Ontario reports more than 500 new COVID-19 cases

TORONTO -

Ontario health officials are reporting more than 500 new cases of COVID-19 after two days of daily case numbers below that threshold.

The province confirmed 531 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Thursday, which comes after officials reported case numbers below the 500 mark for two straight days.

Health officials reported 485 new cases on Wednesday and 348 new cases on Tuesday. Before Tuesday, officials had reported more than 500 new cases for five straight days.

Ontario’s rolling seven-day average now stands at 498, up from 375 at this point last week. The seven-day average has been climbing steadily for several weeks.

With 26,213 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the positivity rate in the province stands at 2.4 per cent.

On Thursday, about 85 per cent of the cases (456) involved people who are either unvaccinated, partially vaccinated or their vaccination status remained unknown. The remaining 75 infections involved people who are fully vaccinated.

The province recorded 17 new deaths on Thursday, bringing the total death tally in the province at 9,448.

Fifteen of the deaths reported today occurred two months ago, the Ministry of Health said. The deaths are being reported as part of a data catch-up.

The province stated at least 176 people are in hospital due to COVID-19, including 13 people who are fully vaccinated and 163 people that are either not fully vaccinated or their vaccination status remains unknown.

The province deemed 338 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Thursday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 543,760.

Today’s report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 557,451, including deaths and recoveries.

WHERE ARE THE COVID-19 CASES IN ONTARIO

In the Greater Toronto Area, officials reported 116 new cases in Toronto, 63 new cases in Peel Region, 62 new cases in York Region, 29 new cases Durham Region and 17 new cases in Halton Region.

Officials also reported 46 new cases in Hamilton, 43 new cases in Windsor, 22 new cases in Middlesex-London, 25 new cases in Simcoe Muskoka, 19 new cases in Ottawa, 17 new cases in Waterloo, 13 new cases in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph and 12 new cases in Brant County.

All other regions reported fewer than 10 new cases of the disease.

Ontario is currently in Step 3 of its reopening plan. On Tuesday, health officials said the province is putting the brakes on any further reopening ahead of a "difficult fall and winter" due to the Delta variant.

MORE THAN 9.6M PEOPLE FULLY VACCINATED IN ONTARIO

The province reports that 9,670,921 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 45,545 doses of the vaccine were administered to Ontario residents.

Just over 20.3 million vaccine doses have been administered in the province since the rollout began last year.