Ontario reports more than 450 new COVID-19 cases over past two days

TORONTO -

Ontario health officials are reporting more than 450 new cases of COVID-19 over the past two days.

The province confirmed 484 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Friday, but officials noted that 200 of the cases are from today and 284 are from Thursday. The province did not release yesterday’s case count due to the holiday.

Ontario’s rolling seven-day average now stands at 258, down from 292 at this point last week.

With 25,161 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the positivity rate in the province stands at 0.9 per cent. The positivity rate on Thursday was also 0.9 per cent after officials conducted 26,929 tests.

The last time the province’s positivity rate dropped below one per cent was on Sept. 13.

Ontario also recorded another 28 deaths related to the disease, bringing the total death tally in the province to 9,196.

There are currently at least 179 people in hospital due to the disease. Officials said 252 patients are in intensive care and 160 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 281 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Friday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 534,010.

Friday’s report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 545,381, including deaths and recoveries.

WHERE ARE THE COVID-19 CASES IN ONTARIO

In the Greater Toronto Area, officials reported 23 cases in Toronto, 21 new cases in Peel Region, nine new cases in York Region and three new cases in Durham Region.

Officials also reported 41 new cases in Waterloo, 18 new cases in Grey Bruce Health Unit and 12 new cases in Halton Region.

All other regions in Ontario reporter fewer than 10 new cases of the disease.

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

The province confirmed an additional 147 new cases of B.1.1.7 on Friday. The total case count for the strain now stands at 143,833.

Officials identified 28 new cases of B.1.351 and so the total case count in the province rose to 1,415.

In addition, the province added 33 more cases of P.1 which brings its total number of cases to 4,628.

As for the Delta variant, also known as the B.1.617 variant officials reported 48 new cases of the strain, which brings the total number in the province to 1,995.

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

MORE THAN 5.1M PEOPLE FULLY VACCINATED IN ONTARIO

The province reports that 5,185,939 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 145,674 doses of the vaccine were administered to Ontario residents.

Just over 15.1 million vaccine doses have been administered in the province since the rollout began last year.