Ontario confirms 57 more deaths, sees decrease in new COVID-19 cases for 3rd straight day

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TORONTO — Ontario health officials have confirmed another 424 cases of COVID-19, as well as 57 more deaths.

This marks the lowest number of patients reported in a single day since April 13, but the highest death count since the province began tracking cases daily earlier this year.

Including deaths and recoveries, the new patients bring the province’s total case count to 14,856.

Monday’s epidemiologic summary shows that another person between the ages of 20 and 39 has died. The five COVID-19 patients in this age group represent the province’s youngest to succumb to the virus.

The number of deaths related to COVID-19 in Ontario is nearing 900.

Thirty-nine of those who died are between the ages of 40 and 59, while 241 deceased are between the ages of 60 and 79.

Seniors who are 80 years of age and older continue to be the age group hardest hit by the virus. Of the 892 deceased patients in Ontario, at least 607 were older than 79.

There have been no deaths reported in patients under the age of 20.

The province reported three more outbreaks at long-term care facilities in Ontario, bringing the total number of homes dealing with the virus to 170.

The Ministry of Long-Term Care is reporting that at least 671 residents at long-term care homes in the province have died.

There is a discrepancy between deaths reported through the integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS) and the long-term care homes themselves. The data provided in the province’s epidemiologic summary was taken from iPHIS as of 4 p.m. on Sunday and from the Toronto Public Health Coronavirus Rapid Entry System as of 2 p.m. on Sunday.

The epidemiologic summary is reporting 497 deaths in long-term care homes. It also confirmed that more than 2,000 health-care workers have been diagnosed with COVID-19.

Of the more than 14,000 people diagnosed with COVID-19 in the province, about 11.4 per cent were hospitalized at some point.

Nine hundred and forty-five patients are currently in the hospital, officials said, and 241 are being treated in the intensive care unit (ICU). Of the patients in the ICU, 191 are on ventilators.

There are now 8,525 COVID-19 cases that have been resolved, representing about 57 per cent of Ontario's cases.

The province has conducted a little more than 12,500 tests in the past 24 hours, reaching their daily goal as of April 22 for the first time. About 5,000 test samples still pending.

Over the weekend, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams said that the drop in new cases since Friday was encouraging and looked like “a number of metrics are going in the right direction.”

His comments followed modelling data that was presented by health officials last week. The data said that community-spread cases of the virus may have peaked, prompting Ontario Premier Doug Ford to unveil his government's three-phase plan to reopen the economy.

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The framework provides no specific dates or benchmarks, but rather offers brief descriptions of each "gradual stage" of reopening.

On Monday, Williams added that officials will not be moving forward with the next phase of the framework until they see a "consistent" decrease in daily COVID-19 cases as well as a decrease in cases that cannot be traced to a specific source.

Investigators are still trying to determine how a large number of COVID-19 patients contracted the virus.

"If everyone is doing what they should be doing, the numbers should be dropping fairly significantly," he said.

Quick facts on all Ontario COVID-19 patients

• 41.5 per cent of all patients in the province are male and 57.5 per cent are female – 140 did not specify a male or female gender and eight patients’ ages are unknown.

• 2.2 per cent of all patients are 19 years of age or younger

• 22.9 per cent of all patients are between the ages of 20 and 39

• 30.3 per cent of all patients are between the ages of 40 and 59

• 22.2 per cent of all patients are between the ages of 60 and 79

• 22.3 per cent of all patients are 80 years of age or older

• Public health units in the Greater Toronto Area account for 59.5 per cent of all cases in the province

• 9 per cent of all patients had travelled in the 14 days prior to becoming ill

• 19.3 per cent of all patients had contact with a previously confirmed case

• 36.3 per cent of all patients had community exposure

• 35.3 per cent of all patients had exposure information listed as pending