Ontario reports record-breaking number of COVID-19 cases with more than 3,900 new cases

TORONTO -- Ontario health officials are recording another record-breaking number of COVID-19 cases in the province as they report more than 3,900 new infections.

The province confirmed 3,945 cases of the novel coronavirus on Sunday, which breaks the previous provincial daily case record of 3,799 new cases reported on Friday.

The province had actually reported 4,249 new infections on Friday, but clarified that 450 of those cases were due to a data backlog and there were actually 3,799 new case, which was still a record-breaking number at the time.

The province saw daily case counts climb above the 3,000 mark over the past six days. The province’s seven-day average for number of infections recorded is now 3,545, up from 2,792 one week ago.

Health officials also reported on Sunday that 61 more people have died due to COVID-19, including 21 people who were residents of long-term care homes. The province’s death toll now stands 4,983.

The province also deemed 2,496 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Sunday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 180,720.

Sunday’s case count brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 215,782, including deaths and recoveries.

Ontario health officials said on Sunday that there are currently 1,483 people in hospital due to COVID-19. The province said that 388 of those patients are in intensive care, and 266 of them are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.

The province said the data on the number of people in hospitals and intensive care units may be incomplete due to reporting delays. On Saturday, a report by Critical Care Services Ontario showed that more than 400 patients are in the province’s intensive care units due to the novel coronavirus.

Health officials have said that when more than 300 COVID-19 patients are in intensive care, medical care in hospitals not related to the disease becomes nearly impossible to handle.

Where are the COVID-19 cases in Ontario?

Of the 3,945 cases reported on Sunday, health officials said that 1,160 were in Toronto, 641 were in Peel Region and 357 were in York Region.

Several other regions in Ontario reported COVID-19 cases numbers in the triple digits, including Ottawa (129), Durham Region (190), Middlesex-London (173), Windsor-Essex (223), Halton Region (118) Niagara (151) and Waterloo (220).

In an effort to help curb the spread of the disease, the provincial government ordered a 28-day Ontario-wide lockdown on Dec. 26.

There were 62,308 COVID-19 tests completed in the province in the last-recorded 24-hour period. The province’s test positivity rate now stands at about 6.2 per cent, according to health officials.

There are 39,362 COVID-19 tests still under investigation. In total, Ontario has processed more than 8.5 million tests since the pandemic began in January.

As of 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, 113,246 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Ontario, including 9,983 doses administered in the past 24 hours. The vaccine requires two doses. In Ontario, 5,884 total vaccinations have been completed as of Sunday.