Ontario reports nearly 500 new COVID-19 cases after one-day drop

TORONTO -

Ontario health officials are reporting nearly 500 new cases of COVID-19 after a single-day drop.

The province confirmed 485 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday, which comes after officials logged 526 new infections on Monday and 348 new infections on Tuesday.

Ontario’s rolling seven-day average now stands at 495, up from 332 at this point last week. The seven-day average has been climbing steadily for several days.

With 26,307 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the positivity rate in the province stands at 2.5 per cent.

The province recorded three new deaths on Wednesday, bringing the total death tally in the province at 9,431.

The province stated at least 175 people are in hospital due to COVID-19, including 14 people who are fully vaccinated and 160 people that are either not fully vaccinated or their vaccination status remains unknown.

Due to a data issue, the province was not able to report on Wednesday how many people are currently in intensive care due to COVID-19.

The province deemed 345 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Wednesday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 543,422.

Today’s report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 556,920, including deaths and recoveries.

WHERE ARE THE COVID-19 CASES IN ONTARIO

In the Greater Toronto Area, officials reported 108 new cases in Toronto, 59 new cases in Peel Region, 22 new cases in York Region and 16 new cases each in Halton Region and Durham Region.

Officials also reported 75 new cases in Windsor, 36 new cases in Hamilton, 27 new cases in Middlesex-London, 19 new cases in Ottawa, 17 new cases in Simcoe Muskoka and 12 new cases in Waterloo.

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.

VARIANTS OF CONCERN IN ONTARIO UPDATE

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

The province confirmed an additional 11 new cases of Alpha B.1.1.7 on Wedensday. The total case count for the strain now stands at 145,705.

Officials identified three new cases of the Beta B.1.351 variant and so the total case count in the province rose to 1,496.

In addition, the province also found 23 new cases of the Gamma P.1 variant, which brings its total number of cases to 5,206.

As for the Delta variant, also known as the B.1.617 variant, officials reported 117 new cases of the strain, which brings the total number in the province to 6,656.

MORE THAN 9.6M PEOPLE FULLY VACCINATED IN ONTARIO

The province reports that 9,641,986 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 41,016 doses of the vaccine were administered to Ontario residents.

Just over 20.2 million vaccine doses have been administered in the province since the rollout began last year.

Ontario announced on Tuesday that it will begin offering a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to individuals most at risk of serious illness.

Officials released a list of vulnerable populations eligible for the third shot, including transplant recipients, patients with hematological cancers, recipients of an anti-CD20 agent and residents of high-risk settings such as long-term care homes, retirement homes and First Nations elder care lodges.