Ontario reports 654 new COVID-19 cases, two more deaths

TORONTO -

Ontario health officials are reporting 654 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, as well as two more deaths due to the disease.

Today’s case count comes after officials reported case counts below the 600 mark for six straight days. Most recently, officials logged 573 new cases on Friday, 587 new cases on Thursday and 473 new cases on Wednesday.

Ontario’s rolling seven-day average now stands at 544, down from 607 at this point last week.

With 31,123 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the positivity rate in the province stood at 1.8 per cent.

Of the new infections reported Saturday, 464 cases involved people who are either unvaccinated, partially vaccinated or their vaccination status is unknown. The remaining 190 infections involved people who are fully vaccinated.

The province recorded two new deaths on Saturday, bringing the total death tally in the province to 9,788.

The province stated at least 258 people are in hospital due to COVID-19, including 39 people who are fully vaccinated and 219 people who are either not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status.

At least 153 patients are in intensive care in Ontario hospitals and 94 are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.

The province deemed 577 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Saturday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 576,951.

Today’s report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 591,331, including deaths and recoveries.

WHERE ARE THE NEW COVID-19 CASES IN ONTARIO

Most of the new cases were found in parts of the Greater Toronto Area. Officials reported 123 new cases in Toronto, 80 new cases in Peel Region, 66 new cases in York Region, 21 new cases in Halton Region and 17 new cases in Durham Region.

Officials also reported 50 new cases in Ottawa, 47 new cases in Hamilton and 41 new cases in Windsor-Essex. All other regions reported fewer than 30 new cases of the disease.

According to the province’s epidemiology report, of the 654 new infections reported on Saturday, 139 cases were identified in children under the age of 12.

The province also recorded 61 cases in youth between the ages of 12 and 19 and another 232 cases in people between the ages of 20 and 39.

As well, officials found 138 cases in people between the ages of 40 and 59, 72 cases in people between the ages of 60 and 79 and 13 cases in people over the age of 80.

Officials also reported an additional 46 cases of the Delta variant in lab-confirmed COVID-19 tests. This brings the total number of cases to 19,126.

MORE THAN 10.7M PEOPLE FULLY VACCINATED IN ONTARIO

The province reports that 10,707,708 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 37,715 doses of the vaccine were administered to Ontario residents.

Just over 22 million vaccine doses have been administered in the province since the rollout began last year.