Ontario reports 419 cases of COVID-19, no new deaths

Large venues reviewing lifting mask protocols As Ontario prepares to lift its mask mandate, large venues across Toronto say they are reviewing their policies for patrons.

TORONTO — Ontario health officials are reporting 419 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday.

Officials recorded no new deaths. The total number of COVID-19-related deaths in the province remains at 9,865.

Today’s case count comes after officials logged 409 new cases on Thursday, 321 new cases on Wednesday and 269 new cases on Tuesday.

Ontario’s rolling seven-day average now stands at 355, down from 405 at this point last week.

With 29,592 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the positivity rate in the province stands at about 1.3 per cent.

Of the new infections reported Friday, 279 cases involved people who are either unvaccinated, partially vaccinated or their vaccination status is unknown. The remaining 140 infections involved people who are fully vaccinated.

The province stated at least 139 people are in hospital due to COVID-19, including 29 people who are fully vaccinated and 110 people who are either not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status.

Of those hospitalized, the province says 85 patients are in intensive care due to COVID-19 — 71 of those patients are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, while 14 are fully vaccinated.

The province deemed 399 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Friday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 586,356.

Today’s report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 599,259, including deaths and recoveries.

On Monday, Ontario lifted capacity limits at restaurants, gyms, casinos and some other locations where proof of vaccination against COVID-19 is required.

WHERE ARE THE NEW COVID-19 CASES IN ONTARIO?

In the Greater Toronto Area, officials reported 63 new cases in Toronto, 32 new cases in Peel Region, 30 new cases in York Region and six new cases in Durham Region.

Outside of the GTA, the Windsor-Essex health unit logged 34 new infections.

All other regions reported fewer than 30 new cases of the virus.

According to the province’s epidemiology report, of the 419 new infections reported on Friday, 98 cases were identified in children under the age of 12.

The province also recorded 25 cases in youth between the ages of 12 and 19 and another 125 cases in people between the ages of 20 and 39.

On Friday, 93 COVID-19 infections were found in schools across Ontario. Eighty-five of those cases were recorded in students, seven were in staff members and one was in an unidentified individual.

There are 520 schools with at least one confirmed case and two facilities are currently closed as a result.

Officials also reported an additional 89 cases of the Delta variant in lab-confirmed COVID-19 tests. This brings the total number of cases to 20,765.

NEARLY 11M PEOPLE FULLY VACCINATED IN ONTARIO

The province reports that 10,991,730 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 21,170 doses of the vaccine were administered to Ontario residents.

Just over 22.4 million vaccine doses have been administered in the province since the rollout began last year.