Ontario reports fewer than 200 new COVID-19 cases for first time since September

TORONTO -

Ontario health officials are reporting fewer than 200 new cases of COVID-19 for the first time in months.

The province confirmed 184 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday. The case count today marks the lowest seen in Ontario since Sept. 10 when officials logged 170 cases.

Ontario’s rolling seven-day average now stands at 268, down from 316 at this point last week.

With 27,258 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the positivity rate in the province dropped significantly from 1.6 per cent on Tuesday to one per cent on Wednesday.

The last time the province’s positivity rate dropped to one per cent was on Sept. 25.

Ontario also recorded another 14 deaths related to the disease, bringing the total death tally in the province to 9,168.

There are currently 257 people in hospital due to the disease. At least 276 patients are in intensive care and 185 are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator. Today’s hospital patient total is lower than ICU admissions, which may be due to a delay in reporting.

The province deemed 322 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Wednesday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 533,472.

WHERE ARE THE COVID-19 CASES IN ONTARIO

In the Greater Toronto Area, officials reported 17 cases in Toronto, 16 new cases in Peel Region and five new cases in Durham Region and in York Region.

Officials also reported 46 new cases in Waterloo, 19 new cases in Grey Bruce Health Unit, 17 new cases in Hamilton, 13 new cases in Middlesex-London, and 11 new cases in Ottawa.

All other regions reported fewer than 10 new cases of the disease.

The province detected several more cases of variants on Wednesday. Officials are analyzing cases on an ongoing basis to detect mutations and variants of concerns.

The province confirmed an additional 63 new cases of B.1.1.7 on Wednesday. The total case count for the strain now stands at 143,444.

Officials identified 50 new cases of B.1.351 and so the total case count in the province rose to 1,365.

In addition, the province added 105 more cases of P.1 which brings its total number of cases to 4,544.

As for the Delta variant, also known as the B.1.617 variant, officials reported 205 new cases of the strain, which brings the total number in the province to 1,909.

Ontario moved into Step 2 of the province’s reopening plan on Wednesday, which saw the reopening of some personal care services and indoor malls.

MORE THAN 4.8M PEOPLE FULLY VACCINATED IN ONTARIO

The province reports that 4,808,170 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 268,397 doses of the vaccine were administered to Ontario residents.

Just over 14.7 million vaccine doses have been administered in the province since the rollout began last year.