Ontario reports more than 800 new COVID-19 cases for third straight day

TORONTO -

Ontario health officials are reporting more than 800 new COVID-19 cases for a third day in a row.

The province confirmed 811 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Sunday, which comes a day after officials reported a fourth wave high of 944 cases.

Previously, officials logged 807 new cases on Friday and 865 new cases on Thursday.

Ontario’s rolling seven-day average now stands at 757, up from 688 at this point last week. The province’s seven-day average has been increasing for weeks now.

With 22,410 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the positivity rate in the province is 2.9 per cent.

Of the new infections reported Sunday, 643 cases involved people who are either unvaccinated, partially vaccinated or their vaccination status is unknown. The remaining 168 infections involved people who are fully vaccinated.

The province recorded three new deaths on Sunday, bringing the total death tally in the province to 9,548.

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

At least 179 patients are in intensive care in Ontario hospitals and 104 are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.

The province deemed 573 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Sunday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 553,549.

Today’s report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 569,633, including deaths and recoveries.

WHERE ARE THE NEW COVID-19 CASES IN ONTARIO

Most of the new cases were found in parts of the Greater Toronto Area. Officials reported 156 new cases in Toronto, 100 new cases in Peel Region, 59 new cases in York Region, 46 new cases in Durham Region and 33 new cases in Halton Region.

Officials also reported 71 new cases in Hamilton, 68 new cases in Windsor-Essex, 52 new cases in Ottawa, 42 new cases in Niagara Region and 34 new cases in Simcoe Muskoka,.

All other regions reported fewer than 30 new cases of the disease.

The latest modelling data from the province showed that Ontario is facing a "substantial" fourth wave of the pandemic and could see daily case counts reach 9,000 by October in a worst-case scenario if residents do not reduce their contacts.

In a more optimistic scenario, based on a 30 per cent reduction in contacts, the predictions found that case counts could begin declining within days and dip under 500 by October.

VARIANTS OF CONCERN IN ONTARIO UPDATE

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

The province confirmed two new case of Alpha B.1.1.7 on Sunday. The total case count for the strain now stands at 146,430.

Officials identified no new cases of the Beta B.1.351 variant and so the total case count in the province stood at 1,500.

In addition, the province also found one new case of the Gamma P.1 variant, which brings its total number of cases to 5,223.

As for the Delta variant, also known as the B.1.617 variant, officials reported 632 new cases of the strain, which brings the total number in the province to 12,467.

MORE THAN 10M PEOPLE FULLY VACCINATED IN ONTARIO

The province reports that 10,049,092 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 32,450 doses of the vaccine were administered to Ontario residents.

Just over 20.9 million vaccine doses have been administered in the province since the rollout began last year.