15 more COVID-19 deaths in Ontario, daily cases above 1,500 for 2nd straight day

Ontario reported 1,553 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday — the second day in a row that daily cases have topped the 1,500 mark.

Another 15 people have died as a result of the virus in Ontario, bringing the provincial death toll to 7,202.

Of the 1,553 new infections, 404 of the cases were in Toronto, 294 in Peel Region, and 176 in York Region.

The province completed 58,560 tests in the previous day and reported a positivity rate of 3.1 per cent.

Health officials said 703 people have been currently hospitalized, a drop from 740 reported on Wednesday, and the number of people in the ICU increased by four to 304.

With a majority of the new cases in Toronto, Dr. Eileen de Villa, the city’s medical officer of health, said she does not recommend any further lifting of restrictions that would be permitted under the ‘red-control’ zone of the province’s pandemic reopening framework.

Stay-at-home orders were lifted in Toronto on March 8 and the city entered the province’s grey-lockdown zone — which permits non-essential retail stores to open with capacity limits. However, in this zone, restaurants are only allowed to offer takeout or delivery.

However, similar to Peel region, the city is in discussions with the province about modifications to the ‘grey’ zone restrictions, particularly in regards to outdoor activities that are lower risk for transmission of COVID-19.

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Earlier this week, the province launched its COVID-19 vaccine booking system for those aged 80 and up, and on Wednesday, the City opened three mass vaccination clinics to immunize those in that age group who booked appointments.

Another 58,119 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine were administered across Ontario since Wednesday, bringing the total number up to 1,359,453. So far, 292,269 people have been fully vaccinated in the province.

Despite the efforts to ramp up the vaccine rollouts, the Science Table COVID-19 Advisory for Ontario have said that the province is already in the third wave of COVID-19, adding that the variants of concern account for almost half of current cases.

An additional three cases of the more transmissible virus variants were reported on Thursday, with the total number of cases now at 1,218. Of that total, 1,136 cases are of the variant first identified in the United Kingdom.

In its latest update, the province also said another 1,236 people have recovered from the virus.

Ontario has reported 323,509 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began last year in March and since then, 303,493 cases have been resolved.

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With files from Dilshad Burman