More than 300,000 COVID-19 cases logged in Ontario since beginning of pandemic

Paramedics wheel a patient into the emergency department at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

TORONTO — Ontario is marking a grim milestone Sunday as health officials report that the province has logged more than 300,000 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began in January.

The news comes as 1,062 new infections were recorded in the previous day as well as 20 deaths related to the disease.

Sunday’s report brings Ontario’s lab-confirmed COVID-19 case total to 300,816, including 283,344 recoveries and 6,980 deaths.

With 49,185 tests processed in the last 24-hour period, the province says its COVID-19 positivity rate stands at 2.4 per cent.

The seven-day average for number of cases reported in Ontario is 1,104. This time last week, that number was 1,031.

Where are the new COVID-19 cases?

Most of the cases reported in Ontario on Sunday were found in three regions.

According to the province, Toronto logged 259 new infections, Peel Region logged 201 and York Region logged 86.

Waterloo added 60 cases while Halton Region and Hamilton recorded 47 and 45 cases, respectively, the province said.

There are currently 627 patients in hospital with COVID-19. At least 289 of those patients are being treated in an ICU and 185 are on a ventilator.

COVID-19 variant case count climbs

The number of COVID-19 cases in Ontario that have been confirmed as a variant of concern has grown to 558.

The province confirmed 20 more cases of B.1.1.7 (U.K. variant), pushing the case total for that strain to 528.

Two more cases of B.1.351 (South African variant) were also confirmed which brings that strain’s case total to 27.

As well, one additional case of P.1 (Brazilian variant) was confirmed, bringing the total number of that variant to three.

Update on COVID-19 vaccinations

At least 262,103 Ontarians have now been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the province said Sunday.

In total, 687,271 doses of a vaccine have been administered since inoculations began in December. Some 19,000 of those shots went into arms yesterday.