Ontario logs more than 1,800 new COVID-19 cases, 43 deaths

TORONTO — Ontario has recorded more than 1,800 new COVID-19 cases, as well as 43 more deaths.

On Sunday, provincial health officials logged 1,848 infections of the novel coronavirus, marking a slight decrease from the 2,063 cases logged on Saturday.

Before that, the province saw 1,837 cases recorded on Friday, 2,093 on Thursday and 1,670 on Wednesday.

The province’s seven-day average for number of cases recorded is now 1,887, down from 2,459 one week ago.

There were 49,352 COVID-19 tests completed in the province in the last-recorded 24-hour period.

The province’s test positivity rate now stands at about 3.7 per cent, according to the Ministry of Health.

Of the new cases logged Sunday, 726 are in Toronto, 306 are in Peel Region and 168 are in York Region. Toronto Public Health has been dealing with a “data catch-up” in recent days, officials have said. As a result, approximately 300 additional cases from a previous date are included in Sunday’s report.

Other areas that recorded more than 50 cases of the disease on Sunday include Niagara Region (87), Ottawa (55), Durham Region (55), Simcoe Muskoka (52), and Windsor-Essex (53).

Sunday’s count brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 268,211, including deaths and recoveries.

With the 43 new deaths confirmed by health officials on Sunday, the province’s death toll is now 6,188. Of the new deaths, 21 were residents of long-term care homes.

According to the province, there are at least 1,159 patients infected with the novel coronavirus in Ontario hospitals as of Sunday. Of those patients, 356 are in the intensive care unit (ICU) and 252 of those 356 patients are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.

At this time last week, there were 1,436 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, 392 of which were in the ICU and 301 were on a ventilator.

On Sunday, health officials deemed 2,313 more cases of the disease to be resolved, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 242,807.

There are currently 19,216 active cases of COVID-19 in Ontario, down from 24,153 one week ago.

Officials also said there have been 58 cases of the U.K. variant, also known as B.1.1.7, found in Ontario as of Sunday.

Thus far, 339,644 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Ontario, including 2,816 doses administered in the previous day. The vaccine requires two doses. In Ontario, 68,849 total vaccinations have been completed as of Sunday.