Ontario teen dies with COVID-19 on same day he was admitted to hospital

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TORONTO — Ontario has recorded more than 3,100 new COVID-19 cases for the second straight day and is reporting the province's fourth death in a person under the age of 19.

Health officials logged 3,166 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, but warned the data may be underreported. The new cases mark a decrease from the 3,424 cases reported on Thursday.

There were 2,941 infections reported on Wednesday and 2,791 on Tuesday. This brings the province’s seven-day rolling average of daily COVID-19 cases to about 3,265. The previous week, that number stood at 3,618.

However, the province says due to a "technical issue" with laboratory data in Central East, Central West and Toronto regions today's case count may be underreported.

The province also recorded an additional 23 deaths related to the disease, bringing the total COVID-19 death count in Ontario 8,236.

According to Friday's epidemiology report, one of the additional deaths is in a person under the age of 19.

Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) Medical Officer Dr. Chris Mackie announced the death on Thursday, saying the 18-year-old was admitted to hospital in respiratory distress and died on the same day.

His identity has not been released.

"Unfortunately, other people in his family are also sick and so it's difficult for us to get full data,” Mackie said Thursday. “We also don’t know if there were underlying medical conditions."

He says the coroner is now investigating so there are more answers forthcoming, it's just not clear how long it might take. Both Mackie and London Mayor Ed Holder expressed their condolences to the family of the young man who tragically died.

CTV News Toronto contacted the MLHU and Ministry of Health on Friday but there were no updates available.

As of Friday, there are 1,924 people being treated for COVID-19 in Ontario hospitals, with 853 patients in intensive care.

Of patients in the ICU, 611 are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.

The total number of lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ontario now stands at 486,223, including deaths and recoveries.

WHERE ARE THE COVID-19 CASES?

The majority of Ontario’s case count can be found in the Greater Toronto Area. On Friday, the province said there were 876 cases in Toronto, 817 in Peel Region and 300 in York Region.

Other municipalities with case counts in the triple digits include Durham Region (265), Halton Region (139), Hamilton (148), and Ottawa (106).

An additional 2,839 cases of the B.1.1.7. variant were identified in lab-positive COVID-19 tests in the last 24 hours, bringing the total case count to 86,846.

There was also 41 B.1.351 cases and 14 P.1. variants identified.

Despite 36 cases of the B.1.617 variant being confirmed two weeks ago, this variant has not been included in the province’s epidemiology report.

The province recorded another single-day record for vaccinations on Friday.

In the last 24-hour period, 144,724 doses were administered to Ontarians.

“With over 5.7 million doses administered to-date, we are making great progress thanks to the hard work of our front line health care heroes. Let’s keep it up,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said on social media.

There are 387,484 people who have received both the doses necessary to be considered fully vaccinated.

With files from CTV News London.