Ontario logs more than 2,200 new COVID-19 cases, 21 deaths

Hamilton prepares to enter lockdown After operating in the red zone for more than a month, Hamilton will enter a city-wide lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19.

TORONTO — Ontario has recorded more than 2,200 new cases of COVID-19, as well as 21 more deaths.

On Tuesday, provincial health officials logged 2,202 new infections of the novel coronavirus, marking the eighth straight day of case counts surpassing 2,100.

The province’s seven-day average for number of cases recorded is now 2,267, up from 1,927 one week ago.

Meanwhile, testing for the disease in the province dropped on Tuesday. There were 45,265 COVID-19 tests completed in Ontario in the last-recorded 24-hour period. That number is down from the more than 54,000 tests completed on Monday and the more than 67,000 tests completed on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

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

Of the new patients logged on Tuesday, 636 are in Toronto, 504 are in Peel Region, 218 are in York Region, and 172 are in Windsor-Essex County.

Other areas that recorded more than 50 cases of the disease on Tuesday include Durham Region (86), Middlesex-London (93), Hamilton (95), and Waterloo Region (101).

Tuesday’s case count brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 160,255, including deaths and recoveries.

With the 21 new deaths confirmed by health officials on Tuesday, the province’s death toll is now 4,188. Of the deaths confirmed Tuesday, 11 were residents of long-term care homes.

Health officials deemed 1,900 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Tuesday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 136,767.

There are currently 19,300 active cases of the novel coronavirus in Ontario.

According to the province, there are at least 1,005 patients infected with COVID-19 in Ontario hospitals. Of those patients, 273 are in the intensive care unit (ICU) and 172 of those 273 patients are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.

At this time last week, there were 921 COVID-19 patients in Ontario and 249 of those patients were in the ICU.

COVID-19 modelling released by the province on Monday shows that the number of infected patients in Ontario’s ICUs will surpass 300 within the next 10 days in all possible scenarios. The modelling also stated that that number could surpass 1,500 by mid-January under the worst-case scenario.

On Monday, Premier Doug Ford announced the rest of the province will join Toronto, Peel Region, York Region, Windsor-Essex, and Hamilton in lockdown on Boxing Day.

Beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 26, lockdown measures will last until Jan. 23 in the southern parts of the province (south of Sudbury) and until Jan. 9 in the northern parts.