Ontario adds 578 new cases of COVID-19, highest single-day total reported since early June

Omicron-targeted vaccines going into arms in Ont. The first Omicron-targeted booster is going into arms in Ontario and is now available for everyone 18 years of age and up.

TORONTO — Health officials in Ontario are reporting 578 additional cases of COVID-19 Saturday, marking the highest single-day tally recorded since early June.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says that 408 of the infections logged were found in unvaccinated individuals while 59 were in those partially vaccinated against COVID-19.

Elliott went on to say that 136 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, including 11 fully vaccinated people and 125 others who are either not fully vaccinated or their vaccination status is unknown.

Moreover, of the 111 patients being treated in intensive care, one person is fully vaccinated while the others are either not fully vaccinated or their vaccination status is unknown.

Labs processed 23,468 tests for the novel coronavirus in the last 24 hours, which the Ministry of Health says produced a positivity rate of 2.4 per cent.

Saturday’s report brings the lab-confirmed case total in Ontario to 555,050, including 542,206 recoveries and 9,418 deaths—two of which were reported in the previous day.

The rolling seven-day average for the number of cases reported in Ontario stands at 428. A week ago, that number was 231.

The last time Ontario reported a single-day COVID-19 case total this high was on June 10 when 590 infections were recorded.

Where are the new cases?

The province says that most of the cases logged Saturday were found in Toronto (153), Peel Region (67), York Region (64), and Hamilton (57).

Other regions with case counts in the double digits include Windsor-Essex (42), Niagara Region (23), Halton Region (21), Middlesex-London (20), Durham Region (20), Waterloo (18), and Ottawa (16).

Ontario is currently in Step 3 of its reopening strategy. The province has said virtually all remaining public health restrictions will lift once 80 per cent of eligible residents have one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 75 per cent have two doses.

As of today, 81.4 per cent of Ontarians over the age of 12 have one dose and 73.1 per cent have two doses, according to the Ministry of Health.

100 additional cases of Delta variant detected

Labs across Ontario confirmed 100 more cases of the COVID-19 Delta variant B.1.617.2 in the last 24-hour period.

The case total for the strain now sits at 6,119

Ten more cases of the Alpha variant B.1.1.7 were also found, bringing the case total to 145,666.

No additional cases of the Beta variant B.1.351 or Gamma variant P.1 were recorded since Thursday.