TORONTO -- Ontario surpassed 1,000 COVID-19 deaths on Thursday with health officials logging a new single-day high, 86 patients.
The deaths were confirmed as provincial health officials announced 459 new cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing Ontario’s total number of patients to 16,187, including 1,082 deaths and 10,205 recoveries.
On April 24, Ontario recorded its highest number of new COVID-19 cases in a single day, 640 patients. A downtrend was seen in the three days that followed with new case counts in the 300s. A slight uptick was logged the following day with 525 new cases before the number dipped back down to 347 on Wednesday and now, 459 on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the number of deaths recorded by health officials on Thursday is the highest amount logged in a single day thus far by 27. The previous high was 59 deaths being recorded on Tuesday.
Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams has previously urged people to not jump to any conclusions when “blips” are seen in the data.
“Some of these blips, these one-day things, are to be looked at, but it’s the overall trend that is important to see,” he said earlier this week.
- DAILY BREAKDOWN: The spread of COVID-19 in Ontario
According to Thursday’s epidemiological summary, of all deceased patients in Ontario, seven were between the ages of 20 and 39, 49 were between the ages of 40 and 59, 282 were between the ages of 60 and 79, and 744 were 80 years of age or older.
Data released by the Ministry of Long-Term Care on Thursday states that 835 residents of long-term care homes across the province have died as a result of COVID-19.
There has been an ongoing discrepancy in the number of deaths recorded by the ministry and the number released daily by provincial health officials. The daily number released by health officials comes from data recorded in the integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS) and the Toronto Public Health Coronavirus Rapid Entry System.
On Thursday, Ontario health officials stated in their summary that 530 residents of long-term care homes have died of the novel coronavirus.
According to the ministry, there are 163 outbreaks of COVID-19 at long-term care homes in Ontario.
Currently, there are 999 COVID-19 patients in Ontario hospitals receiving treatment, and of those patients, 233 of them remain in the intensive care unit (ICU). Of those in the ICU, 181 of them remain on ventilators to assist with breathing.
In Ontario, 11.6 per cent of all cases of the novel coronavirus were hospitalized at one point.
Quick facts on all Ontario COVID-19 patients:
- 41.7 per cent of all patients in the province are male and 57.3 per cent are female – 153 cases did not specify male or female gender
- 44.8 per cent of all patients are 60 years of age or older – seven cases did not specify their age
- 2.3 per cent of all patients are 19 years of age or younger
- 22.8 per cent of all patients are between the ages of 20 and 39
- 30.1 per cent of all patients are between the ages of 40 and 59
- 22.1 per cent of all patients are between the ages of 60 and 79
- 22.6 per cent of all patients are 80 years of age or older
- Public health units in the Greater Toronto Area account for 59.5 per cent of all cases
- 14.2 per cent off all patients are health-care workers
- 7.4 per cent of all patients had travelled in the 14 days prior to becoming ill
- 20.3 per cent of all patients had contact with a previously confirmed case
- 35.1 per cent of all patients had community exposure
- 37.2 per cent of all patients had exposure information listed as pending
COVID-19 testing in Ontario
Across the province, thus far, more than 270,000 novel coronavirus tests have been conducted.
Approximately 13,000 tests were conducted in the last recorded 24-hour period.
Earlier this month, Ontario health officials said 12,500 tests a day would be conducted by April 22. This is the first time the province has reached that goal.
The province’s next goal is to reach 16,000 tests a day by May 6.
There are currently 11,859 test samples that remain under investigation in Ontario.
