Ontario reports 1,009 new COVID-19 infections, eight additional deaths

Ontario health officials are reporting 1,009 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday.

In addition to the new cases reported today, officials recorded eight new deaths, pushing the total number of COVID-19-related fatalities in the province to 10,044.

Today’s case count comes after officials logged 928 new cases on Tuesday, 887 new cases on Monday and 1,184 new cases on Sunday.

On this day last year, 1,676 cases were reported.

Ontario’s rolling seven-day average now stands at 1,007, up from 821 at this point last week

With 38,502 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the positivity rate in the province stands at about 3.3 per cent.

Of the new infections reported Wednesday, 421 cases involved people who are unvaccinated, 22 were in those partially vaccinated and 64 were in individuals whose vaccination status is unknown. The remaining 502 infections involved people who are fully vaccinated.

Health experts have noted the number of COVID-19 infections identified in fully vaccinated individuals will naturally increase as more people get both of their shots. Vaccination helps reduce the risk of severe symptoms related to COVID-19 as well as hospitalization.

The province stated at least 333 people are in hospital due to COVID-19. Of those hospitalized, 196 were reported to have been admitted in the last 24 hours — 99 of which were unvaccinated, 22 were partially vaccinated and 75 were fully vaccinated.

The province says 155 patients are in intensive care due to COVID-19. Of the 155 patients in ICU, officials report that 108 were admitted in the past 24 hours – 69 of which are unvaccinated, while 24 are fully vaccinated. The remaining 15 patients’ vaccination status is unknown.

The province deemed 1,129 more cases of the virus to be resolved as of Wednesday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 607,926.

Today’s report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 626,321 including deaths and recoveries.

WHERE ARE THE NEW COVID-19 CASES?

In the Greater Toronto Area, officials reported 124 new cases in Toronto, 48 new cases in Peel Region, 50 new cases in York Region, 42 new cases in Halton and 34 new cases in Durham Region.

Outside of the GTA, regions that reported more than 30 new infections include Hamilton (50), Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington (69), Middlesex-London (38), Ottawa (92), Waterloo (32), Simcoe-Muskoka (82) and Windsor-Essex (75).

All other regions reported fewer than 30 new cases of the virus.

According to the province’s epidemiology report, of the 1,009 new infections reported on Wednesday, 208 cases were identified in children under the age of 12.

The province also recorded 85 cases in youth between the ages of 12 and 19 and another 308 cases in people between the ages of 20 and 39.

On Wednesday, 252 COVID-19 infections were found in schools across Ontario. Of the infections found in schools, 219 were recorded in students, 25 were in staff and eight were in unidentified individuals.

There are 860 schools with at least one confirmed case and 10 facilities are currently closed as a result.

OVER 11.3M PEOPLE FULLY VACCINATED IN ONTARIO

The province reports that 11,306,219 people in Ontario have received both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and are now considered fully vaccinated against the virus.

In the last 24-hour period, officials said 74,325 doses of the vaccine were administered to Ontario residents.

Just over 24.1 million vaccine doses have been administered in the province since the rollout began last year.