Ontario reports over 500 new COVID-19 cases for second day straight
Ontario has logged more than 500 new COVID-19 cases for the second day in a row.
Health officials recorded 574 cases of the novel coronavirus on Friday, as well as four more deaths related to the disease.
The new infections represent a slight decrease from the 590 cases reported on Thursday.
The seven-day rolling average of daily cases in Ontario now stands at about 568, down from 889 the previous week.
The province’s positivity rate now stands at about 2.0 per cent, according to the Ministry of Health, with 28,949 tests processed in the last 24-hour period.
As of Monday, there are 489 people hospitalized with the novel coronavirus. Of those patients, 440 patients are in the ICU.
The total number of COVID-19 cases in Ontario now stands at 538,651, including 8,935 deaths and 523532 recoveries.
On Friday at 12:01 a.m., the province entered Step 1 of its reopening plan.
In Step 1, patios and non-essential retail are allowed to open to in-person service. Outdoor gatherings will also be allowed with an increased 10-person cap.
WHERE ARE THE NEW CASES?
The municipalities with the most new COVID-19 cases include Toronto (109), Peel (84), and Waterloo (79).
Porcupine Public Health Unit, which was held back from entering Step 1 of the provincial reopening due to high positivity rates, is reporting 51 new infections.
VARIANT OF CONCERN UPDATE
According to the province’s epidemiology report, 1,190 cases of the B.1.1.7. variant were identified in lab-positive tests in the previous 24-hours. These new cases bring the total number of B.1.1.7. variants in Ontario to 137,307.
The province also identified an additional case of the P.1. variant, bringing the total identified in Ontario to 4,099.
Ontario is not publicly reporting cases of the B.1.617 variant originally found in India, despite health experts say the easily transmissible variant could be the cause of a fourth wave in the province.
MORE THAN 10.8 MILLION VACCINE DOSES ADMINISTERED
According to the province’s Ministry of Health, Ontario has administered 10,827,420 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine in total.
Of the more than 10 million doses administered, 199,951 of them went into arms on Thursday alone.
“I promised you that as soon as we had sufficient supply, we would ramp up to administer millions of vaccines each month. Thank you to everyone for your help getting us here,” Premier Doug Ford wrote on Twitter Friday to mark the milestone.
Over 1.5 million Ontarians have received both doses and are considered to be fully vaccinated by the Ministry of Health.
Background
The numbers used in this story are found in the Ontario Ministry of Health's COVID-19 Daily Epidemiologic Summary. The number of cases for any city or region may differ slightly from what is reported by the province, because local units report figures at different times.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.