Ontario reports 11,352 new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations increase

Ontario health officials are reporting 11,352 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, as hospitalizations continue to increase.

Tuesday’s case count comes after the province reported 13,578 new cases on Monday, 16,714 new cases on Sunday and a record-high 18,445 new cases on Saturday.

Ontario's rolling seven-day average soared to 14,435, up from 8,318 at this point last week.

Public Health Ontario has warned that case counts are an underestimate of the true number of infections in Ontario due to the issues with the availability of testing resources in the province.

With 54,346 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the province's positivity rate is about 30.9 per cent. Since Jan. 1, the province has been reporting a positivity rate higher than 30 per cent, a rate previously unseen in Ontario.

According to health officials, 10 more deaths related to COVID-19 were reported in the last 24 hours.

Currently, 1,290 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 and there are 266 people in intensive care, both numbers an increase from the day before, Health Minister Christine Elliott said. She said the seven-day rolling average of COVID-19 related patients in ICU is 221.

According to data released by the Ontario Science Table on Jan. 3, which takes into account population sizes, people who are fully vaccinated with at least two doses are 83.2 per cent less likely to end up in hospital and 95.3 per cent less likely to end up in ICU compared to people who are unvaccinated.

The science table also noted there was a 12.4 per cent reduction for people who are fully vaccinated with at least two doses in regards to contracting COVID-19 compared to those who are unvaccinated.

The province deemed 7,519 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Tuesday, bringing Ontario's number of recovered patients up to 672,081.

Today's report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 816,450, including deaths and recoveries.

WHERE ARE THE NEW COVID-19 CASES IN ONTARIO

In the Greater Toronto Area, officials reported 2,480 new cases in Toronto, 1,486 new cases in Peel Region, 1,059 new cases in York Region, 635 new cases in Durham Region and 466 in Halton Region.

Officials reported 612 new cases in Waterloo region, 489 new cases in Simcoe-Muskoka, 482 new cases in Ottawa, 449 new cases in Middlesex-London, 407 new cases in Niagara Region 337 new cases in Windsor-Essex and 330 new cases in Hamilton.

All other regions reported fewer than 300 new cases on Tuesday.

According to the province’s epidemiology report, of the 11,352 new infections reported on Tuesday, 973 cases were identified in children under the age of 12.

The province also recorded 1,030 cases in youth between the ages of 12 and 19 and another cases 4,431 in people between the ages of 20 and 39.

As well, officials found 3,298 cases in people between the ages of 40 and 59, 1,300 cases in people between the ages of 60 and 79 and 318 cases in people over the age of 80.

The province reported 109 resident cases and 40 staff cases in long-term care settings across Ontario. It also noted that two of the 10 new deaths were long-term care residents.

Officials stated that at least 231 long-term care homes are currently dealing with an outbreak.