COVID-19 deaths in Ontario surpass 7,000, fewer than 1,000 new cases added

Kelly Steptoe embraces her mother Patricia Nind as they wait in line for a COVID-19 vaccination at a mass vaccination site for York Region residents 80 years and older, in Richmond Hill, Ont. on Monday, March 1, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

TORONTO — Ontario’s COVID-19 death toll has surpassed 7,000 as the province logged 958 new cases of the disease Wednesday.

With 17 deaths recorded in the last 24 hours, the total number of fatalities related to the novel coronavirus now stands at 7,014.

Wednesday’s report also brings the province’s lab-confirmed COVID-19 case total to 303,763, including deaths and 286,352 recoveries.

Labs across the province processed 52,613 tests for COVID-19 in the last 24-hour period, yielding a positivity rate of 2.4 per cent, according to the Ministry of Health.

The seven-day average for number of COVID-19 cases reported in Ontario is currently 1,084, which is unchanged from the data presented a week ago today.

Right now, there are 10,397 active cases of COVID-19 in Ontario.

Record number of vaccines administered in a single day

The province said it administered 27,398 doses of the COVID-19 vaccines on Tuesday which it says is a new record.

Premier Doug Ford credited the uptick to the recent offering of vaccines to people 80 years of age and older.

“As vaccines arrive, we’re moving quickly to get them into the arms of our most vulnerable. That’s how we beat this virus,” Ford said in a tweet published Wednesday morning.

Since inoculations began in December, 754,419 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine have been distributed across the province.

Health officials say that 266,710 people are considered to be fully vaccinated after receiving both their first and second shots.

Ten more cases of U.K. variant reported

The number of confirmed COVID-19 B.1.1.7 (U.K. variant) infections in Ontario continues to climb.

Another 10 cases were logged in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of B.1.1.7 cases to 552.

There were no new cases of B.1.351 (South African variant) or P.1 (Brazilian variant) recorded in Ontario on Wednesday. The province says case counts for those strains remain at 27 and 3, respectively.

Where are the new COVID-19 cases?

Most of the cases reported Wednesday were found in Toronto (249), Peel Region (164) and York Region (92), according to the province.

There are currently 668 patients in hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 274 are being treated in an intensive care unit and 188 are breathing on a ventilator.