Ontario reports 636 new COVID-19 cases and two more deaths

TORONTO — Ontario reported 636 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday as well as two additional deaths related to the disease.

The last time the province saw more than 600 new infections in a day was on Oct. 9.

The new cases mark a significant increase from the 508 infections on Saturday and the 563 cases on Friday.

The province's seven-day average of daily COVID-19 cases continues to rise as a result, standing at about 468. The average was about 362 the previous week.

With just over 27,100 COVID-19 tests processed in the last 24 hours, the ministry of health says the province's positivity rate is about two per cent. The last time the positivity rate hit two per cent was on Oct. 4.

Speaking with CP24, Dr. Barry Pakes, of the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, called the uptick in cases "very concerning."

"We've seen a consistent but slow decline and now that finally the weather is getting cooler, everyone is getting back together, we are seeing a little bit more momentum in some of the school cases," he said.

"We are looking forward towards the winter vacation and thinking to ourselves what are things going to look like in six to eight weeks and that's where we need to be a little bit concerned."

According to officials, there are at least 126 people being treated for the novel coronavirus in Ontario intensive care units.

Vaccination status data for hospital and ICU admissions is not updated on Sundays due to a lack of hospital reporting.

The total number of lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ontario now stands at 603,231, including 9,898 deaths and 589,533 recoveries.

WHERE ARE THE COVID-19 CASES?

Multiple public health units are reporting more than 20 new infections on Sunday.

According to the province's epidemiology report, there are 60 cases in Toronto, 41 in Peel Region and 39 in York Region.

There are 47 infections in Simcoe Muskoka, 45 in Niagara, 42 in Ottawa, 39 in Sudbury and Districts and 33 in Windsor.

Of the cases reported Sunday, 50 were in people between the ages of 12 and 19, while 138 were in people below the age of 12.

There were 216 cases in people between the ages of 20 and 39 and another 146 infections in individuals between the ages of 40 and 60.

Ninety infections were found in seniors over the age of 60.

Officials logged an additional 257 cases of the Delta variant in lab-confirmed COVID-19 tests, bringing the total to 21,709.

More than 11 million people have received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, meaning that 74 per cent of Ontario's population is considered fully vaccinated.