Ontario reports 492 new COVID-19 cases, 12 more deaths
Ontario health officials are reporting 492 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, as well as 12 more deaths due to the disease.
Today’s case count comes after officials logged 413 new cases on Thursday, 304 new cases on Wednesday 328 new cases on Tuesday and 373 new cases on Monday.
Ontario’s rolling seven-day average now stands at 405, down from 465 at this point last week.
With 28,906 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the positivity rate in the province stands at about 1.4 per cent.
Of the new infections reported Friday, 325 cases involved people who are either unvaccinated, partially vaccinated or their vaccination status is unknown. The remaining 167 infections involved people who are fully vaccinated.
The province recorded 12 new deaths on Friday, bringing the total death tally in the province to 9,839. One of the deaths happened more than a month ago, but was added to the cumulative count due to a data cleaning.
The province stated at least 261 people are in hospital due to COVID-19, including 36 people who are fully vaccinated and 225 people who are either not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status.
At least 149 patients are in intensive care in Ontario hospitals and 94 are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.
The province deemed 415 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Friday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 583,512.
Today’s report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 596,772, including deaths and recoveries.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is set to release the province's long-term COVID-19 reopening strategy Friday afternoon.
The province has been in Step 3 of its reopening plan for more than three months, which allowed all indoor services to reopen with capacity limits and public health measures still in place.
WHERE ARE THE NEW COVID-19 CASES IN ONTARIO
In the Greater Toronto Area, officials reported 64 new cases in Toronto, 59 new cases in Peel Region, 33 new cases in York Region and 19 new cases in Durham Region.
Officials also reported 39 new cases in Sudbury and its districts, 38 new cases in Ottawa, 32 new cases in Middlesex-London, 23 new cases each in Windsor-Essex and Hamilton and 20 new cases in Niagara Region. All other regions reported fewer than 20 new cases of the disease.
According to the province’s epidemiology report, of the 492 new infections reported on Friday, 99 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 159 cases in people between the ages of 20 and 39.
As well, officials found 131 cases in people between the ages of 40 and 59, 58 cases in people between the ages of 60 and 79 and nine cases in people over the age of 80.
On Friday, officials reported 95 new cases in Ontario schools, including 84 cases involving students and 10 cases involving staff. Officials did not release info about the remaining one case.
The province reported that 550 out 4,844 schools have at least one case of COVID-19. Currently, two schools are closed due to outbreaks.
Officials also reported an additional 115 cases of the Delta variant in lab-confirmed COVID-19 tests. This brings the total number of cases to 20,190.
MORE THAN 10.9M PEOPLE FULLY VACCINATED IN ONTARIO
The province reports that 10,900,029 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 25,770 doses of the vaccine were administered to Ontario residents.
Just over 22.3 million vaccine doses have been administered in the province since the rollout began last year.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Couple randomly attacked, 1 stabbed, by group of teens in Toronto, police say
A man has been transported to hospital after police say he was stabbed in a random attack carried out by a group of teens in Toronto on Friday night.
'My family doctor just fired me': Ontario patients frustrated with de-rostering
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
'Reimagining Mother's Day': Toronto woman creates Motherless Day event after losing mom
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.
Sherpa guide Kami Rita scales Mount Everest for 29th time, extending his own record again
One of greatest climbing guides on Mount Everest has scaled the world's highest peak for the 29th time, extending his own record for most times to the summit, expedition organizers said Sunday.
As Israel pushes deeper into Rafah, Hamas regroups elsewhere in ungoverned Gaza
Israeli forces were battling Palestinian militants across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, including in parts of the devastated north that the military said it had cleared months ago, where Hamas has exploited a security vacuum to regroup.
Michael Cohen: A challenging star witness in Donald Trump's hush money trial
He once said he would take a bullet for Donald Trump. Now Michael Cohen is prosecutors' biggest piece of legal ammunition in the former president's hush money trial.
Feds 'committed to doing more,' but minister offers no timeline for Canadian Disability Benefit boost
Amid significant criticism from advocates, Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities Minister Kamal Khera is defending her government's long-promised, newly unveiled Canada Disability Benefit, calling the funds an "initial step," but without laying out a timeline for future expansion of the program.
Canada Post cracks down on Nunavut loophole to get free Amazon Prime shipping
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
Balancing act: Canadian North’s first Inuk CEO juggles Arctic airline challenges
With carriers' flight volumes above the 60th parallel hovering below pre-pandemic levels, Canadian North’s first Inuk CEO now bears the task of balancing those financial and logistical challenges with the needs of communities for which she feels a deep affinity.