Ontario reports over 1,500 new COVID-19 cases, positivity rate drops with more testing

Ontario is reporting 1,571 new COVID-19 cases and 10 additional deaths on Wednesday.

The province has reported over 1,500 cases for the eight straight days.

There were nearly 52,000 tests completed in the last 24 hour period. This is up significantly from the 32,556 tests completed a day ago. Testing numbers are typically down earlier in the week.

The province’s test positivity rate is down to 3.8 per cent as a result of the spike in testing. Tuesday’s number, 5.7 per cent, was the highest positivity rate since Jan. 26.

Locally, there are 459 new cases in Toronto, 309 in Peel and 143 in York Region.

There are 893 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the province, and 333 in the ICU. Hospitalizations are up more than 150 patients since one week ago.

It is the highest number of ICU patients since Feb. 8.

There were 72,451 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered in the last 24 hour period.

As of 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, 1,676,150 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered.

The province has released more details on who will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine in Phase 2 of the rollout.

As previously detailed, in Phase 2 vaccines will be made available based on age and risk factors. It will include adults aged 60 to 79 years old as well as groups that have been identified to be more at risk due to living in hotspots, congregate living settings and those who cannot work from home.

Those with high risk health conditions are also included and divided into highest-risk, high-risk and at-risk.

The Ford government says it is investing $3.7 million as part of the new budget to help seniors and people with disabilities get their COVID-19 vaccinations in areas or regions where transportation is an obstacle.

Ford said it’s “critically important” to protect the province’s most vulnerable by getting them vaccinated as quickly as possible.

Toronto’s newest mass vaccination site opened Wednesday at the East York Town Centre in Thorncliffe Park.

The new clinic expects to administer around 1,200 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine on its first day of operations. As more supply becomes available the site will aim to vaccinate 10,000 people each day.

The latest provincial numbers confirm 30 additional cases of the B.1.1.7 variant first detected in the UK and three additional cases of P.1 variant first detected in Brazil.

There are now 1,389 cumulative cases of the B.1.1.7 variant, 50 cases of the B 1.351 variant first detected in South Africa, and 47 cases of the P.1 variant.

The province is reports another 909 cases where a mutation has been detected but the exact lineage cannot be determined.

The rolling seven-day average increases slightly to 1,676 cases. The last time the seven-day average was that high was on Feb 3.

Ontario reported 1,546 cases and 9 deaths on Tuesday.