Ontario reports highest COVID-19 case count in over a month with 661 new cases, six deaths

TORONTO -

Ontario health officials are reporting 661 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday.

Officials recorded six new deaths. The total number of COVID-19-related deaths in the province is now 9,927.

Today’s case count comes after officials logged 598 new cases on Friday, 642 new cases on Thursday and 454 new cases on Wednesday.

Ontario’s rolling seven-day average now stands at 559, up from 426 at this point last week.

With 26,456 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the positivity rate in the province stands at about 2.4 per cent.

Of the new infections reported Saturday, 388 cases involved people who are either unvaccinated, partially vaccinated or their vaccination status is unknown. The remaining 273 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 263 people are in hospital due to COVID-19. Of those admitted in the last 24 hours, 69 people were fully vaccinated and 94 people were either not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status.

Of those hospitalized, the province says 131 patients are in intensive care due to COVID-19. Eighty patients were admitting in the last 24 hours — 67 of those patients are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, while 13 are fully vaccinated.

The province deemed 469 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Saturday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 591,994.

Today’s report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 606,507, including deaths and recoveries.

On Wednesday, Ontario announced it would pause the lifting of capacity limits in remaining higher-risk settings.

WHERE ARE THE NEW COVID-19 CASES?

In the Greater Toronto Area, officials reported 86 new cases in Toronto, 27 new cases in Peel Region, 54 new cases in York Region and 35 new cases in Durham Region.

Outside of the GTA, Sudbury reported 34 new cases, Simcoe reported 50 new cases, Ottawa reported 49 new cases, Windsor-Essex reported 43 new cases and both Niagara and Windsor reported 36 new cases.

All other regions reported fewer than 30 new cases of the virus.

According to the province’s epidemiology report, of the 661 new infections reported on Saturday, 124 cases were identified in children under the age of 12.

The province also recorded 65 cases in youth between the ages of 12 and 19 and another 188 cases in people between the ages of 20 and 39.

OVER 11.1M PEOPLE FULLY VACCINATED IN ONTARIO

The province reports that 11,138,723 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 18,138 doses of the vaccine were administered to Ontario residents.

Just over 22.6 million vaccine doses have been administered in the province since the rollout began last year.