Ontario reports under 350 new COVID-19 cases, one additional death

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TORONTO — Ontario health officials are reporting just under 350 new COVID-19 cases as the positivity rate in the province continues to remain low.

The province confirmed 345 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Friday, which marks a drop from the 370 reported the day before.

On Tuesday, officials marked the lowest daily total since Sept. 17 with 293 infections.

Ontario’s rolling seven-day average now stands at 410, down from 568 at this point last week.

With 26,643 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health says the positivity rate in the province is 1.4 per cent.

The province also reported that one more person has died due to COVID-19 in the previous 24-hour period, bringing the total number of deaths to 8,994.

The last day the province recorded one death was Oct. 7, 2020.

There are currently 378 people in hospital due to the disease. At least 352 patients are in intensive care and 293 are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.

The province deemed 624 more cases of the disease to be resolved as of Friday, bringing Ontario’s number of recovered patients up to 528,421.

Thursday’s report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 541,525, including deaths and recoveries.

WHERE ARE THE COVID-19 CASES IN ONTARIO

Officials reported 85 new cases in Waterloo, 50 in Toronto, 50 in Peel Region, 29 in Hamilton and 22 in York Region on Friday.

The province confirmed an additional 228 new cases of B.1.1.7, first found in the U.K., on Thursday. The total case count for the strain now stands at 141,700.

Officials identified two new cases of B.1.351, originally found in South African, and so the total case count in the province rose to 1,146.

In addition, the province added 13 more cases of P.1, first found in Brazil, which brings its total number of cases to 4,200.

As for the Delta variant, also known as the B.1.617 variant, originally found in India, officials reported 71 new cases of the strain, which brings the total number in the province to 657.

MORE THAN 2.5M PEOPLE FULLY VACCINATED IN ONTARIO

The province reports that 2,547,241 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 210,638 doses of the vaccine were administered to Ontario residents, marking the highest number of shots given in a single day so far in the province.

Just over 12 million vaccine doses have been administered in the province since the rollout began earlier this year.

Today, Health Minister Christine Elliott announced that over 20 per cent of all Ontarians over the age of 18 are fully vaccinated.