COVID-19 cases in Ontario shoot back up to more than 2,000 following three-day decline

COVID-19 cases in Ontario hike back up COVID-19 infections in Ontario have shot back up past the 2,000 mark following three days of declining case numbers.

TORONTO — COVID-19 infections in Ontario have shot back up past the 2,000 mark following three days of declining case numbers.

The 2,093 cases confirmed Thursday are up from the 1,670 reported on Wednesday and the 1,740 logged a day before that. On Monday, the province logged 1,958 new infections and 2,417 on Sunday.

The province’s seven-day average for number of infections recorded now stands at 2,128, down from the 2,751 a week earlier.

Thursday’s report brings Ontario’s lab-confirmed COVID-19 case total to 262,463, including deaths and recoveries.

Fifty-six of those deaths occurred in the last 24 hours and 31 of them involved a resident of a long-term care home. Since the pandemic began, the province has recorded 6,014 deaths related to COVID-19.

More than 1,400 of those deaths were logged since the beginning of January.

At the same time, 2,491 more cases are now considered to be resolved by the Ministry of Health, pushing the total number of COVID-19 recoveries in Ontario to 234,971.

And with 64,664 tests processed in the previous day, Ontario’s COVID-19 positivity rate stands at 3.3 per cent, which is the lowest it’s been since Jan. 22.

Where are the new COVID-19 cases?

Most of the cases reported Thursday were found in just a handful of regions across Ontario.

The province reported 700 cases in Toronto, a sharp increase over Wednesday’s total of 450. Another 331 infections were found in Peel Region and 228 in York Region. There were 123 cases in Niagara Region while Hamilton and Durham Region reported 94 and 85 infections, respectively.

There are currently 1,338 patients in hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 358 are in the ICU and 276 are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.

Update on vaccinations

The Ontario government admitted Thursday that health officials had “misinterpreted the ‘total vaccinations completed’ category,” on the province’s COVID-19 vaccine tracker web page resulting in an error in the total number of people who are considered to be fully vaccinated against the virus.

“As a result, the number of people who have been fully vaccinated is half of what is currently listed,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health said in an email.

The province says that only 55,286 people are actually considered fully vaccinated, a far cry from the 96,459 reported a day earlier.

At least 317,240 shots have been administered since inoculations began last month. Nearly 12,000 shots were given out in the last 24 hours.