Ontario logs more than 5,800 new COVID-19 infections over two days, sets new single-day record

Ont. reports nearly 100 COVID-19 deaths in 2 days Nearly 30 per cent of all of the province’s long-term care homes are experiencing a COVID-19 outbreak.

TORONTO — More than 5,800 new COVID-19 infections and nearly 100 deaths related to the disease were logged in Ontario over the past two days as the province smashed their previous record for most cases reported in a single day.

Data released Saturday shows that 3,363 cases of the novel coronavirus were logged this morning and another 2,476 cases were reported on Friday.

The province did not release any COVID-19 data on New Year’s Day.

The previous single-day record of COVID-19 cases was 3,328, recorded on Thursday.

The Ministry of Health noted that the increase in cases for Saturday may have been the result of over-reported numbers due to a “data issue” by one local public health unit.

“Due to a data issue, cases for Toronto Public Health were underreported on December 31 and overreported on January 1,” a spokesperson said.

In an email, Toronto Public Health clarified that a technical upload issue meant that about 130 COVID-19 cases were not reported on Dec. 31.

"TPH did not report data as a result of the statutory holiday on January 1 and will be publishing COVID-19 data again on January 3," an official said.

Ontario’s death toll has now reached 4,626, with a combined 95 deaths reported in the last two days.

Of those deaths 95 deaths, 37 were residents in long-term care homes.

In total since the pandemic was declared, more than 3,000 people over the age of 80 have died in Ontario after contracting COVID-19, despite only making up about a little over seven per cent of all cases.

Of the combined 5,839 cases reported Saturday, 338 infections were reported in people over the age of 80, while 2,123 were logged in people between the ages of 20 and 39 and at least 1,727 were found in people between the ages of 40 and 50.

There were 877 new cases of COVID-19 in people between the ages of 60 and 79.

As of Saturday, more than 1,000 people are being treated for COVID-19 in Ontario hospitals, with at least 322 of those patients in the intensive care unit. (ICU). Two-hundred-and-twenty of those ICU patients are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.

However, according to the government, more than 10 per cent of hospitals did not submit data on COVID-19 patients.

“We anticipate the number of hospitalized patients may increase when reporting compliance increases,” officials said on their website.

Where are the COVID-19 cases?

Of the cases recorded on Saturday, the majority appear to be in the Greater Toronto Area.

There were 700 cases logged in Toronto, 713 in Peel Region, 395 in York Region, 115 in Durham Region, 152 in Halton Region and 171 in Hamilton.

Other public health units reporting more than 50 COVD-19 cases include Ottawa (81), Eastern Ontario Health Unit (53), Simcoe-Muskoka (58), Windsor-Essex (226), Middlesex-London (94), Southwestern Public Health (56), Niagara Region (166), Waterloo (58) and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (55).

In the last two days, the province processed more than 130,000 COVID-19 tests, logging a new record on Friday with 70,570 tests completed in the 24-hour period.

According to the ministry, the positivity rate in Ontario now stands at about six per cent as of Saturday.

The total number of lab-confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 in Ontario is 187,998, including deaths and recoveries.