Ontario breaks daily COVID-19 record again with more than 9,500 new cases

Ontario health officials are reporting more than 9,500 new COVID-19 cases, which marks the highest case count ever recorded in a single day since the pandemic began.

Health officials reported 9,571 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Friday, surpassing by thousands yesterday’s record-breaking number of 5,790.

Ontario's rolling seven-day average has soared to 4,922, up from 1,914 at this point last week.

With 72,639 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the province's positivity rate rose on Friday to 18.7 per cent, which marks the highest rate ever.

Of the new infections reported today, 2,146 cases involved people who are unvaccinated, partially vaccinated or their vaccination status is unknown. The rest of the 7,425 infections involved people who are fully vaccinated.

Health experts have said that the number of infections in fully vaccinated individuals will rise as more people get the vaccine. Currently, people who are not fully vaccinated represent 22.7 per cent of Ontario’s total population.

The province recorded six new deaths on Friday, bringing the total death tally in the province to 10,146.

There are currently at least 508 people being treated for COVID-19 in Ontario hospitals. Health Minister Christine Elliott reported that of those patients, 355 are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status and 153 are fully vaccinated.

Elliott confirmed that 164 of those patients are in intensive care, including 136 people who are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status and 28 people who are fully vaccinated.

The province deemed 1,997 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Friday, bringing Ontario's number of recovered patients up to 626,798.

Today's report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 676,924, including deaths and recoveries.

WHERE ARE THE NEW COVID-19 CASES IN ONTARIO?

In the Greater Toronto Area, officials reported 2,456 new cases in Toronto, the highest case total reported by the city so far, 1,113 new cases in Peel Region, 604 new cases in York Region, 745 new cases in Halton Region and 349 new cases in Durham Region.

Officials reported 624 new cases in Ottawa, 487 new cases in Hamilton, 379 new cases in Middlesex-London, 298 new cases in Waterloo region, 286 new cases in Niagara Region, 270 new cases in Simcoe-Muskoka and 221 new cases in the Wellington-Dufferin Guelph.

All other regions reported fewer than 200 new cases on Friday.

According to the province’s epidemiology report, of the 9,571 new infections reported on Friday, 1,046 cases were identified in children under the age of 12.

The province also recorded 977 cases in youth between the ages of 12 and 19 and another 4,400 cases in people between the ages of 20 and 39.

As well, officials found 2,356 cases in people between the ages of 40 and 59, 719 cases in people between the ages of 60 and 79 and 74 cases in people over the age of 80.

An additional 86 infections were reported in schools across the province. Those cases involve 65 students and 21 staff members.

At least 1,097 of the province’s 4,844 schools have a confirmed case of COVID-19 and 24 facilities are closed as a result.