Ontario daily COVID-19 cases continue to fluctuate with just over 3,900 new infections logged

TORONTO — Ontario’s daily COVID-19 case count continues to fluctuate with just over 3,900 infections confirmed in the last 24 hours.

On Sunday, health officials reported 3,947 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 24 more deaths related to the disease. This marks a decrease from the 4,094 infections logged a day earlier.

There were 4,505 cases on Friday, 3,682 on Thursday and 4,212 on Wednesday.

The seven-day rolling average of daily COVID-19 cases in Ontario now stands at about 4,051. That number was 4,341 a week ago.

The number of people being treated for the disease in the province’s intensive care units (ICU) has surpassed the 850 mark for the first time in the pandemic.

As of Sunday, there were 2,126 people hospitalized with COVID-19. Of those patients, 851 are being treated in the ICU and 596 are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.

In total, at least 7,911 people have died after contracting the disease in Ontario. According to the province’s daily epidemiology report, of the 24 deaths reported on Sunday, one person was under the age of 19. This brings the total number of people in that age group to die of COVID-19 to three.

The data shows there was one death in a person between the ages of 20 and 39, and another in a person between the ages of 40 and 59.

There were 13 people who were reported deceased due to COVID-19 Sunday between the ages of 60 and 79 and another eight people who died over the age of 80. At least one was a resident at a long-term care home.

The total number of lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ontario is now 445,351, including deaths and recoveries.

According to the Ministry of Health, just over 46,600 COVID-19 tests were processed in the last 24-hour period, yielding a positivity rate of 8.7 per cent.

Where are the COVID-19 cases?

The majority of the province’s cases continue to be found in the Greater Toronto Area, although some other municipalities are also reporting infection counts in the triple digits.

There were 1,136 infections in Toronto, 901 in Peel Region, 406 in York Region, 207 in Durham, and 153 in Halton.

Other public health units reporting more than 100 new COVID-19 cases include Ottawa (209), Niagara (118), Simcoe-Muskoka (111), Hamilton (109), and Middlesex-London (104).

Ontario is currently under a stay-at-home order that discourages non-essential travel outside of the home and between regions.

More than 50,000 B.1.1.7. variants confirmed in Ontario

The total number of B.1.1.7. variants in Ontario has surpassed 50,000, with a total of 52,398 cases of the strain identified in lab-positive tests since the province began keeping track of the variants.

Of those cases, 2,538 were discovered in the last 24-hour period.

There were 14 additional B.1.351 strains identified as well as 80 P.1. variants.

The epidemiology report does not include any mention of the B.1.617 variant, originally found in India, despite the fact that Public Health Ontario said on Friday that at least 36 cases have been confirmed in the province.

Less than 100,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses administered

The province is reporting that 99,535 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine were administered to Ontario residents in the last 24-hour period.

In total, more than 4.6 million doses have been administered. Just over 360,300 people in Ontario have received both doses and are considered fully vaccinated against the disease.

Provincial officials have repeatedly said that they have the capacity to administer about 150,000 doses a day.