Ontario marks one-day drop with just over 200 new COVID-19 cases reported

CTV National News: Toronto’s post-COVID recovery A study shows that Toronto’s post-COVID recovery is lagging behind other major cities. Andrew Brennan reports.

TORONTO — Ontario health officials are reporting just over 200 new cases of COVID-19, marking the lowest case count seen since mid-September.

The province confirmed 210 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Monday, which comes after officials reported 287 infections on Sunday, 346 infections on Saturday and 256 infections on Friday.

Monday's case count is the lowest single-day total reported in the province since Sept. 13.

Ontario’s rolling seven-day average now stands at 278, down from 332 at this point last week.

With 13,071 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the positivity rate in the province rose slightly from 1.5 per cent on Sunday to 1.8 per cent on Monday.

Ontario also recorded another three deaths related to the disease, bringing the total death tally in the province to 9,129.

There are currently at least 218 people in hospital due to the disease, but the province said several hospitals had not submitted their data over the weekend and so the number may be higher. At least 287 patients are in intensive care and 191 are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.

The province deemed 326 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Monday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 532,779.

Monday’s report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 544,414, including deaths and recoveries.

WHERE ARE THE COVID-19 CASES IN ONTARIO

In the Greater Toronto Area, officials reported 37 new cases in Toronto, 15 new cases in Peel Region, 10 new cases in Durham Region and eight new cases in York Region.

Officials also reported 26 new cases in Waterloo, 25 new cases in Grey Bruce Health Unit, 12 new cases each in Niagara Region and Hamilton and 10 new cases in Ottawa.

The province detected several more cases of variants on Monday. Officials are analyzing cases on an ongoing basis to detect mutations and variants of concerns.

The province confirmed an additional 83 new cases of B.1.1.7, first found in the U.K., on Monday. The total case count for the strain now stands at 143,350.

Officials identified 68 new cases of B.1.351, originally found in South African, and so the total case count in the province rose to 1,273.

In addition, the province added 35 more cases of P.1, first found in Brazil, which brings its total number of cases to 4,428.

As for the Delta variant, also known as the B.1.617 variant, originally found in India, officials reported 286 new cases of the strain, which brings the total number in the province to 1,629.

Ontario is moving into Step 2 of the province’s reopening plan, which will see some personal care services and indoor malls reopen on Wednesday.

MORE THAN 4.3M PEOPLE FULLY VACCINATED IN ONTARIO

The province reports that 4,324,770 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 180,369 doses of the vaccine were administered to Ontario residents.

Just over 14.2 million vaccine doses have been administered in the province since the rollout began earlier this year.