Ontario logs just under 800 new COVID-19 cases, five more deaths

CTV National News: Pandemic of the unvaccinated Avis Favaro visits an Ontario ICU that’s quickly filling up with young, unvaccinated COVID-19 patients struggling to survive.

TORONTO — Ontario health officials are reporting just under 800 new COVID-19 cases on Friday as well as five more deaths due to the disease.

The province confirmed 795 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Friday, which comes after officials reported 600 new cases on Monday, 577 new cases on Tuesday and 593 new cases on Wednesday and 864 new cases on Thursday.

Ontario’s rolling seven-day average now stands at 724, down from 728 at this point last week.

With 33,763 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the positivity rate in the province is 2.4 per cent.

Of the new infections reported Friday, 582 cases involved people who are either unvaccinated, partially vaccinated or their vaccination status is unknown. The remaining 213 infections involved people who are fully vaccinated.

The province recorded five new deaths on Friday, bringing the total death tally in the province to 9,637.

The province stated at least 336 people are in hospital due to COVID-19, including 30 people who are fully vaccinated and 306 people who are either not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status.

At least 194 patients are in intensive care in Ontario hospitals and 133 are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.

The province deemed 680 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Friday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 562,172.

Today’s report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 578,048, including deaths and recoveries.

WHERE ARE THE NEW COVID-19 CASES IN ONTARIO

Most of the new cases were found in parts of the Greater Toronto Area. Officials reported 166 new cases in Toronto, 77 new cases in Peel Region, 71 new cases in York Region and 60 new cases in Durham Region.

Officials also reported 64 new cases in Ottawa, 38 new cases in Waterloo region, 36 new cases in Windsor-Essex, and 33 new cases in Hamilton.

All other regions reported fewer than 30 new cases of the disease.

According to the province’s epidemiology report, of the 864 new infections reported on Friday, 170 cases were identified in children under the age of 12.

The province also recorded 69 cases in youth between the ages of 12 and 19 and another 345 cases in people between the ages of 20 and 39.

As well, officials found 165 cases in people between the ages of 40 and 59, 74 cases in people between the ages of 60 and 79 and eight cases in people over the age of 80 were reported.

On Friday, officials reported 121 new cases in Ontario schools, including 105 cases involving students and 15 cases involving staff. The province said the remaining one case was not identified.

The province reported that 396 out 4,844 schools have at least one case of COVID-19. Currently, one school has been closed due to an outbreak.

Officials also reported an additional 162 cases of the Delta variant in lab-confirmed COVID-19 tests. This brings the total number of cases to 16,086.

MORE THAN 10.2M PEOPLE FULLY VACCINATED IN ONTARIO

The province reports that 10,256,563 people in Ontario have received both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and are now considered fully vaccinated against the disease.

In the last 24-hour period, officials said 35,285 doses of the vaccine were administered to Ontario residents.

Just over 21.3 million vaccine doses have been administered in the province since the rollout began last year.