Ontario reports another 510 cases of COVID-19, most infections found in unvaccinated people

TORONTO -

For the second day in a row, Ontario is reporting more than 500 new cases of COVID-19 and most of the infections were found in unvaccinated individuals.

Of the 510 cases confirmed, 368 are in unvaccinated people and 57 are in partially vaccinated individuals, Health Minister Christine Elliott said in a tweet.

Right now, there are 123 people are in hospital with COVID-19, nine of which are fully vaccinated. The remaining 114 patients are either not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status, according to Elliott.

At least 111 patients with the disease are being treated in intensive care. Three are fully vaccinated and 108 are either not fully vaccinated or their vaccination status is unknown at this time. 

On Thursday, Ontario logged 513 additional cases of the novel coronavirus, which marked the highest single-day case total reported since June 13.

Some 23,500 tests for the novel coronavirus were processed in the last 24 hours, producing a positivity rate of two per cent, provincial health officials said. 

The seven-day average for the number of cases reported in Ontario stands at 399. This time last week, that number was 214.

Friday’s report brings the total number of COVID-19 cases in Ontario to 554,472. That number includes 541,946 recoveries and 9,416 deaths.

Four of those deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, however, according to the Ministry of Health, two occurred more than two months ago and are only being reported now due to a data clean-up.

Where are the new COVID-19 cases?

The province says that most of the cases reported Friday were found in Toronto (129), Peel Region (61), Hamilton (51), and Windsor-Essex (41).

Case counts in the double digits were also reported by the province in York Region (33), Halton Region (26), Waterloo (24), Ottawa (22), Simcoe-Muskoka (21), Durham Region (17) Middlesex-London (15), Brant County (13), Niagara Region (13), and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (13).

Ontario is currently in Step 3 of its reopening plan. The province is expected to lift virtually all remaining public health restrictions once 80 per cent of eligible residents have one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 75 per cent have two doses.

As of Friday, 81.3 per cent of all eligible Ontarians have received one dose and 72.8 per cent have received two doses and are considered to be fully vaccinated. 

Update on COVID-19 variants of concern

In the last 24 hours, labs confirmed 146 instances of the COVID-19 Delta variant B.1.617.2. There are 6,019 confirmed cases of the variant in Ontario.

Another 15 cases of the Alpha variant B.1.1.7 were also found, which brings the case total to 145,656.

No new cases of the Beta variant B.1.351 of Gamma variant P.1 were recorded on Friday.