Ontario's daily COVID-19 cases hit highest mark in months with 793 new infections, 4 deaths

TORONTO -

Ontario health officials are reporting 793 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday — the highest daily case count since mid-September.

Officials also recorded four new deaths, pushing the total number of COVID-19-related fatalities in the province to 9,959.

Today’s case count comes after officials logged 711 new cases on Thursday, 512 new cases on Wednesday and 481 new cases on Tuesday

Ontario’s rolling seven-day average now stands at 625, up from 537 at this point last week.

With 30,515 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the positivity rate in the province stands at about 2.6 per cent.

Of the new infections reported Friday, 385 cases involved people who are unvaccinated, 22 were in those partially vaccinated and 63 were in individuals whose vaccination status is unknown. The remaining 323 infections involved people who are fully vaccinated.

Health experts have noted the number of COVID-19 infections identified in fully vaccinated individuals will naturally increase as more people get both of their shots. Vaccination helps reduce the risk of severe symptoms related to COVID-19 as well as hospitalization.

The province stated at least 269 people are in hospital due to COVID-19. Of those hospitalized, 172 were admitted in the last 24 hours — 95 of which were unvaccinated, 13 were partially vaccinated and 64 were fully vaccinated.

The province says 128 patients are in intensive care due to COVID-19.

The province deemed 567 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Friday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 595,169.

Today’s report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 610,222 including deaths and recoveries.

WHERE ARE THE NEW COVID-19 CASES?

In the Greater Toronto Area, officials reported 115 new cases in Toronto, 54 new cases in Peel Region, 60 new cases in York Region and 25 new cases in Durham Region.

Outside of the GTA, regions that reported more than 30 new infections include Hamilton (41), Ottawa (31), Simcoe-Muskoka (71), Southwestern (37), Sudbury (37) and Windsor-Essex (51).

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

According to the province’s epidemiology report, of the 793 new infections reported on Friday, 194 cases were identified in children under the age of 12.

The province also recorded 45 cases in youth between the ages of 12 and 19 and another 215 cases in people between the ages of 20 and 39.

On Friday, 109 COVID-19 infections were found in schools across Ontario. Of the infections found in schools, 101 were recorded in students, seven were in staff and one was in an unidentified individual.

There are 599 schools with at least one confirmed case and seven facilities are currently closed as a result.

OVER 11.1M PEOPLE FULLY VACCINATED IN ONTARIO

The province reports that 11,187,346 people in Ontario have received both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and are now considered fully vaccinated against the virus.

In the last 24-hour period, officials said 13,897 doses of the vaccine were administered to Ontario residents.

Just over 22.7 million vaccine doses have been administered in the province since the rollout began last year.

On Friday, Health Canada authorized the first COVID-19 vaccine for children, giving the regulatory green light to Pfizer-BioNTech’s two-dose vaccine for kids aged five to 11-years-old.