Ontario health officials report 563 new COVID-19 cases, five more deaths

TORONTO -

Ontario health officials are reporting 563 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, and five more deaths due to the disease.

The last time the province reported more than 500 new infections was on Oct. 10 when officials logged 535 new cases.

This past week, officials reported 422 new cases on Monday, 331 new cases on Tuesday, 378 new cases on Wednesday and 438 new cases on Thursday.

Ontario’s rolling seven-day average now stands at 404, up from 355 at this point last week.

With 30,187 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the positivity rate in the province stands at about 1.8 per cent.

Of the new infections reported Friday, 314 cases involved people who are either unvaccinated, partially vaccinated or their vaccination status is unknown. The remaining 249 infections involved people who are fully vaccinated.

The province recorded five more deaths on Friday, bringing the total death tally in the province to 9,896.

The province stated at least 225 people are in hospital due to COVID-19, including 57 people who are fully vaccinated and 168 people who are either not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status.

At least 129 patients are in intensive care in Ontario hospitals and 81 are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.

The province deemed 352 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Friday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 588,796.

Today’s report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 602,087, including deaths and recoveries.

WHERE ARE THE NEW COVID-19 CASES IN ONTARIO?

In the Greater Toronto Area, officials reported 52 new cases in York Region, 44 new cases in Toronto and Peel Region each and four new cases in Durham Region.

Officials also reported 44 new cases in Ottawa, 37 new cases in Windsor-Essex, 33 new cases in Sudbury and districts, 29 new cases in Southwestern Public Health Unit area, 28 new cases in North Bay Parry Sound District, 23 new cases in Niagara Region and 22 new cases in Haldimand-Norfolk area. All other regions reported fewer than 20 new cases of the disease.

According to the province’s epidemiology report, of the 563 new infections reported on Friday, 102 cases were identified in children under the age of 12.

The province also recorded 37 cases in youth between the ages of 12 and 19 and another 170 cases in people between the ages of 20 and 39.

As well, officials found 144 cases in people between the ages of 40 and 59, 75 cases in people between the ages of 60 and 79 and 36 cases in people over the age of 80.

On Friday, officials reported 67 new cases in Ontario schools, including 59 cases involving students and 6 cases involving staff. Officials did not release information about the remaining two cases.

The province reported that 488 out of 4,844 schools have at least one case of COVID-19. Currently, four schools are closed due to outbreaks.

Officials also reported an additional 119 cases of the Delta variant in lab-confirmed COVID-19 tests. This brings the total number of cases to 21,442.

MORE THAN 11M PEOPLE FULLY VACCINATED IN ONTARIO

The province reports that 11,063,495 people in Ontario have received both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and are now considered fully vaccinated against the disease.

In the last 24-hour period, officials said 15,901 doses of the vaccine were administered to Ontario residents.

Just over 22.5 million vaccine doses have been administered in the province since the rollout began last year..