Ontario reports 170 new coronavirus cases, provincial total at 858
Posted March 26, 2020 11:23 am.
Last Updated March 26, 2020 4:15 pm.
Ontario is reporting 170 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the provincial total to 858.
That’s the largest single-day spike in cases by far.
The total number of cases includes 15 people who have died and eight cases that have fully resolved. Two more deaths were reported in the Durham region Thursday.
Durham health officials say a man in his late 40s with no history of travel was hospitalized on March 19 and died yesterday. Associate Medical Officer of Health Barbara Yaffe said the man worked at a local Superstore.
Dr. Yaffe said the public health unit would be working on notifying those who work at the Superstore or who would have come into contact with him
A man in his 80s with a history of travel was hospitalized on March 23 and passed away on March 24.
There have been two deaths of people under 70, the one reported in Durham and a man in his 50s in the Halton Region.
At least 12 of the new cases are hospitalized, including two people in their 20s. A total of 29 people are in the ICU in hospital with 20 on ventilators.
No information is available for dozens of cases.
Of the cases with known details, more are listed as becoming infected through close contact with another case than through recent travel.
Currently, Ontario health officials say they don’t know how 38 per cent of cases caught COVID-19.
Of the 62 per cent they do know, 60 per cent of those had a travel history, 15 per cent had close contact with another case and 25 per cent has been attributed to community spread.
Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams was asked Thursday how long social distancing protocols will have to remain in place in the province, “The numbers are going up and until we see that peaking and leveling or coming down we are going to have to keep the precautions in place.”
He adds that he expects to the number of cases to keep increasing this week and next week will be key to see if some of the measures put in place are working tp flatten the curve.
