Ontario reports lowest COVID-19 case count in months with 269 new infections

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 the lowest number of new COVID-19 cases since early August on Tuesday with 269 new infections logged.

Officials also recorded six new deaths, bringing the total number of COVID-19-related deaths in the province to 9,852.

Today’s case count comes after officials logged 326 new cases on Monday, 370 new cases on Sunday and 373 new cases on Saturday.

The last time Ontario reported fewer than 300 new cases was Aug. 5, when 213 new infections were recorded.

Ontario’s rolling seven-day average now stands at 364, down from 407 at this point last week.

With 21,827 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the positivity rate in the province stands at about 1.5 per cent.

Of the new infections reported Tuesday, 176 cases involved people who are either unvaccinated, partially vaccinated or their vaccination status is unknown. The remaining 93 infections involved people who are fully vaccinated.

The province stated at least 151 people are in hospital due to COVID-19, including 30 people who are fully vaccinated and 121 people who are either not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status.

Of those hospitalized, the province says 84 patients are in intensive care units due to COVID-19 — 67 of those are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, while 17 are fully vaccinated.

The province deemed 427 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Tuesday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 585,207.

Today’s report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 598,110, 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 39 new cases in Toronto, 36 new cases in Peel Region, 13 new cases in York Region and four new cases in Durham Region.

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

According to the province’s epidemiology report, of the 269 new infections reported on Tuesday, 59 cases were identified in children under the age of 12.

The province also recorded 17 cases in youth between the ages of 12 and 19 and another 77 cases in people between the ages of 20 and 39.

Officials also reported an additional 121 cases of the Delta variant in lab-confirmed COVID-19 tests. This brings the total number of cases to 20,611

MORE THAN 10.9M PEOPLE FULLY VACCINATED IN ONTARIO

The province reports that 10,949,674 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 18,428 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.