Ontario marks lowest COVID-19 daily case count in months

TORONTO -

Ontario health officials logged 306 new COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, marking the lowest daily case count since the beginning of August.

The new cases represent a significant decrease from the 390 infections reported on Tuesday and the 458 cases logged on the holiday Monday.

The last time Ontario logged a daily case count this low was on Aug. 5, when health officials reported 213 infections.

Ontario’s seven-day rolling average of daily infections continues to decline as a result, now standing at about 500, down from 565 the previous week.

With just over 23,200 COVID-19 tests processed in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the province’s positivity rate is about 1.7 per cent.

On Wednesday, Ontario officials also confirmed 12 additional deaths related to COVID-19, bringing the total death tally since the beginning of the pandemic to 9,804.

There are 242 people being treated for COVID-19 in Ontario hospitals, officials say. Of those patients, 153 are in intensive care.

Provincial officials say that 139 of the 153 people in intensive care are either not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Ontario has reported 593,020 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19, including deaths and recoveries.

WHERE ARE THE NEW COVID-19 CASES?

The majority of cases continue to be reported in the Greater Toronto Area.

According to the province’s epidemiology report, there are 68 infections in Toronto, 29 in York Region and 18 in Peel Region.

Windsor-Essex is reporting 32 infections while Ottawa has logged 20 new COVID-19 cases.

Seven other public health units are reporting more than 10 cases.

Of the 306 new cases reported Wednesday, the province says 105 are in people aged 19 and under. There were 87 COVID-19 cases in people between the ages of 20 and 39, while 72 cases were logged in individuals between the ages of 40 and 59.

Forty-two cases were logged in people over the age of 60.

According to provincial data, there are 269 new school-related COVID-19 cases identified on Wednesday. Of those cases, 249 were in students.

The Ministry of Health confirmed that this number includes data over the last four days due to the holiday.

Five schools are closed as a result of COVID-19.

The province is reporting an additional 30 cases of the Delta variant in lab-confirmed COVID-19 tests, bringing the total number to 19,448.

MORE THAN 10.7 MILLION PEOPLE FULLY VACCINATED

There are now more than 10.7 million people in Ontario who have received both doses of a vaccine.

In the last 24 hours, 29,857 doses were administered in the province.

According to the province, 87.1 per cent of eligible Ontarians aged 12 and up have received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine while 82.5 per cent are considered fully vaccinated.