Ontario reports highest case count since April with 4,177 new infections, two deaths

Ontario health officials are reporting 4,177 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday.

This is the highest number of daily cases reported since April 23 when the province logged 4,505 new infections.

In addition to the new cases reported today, officials recorded two new deaths, pushing the total number of COVID-19-related fatalities in the province to 10,113.

Ontario’s rolling seven-day average now stands at 2,542, up from 1,235 at this point last week.

Today’s case count comes after officials logged 3,301 on Saturday, 3,124 new cases on Friday and 2,421 new cases on Thursday.

With 51,151 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the positivity rate in the province stands at about 8.7 per cent.

Of the new infections reported Sunday, 905 cases involved people who are unvaccinated, 142 were in those partially vaccinated and 153 were in individuals whose vaccination status is unknown. The remaining 2,977 infections involved people who are fully vaccinated.

Health experts have noted the number of COVID-19 infections identified in fully vaccinated individuals will naturally increase as more people get both of their shots. Vaccination helps reduce the risk of severe symptoms related to COVID-19 as well as hospitalization.

The province stated at least 283 people are in hospital and 159 patients are in intensive care due to COVID-19. They did not provide a breakdown of hospital and ICU admissions by vaccination status on Sunday.

The province deemed 1,210 more cases of the virus to be resolved as of Sunday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 618,983.

Today’s report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 649,943, including deaths and recoveries.

On Friday, the province announced new health and safety measures in an effort to curb the transmission of the Omicron variant.

As of Sunday, gathering sizes dropped from 25 people to 10 people indoors. Outdoor gathering limits were also lowered to 25.

Additionally, Ontario is reintroducing capacity limits of 50 per cent at most indoor settings across the province. This includes restaurants and bars, personal care services, retailers, and shopping malls.

WHERE ARE THE NEW COVID-19 CASES?

In the Greater Toronto Area, officials reported 1,039 new cases in Toronto, 311 new cases in Peel Region, 365 new cases in York Region, 245 new cases in Halton and 240 new cases in Durham Region.

Outside of the GTA, regions that reported more than 100 new infections include Hamilton (175), Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington (129), Middlesex-London (136), Niagara (107), Ottawa (334), Waterloo (137), Simcoe-Muskoka (173) and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (126).

According to the province’s epidemiology report, of the 4,177 new infections reported on Sunday, 583 cases were identified in children under the age of 12.

The province also recorded 411 cases in youth between the ages of 12 and 19 and another 1,799 cases in people between the ages of 20 and 39.

OVER 11.3M PEOPLE FULLY VACCINATED IN ONTARIO

The province reports that 11,359,730 people in Ontario have received both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and are now considered fully vaccinated against the virus.

In the last 24-hour period, officials said 140,827 doses of the vaccine were administered to Ontario residents.

Just over 25.3 million vaccine doses have been administered in the province since the rollout began last year.