Ontario reports more than 600 new COVID-19 cases, one more death

TORONTO -

Ontario health officials are reporting more than 600 new cases of COVID-19 and one more death due to the disease.

The province confirmed 660 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday, which comes after officials reported a drop to 486 new infections on Tuesday.

Before Tuesday, the province reported more than 600 cases daily for four days straight. Ontario’s rolling seven-day average now stands at 625, up from 495 at this point last week.

Of the new infections reported Wednesday, 525 cases involved people who are either unvaccinated, partially vaccinated or their vaccination status remained unknown. The remaining 135 infections involved people who are fully vaccinated.

With 26,406 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the positivity rate in the province stands at 2.4 per cent.

With one more person dying due to COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, officials say that the total death tally in the province is now 9,472.

The province stated at least 283 people are in hospital due to COVID-19, including 30 people who are fully vaccinated and 253 people who are either not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status.

At least 161 of those patients are in intensive care in Ontario hospitals and 92 are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.

The province deemed 572 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Wednesday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 546,685.

Today’s report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 561,297, including deaths and recoveries.

WHERE ARE THE NEW COVID-19 CASES IN ONTARIO

In the Greater Toronto Area, officials reported 151 new cases in Toronto, 93 new cases in York Region, 52 new cases in Peel Region, 21 new cases in Durham Region and 20 new cases in Halton Region.

Officials also reported 86 new cases in Hamilton, 51 new cases in Windsor-Essex, 34 new cases in Middlesex-London, 29 new cases in Ottawa and 24 new cases in Simcoe Muskoka.

All other regions reported fewer than 20 new cases of the disease.

Ontario is currently in Step 3 of its reopening plan. Last week, 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 9.8M PEOPLE FULLY VACCINATED IN ONTARIO

Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore said on Tuesday that Ontario will likely experience waves of COVID-19 for the next six to eight months which will only stop if the vaccination rate reaches at least 90 per cent.

More than 75 per cent of people over the age of 12 in Ontario are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, but first doses have stalled in recent weeks. The province has now taken on a “last mile strategy” to increase vaccination rates.

The province reports that 9,819,677 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 40,254 doses of the vaccine were administered to Ontario residents.

Just over 20.5 million vaccine doses have been administered in the province since the rollout began last year.