Ontario reports more than 350 new COVID-19 cases as positivity rate drops

TORONTO -

Ontario health officials are reporting more than 350 new cases of COVID-19 as the positivity rate in the province plummets. 

The province confirmed 384 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday. The day before, officials marked the lowest daily total since Sept. 17 with 293 infections.

Ontario’s rolling seven-day average now stands at 474, down from 703 at this point last week.

With 28,076 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the positivity rate in the province dropped from 2.3 per cent on Tuesday to 1.5 per cent on Wednesday.

The last time the province recorded a positivity rate of 1.5 per cent was on Oct. 3, before the peak of the second and third waves.

The province also reported that 12 more people have died due to COVID-19 in the previous 24-hour period, bringing the total number of deaths to 8,986.

There are currently 438 people in hospital due to the disease. At least 377 patients are in intensive care and 242 are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.

The province deemed 722 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Wednesday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 527,162.

Wednesday’s report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 540,810, including deaths and recoveries.

WHERE ARE THE COVID-19 CASES IN ONTARIO

Many of the new COVID-19 cases reported are concentrated in hot spot regions across the province. Officials reported 60 new cases in Peel Region, 54 new cases in Toronto, 15 new cases in Durham Region and 14 new cases in York Region.

Officials also reported 71 new cases in Waterloo, 23 new cases in Middlesex-London, 21 new cases in Ottawa and 16 new cases in Niagara Region.

The province confirmed an additional 488 new cases of B.1.1.7 (U.K. variant) in Ontario on Tuesday. The total case count for the strain now stands at 141,106.

Officials identified four new cases of B.1.351 (South African variant), and so the total case count in the province rose to 1,141.

In addition, the province added 19 more cases of P.1 (Brazilian variant), which brings its total number of cases to 4,156.

As for the Delta variant, also known as the B.1.617 variant, originally found in India, officials reported 54 new cases of the strain, which brings the total number in the province to 497.

MORE THAN 2.1M PEOPLE FULLY VACCINATED IN ONTARIO

The province reports that 2,198,715 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 202,984 doses of the vaccine were administered to Ontario residents, marking the highest number of shots given in a single day so far in the province.

Just over 11.7 million vaccine doses have been administered in the province since the rollout began earlier this year.