report stated an uptick in the number of tests conducted in the last-recorded 24-hour period.
There were 15,133 tests conducted on Tuesday, compared to 9,875 on Monday, 8,170 on Sunday and 11,383 on Saturday.
Speaking on Wednesday afternoon, Premier Doug Ford said he "doesn't want people to shy away" from getting tested.
"If you have no symptoms, you feel you've been around groups, you feel you're nervous you might have COVID-19, please go get tested," he said.
"I want to thank everyone. The lineups were great right across the province. Please go get tested."
There are currently 11,817 test samples under investigation in Ontario.
