TORONTO -- For the second day in a row, Ontario is reporting more than 2,100 new cases of COVID-19.
On Friday, health officials logged an additional 2,169 cases of the novel coronavirus, as well as 12 more deaths related to the disease.
The province reported 2,380 infections on Thursday, although a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health noted that about 280 of those cases were the result of a data catchup. That number falls to 2,100 infections without those cases.
There were 1,571 cases reported on Wednesday, 1,546 on Tuesday and 1,699 on Monday.
The seven-day rolling average of daily cases in Ontario now stands at 1,855, up from 1,480 the previous week.
Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 continues to rise, with at least 913 people being treated for the disease in an Ontario hospital, up from 894 the previous day. According to provincial data, there are 369 people in intensive care units and 215 people are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.
However, a report by Critical Care Services Ontario shows that the number of people being treated for COVID-19 the ICU has actually surpassed the 400 threshold, with 401 patients.
The government has previously said that when there are more than 150 people in Ontario ICUS being treated for COVID-19, care not related to the disease can be impacted. When the 300 patient threshold is passed, it becomes nearly impossible.
Dr. Michael Warner, medical director of critical care at Michael Garron Hospital, called the number of ICU patients in Ontario “extremely concerning.”
“Today, 12 ICU patients on ventilators with COVID are being pulled out of GTA ICUs and sent to other hospitals as far away as Kingston,” Warner said on social media. “This is the wake up call.”
With more than 53,400 COVID-19 tests processed in the last 24-hour period, the province says the positivity rate in Ontario remains steady at 3.8 per cent.
The total number of lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ontario now stands at 338,239, including deaths and recoveries.
Where are the new COVID-19 cases?
Most of the infections logged on Friday can be found in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.
The province reported 682 COVID-19 cases in Toronto, 397 in Peel Region, 254 in York Region, 123 in Durham Region and 122 in Hamilton.
Ottawa was the only other municipality to log a case count in the triple digits, with 129 infections.
According to the province’s epidemiology report, 1,023 new mutations for variants of concern were identified in lab-positive COVID-19 tests.
In total, 16,680 mutations have been found since the province began recording variants of concern. Of those, 1,612 have undergone genome testing and have been officially categorized.
In the last 24-hour period, 36 B.1.1.7. variants have been identified, as well as nine B.1.351 variants and four P.1. variants.
Ontario vaccinations
In total, more than 1.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to Ontario residents. More than 82,900 doses were administered in the last 24-hour period.
There are 306,373 people in Ontario who have received both doses of the vaccine and are considered immunized.
Backstory:
(NOTE: The numbers used in this story are found in the Ontario Ministry of Health's COVID-19 Daily Epidemiologic Summary. The number of cases for any city or region may differ slightly from what is reported by the province, because local units report figures at different times.)
