Ontario reports more than 4,100 new COVID-19 cases, ICU admissions near 650

TREND LINE: Nanos on health-care crisis Trend Line's Michael Stittle and Nik Nanos look at the health-care crisis and who the public holds responsible for the strain on the system.

TORONTO — COVID-19 case numbers in Ontario have climbed back above the 4,000 mark as the number of patients in intensive care continues to climb.

Ontario is reporting 4,156 new infections Wednesday, a day after 3,670 cases were logged. The province saw 4,401 cases on Monday and an all-time high of 4,456 on Sunday.

Wednesday’s report comes as the number of patients in an intensive care unit (ICU) with the disease reaches 642, the highest number seen throughout the course of the pandemic. Of those patients, a record 442 are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.

Labs processed 54,211 tests in the last 24 hours producing a positivity rate of 8.6 per cent, which is down slightly from the year-long high of 10.3 per cent logged yesterday.

The seven-day average for number of cases reported across Ontario is now 4,002, the highest its ever been.

The province has added 398,835 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. At least 354,417 of those cases are considered to be resolved by the province and 7,610 people have died. Twenty-eight of those deaths were logged in the last 24 hours.

Currently, there are 36,808 active cases of the novel coronavirus across Ontario.

Where are the new COVID-19 cases?

Health officials said most of the cases reported Wednesday were found in Toronto (1,254), Peel Region (593), York Region (476), and Ottawa (340).

Other public health units that logged COVID-19 case counts in the triple digits include Durham Region (248), Hamilton (189), Halton Region (192), Niagara Region (149), Middlesex-London (121), and Waterloo (106).

Ontario is currently under a month-long stay-at-home order to curb the spread of COVID-19. Under the order, residents must remain indoors unless leaving their homes for an essential purpose.

Ontario reports nearly 4,000 new U.K. variant infections for second straight day

For the second day in row, Ontario is reporting close to 4,000 new cases of the COVID-19 variant B.1.1.7.

The 3,980 new cases represent an increase over Tuesday’s report when 3,947 were added. Since the province began searching for the strain, which was first discovered in the U.K., it has found 24,467 related infections.

Meanwhile, another 33 cases of the P.1 (Brazilian variant) were found bringing the case total to 176. Three cases of the B.1.351 (South African variant) were also found pushing its total to 84.

The province has found more than 25,000 COVID-19 mutations since variants of the disease began to emerge earlier this year.

Update on vaccinations

The province says it has administered 3,422,974 COVID-19 vaccines since December when its rollout began.

Some 337,000 people have received both their first and second shots and are considered by the Ministry of Health to be fully vaccinated against the disease.

More than 112,000 needles went into arms yesterday.