Ontario reports 331 new cases of COVID-19, seven additional deaths

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TORONTO — Ontario health officials are reporting another 331 cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday as well as seven additional deaths connected to the disease.

The seven-day average for the number of cases reported in the province is 371, up slightly from the 364 reported a week earlier.

Tuesday’s report brings the total number of lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ontario to 600,708, including 587,727 recoveries and 9,881 deaths—seven of which were reported in the last 24 hours but actually occurred in October.

Labs across Ontario processed 20,148 tests for COVID-19 in the previous day which the Ministry of Health said produced a positivity rate of 1.5 per cent.

Of the cases logged Tuesday, 195 involve those who are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status. The remaining 136 infections were found in fully vaccinated individuals.

Right now, there are 230 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 185 patients who are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status and 45 are fully vaccinated.

In the ICU, 122 of the 136 patients currently receiving care are unvaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status. The 14 other patients in the ICU are fully vaccinated.

Where are the new COVID-19 cases?

Most of the cases recorded by the province on Tuesday were found in York Region (44), Toronto (42), and Peel Region (36).

Other areas with relatively high COVID-19 case numbers reported include Ottawa (23), Simcoe-Muskoka (22), and Hamilton (21).

Meanwhile, 144 more cases of the novel coronavirus have been confirmed across Ontario’s 4,844 schools. Cases among students make up the lion’s share of the infections reported today at 123. The remaining cases involve 20 staff members and one other case that was not identified.

There are 503 schools with at least one confirmed case and four facilities are closed as a result.

Cases of COVID-19 variants of concern also continue to be confirmed following genomic sequencing in Ontario labs. An additional eight cases of the Delta variant B.1.617.2 were recorded since yesterday, pushing the case total to 21,204. Four cases of the Alpha variant B.1.1.7 were found, bringing the case total to 146,511.

Update on COVID-19 vaccinations 

Over the last 11 months, 22,535,918 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine have been administered throughout the province’s vaccination campaign.

That’s resulted in 88.2 per cent of eligible Ontarians receiving one dose and 84.6 per cent receiving two does.

The government said that 13,774 needles went into arms on Monday alone.