Ontario COVID-19 cases rise above 200 for the first time this week, 4 additional deaths reported
Ontario officials are reporting more than 200 new COVID-19 cases for the first time this week, as well as four additional deaths related to the disease.
The 210 new infections logged Thursday represent an increase from the 194 new cases on Wednesday, 164 on Tuesday and 170 on Monday.
The seven-day rolling average now stands at 206, compared to 266 a week ago.
Provincial labs processed more than 25,857 test specimens, generating a positivity rate of at least 0.8 per cent, according to the Ministry of Health.
The province’s virus-related death toll stands at 9,228.
Another 231 people recovered from the disease yesterday, resulting in 1,816 active cases across the province.
There are currently 194 people receiving treatment in Ontario hospitals due to the virus.
Where are the new cases?
On Thursday, officials reported 52 new cases in the Region of Waterloo, 23 in Peel Region, 19 in Hamilton, 18 in Toronto and 17 in Grey Bruce.
Update on COVID-19 variants of concern
Labs found 231 additional cases of the Alpha variant, B.1.1.7, bringing the case total to 144,569.
Sixty-three cases of the Delta variant, B.1.617.2, were recorded Thursday and the case total is now 2,285.
Sixteen cases of the Beta variant, B.1.351, were also recorded. So far, there have been a total of 1,436 cases of the Beta variant reported in Ontario.
As for the Gamma variant, P.1, 46 new cases were recorded today. The total number of Gamma variants recorded in Ontario is now 4,696.
Record amount of vaccine doses administered
More than half of Ontario adults have now received both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and considered to be fully vaccinated, officials report.
The province said it administered a record 268,884 doses of COVID-19 vaccines Wednesday.
Throughout Ontario’s seven-month vaccination campaign, over 16.3 million needles have gone into arms.
As of Thursday, 6,312,906 people have received both doses and are considered to be fully vaccinated.
Background
The numbers used in this story are found in the Ontario Ministry of Health's COVID-19 Daily Epidemiologic Summary. The number of cases for any city or region may differ slightly from what is reported by the province, because local units report figures at different times.
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