Ontario reports fewer than 2,000 COVID-19 cases for a 2nd straight day, 19 more deaths
Posted May 19, 2021 10:04 am.
Last Updated May 19, 2021 3:22 pm.
Ontario is reporting 1,588 new COVID-19 cases and 19 additional deaths on Wednesday.
The province’s test positivity rate is 5.2 per cent, down from 6.4 per cent a week ago.
There were 38,422 tests completed in the last 24-hour period, up from nearly 22,915 a day ago.
There were nearly 45,700 tests completed on Wednesday last week. Testing numbers are typically down earlier in the week.
Locally, there are 524 new cases in Toronto, 335 in Peel and 94 in York Region.
The latest provincial numbers confirm 1,803 additional cases of the B.1.1.7 variant, 28 additional cases of the P.1 variant and 2 additional cases of the B.1351 variant.
It’s the lowest daily increase of new cases since March 24. Ontario also reported fewer than 2,000 new cases Tuesday.
Monday saw the smallest number of deaths since March 22.
The rolling seven-day average of new cases is down to 2,183. That number has decreased everyday since April 29 and it is the lowest seven-day average since March 29.
Resolved cases have now outnumbered new cases every day since late April. There were 3,119 more resolved cases reported, dropping the active case count by more than 1,500.
There are now 1,401 people hospitalized in the province with 735 in the ICU. Hospitalizations are down 272 from one week ago.
Graphics courtesy of Dr. Jennifer Kwan
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Citing a drop in COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU admissions, the Ford government announced Wednesday that it is revoking its halt on non-urgent and non-emergency surgeries and procedures “effective today.”
The pause, which was initiated on April 20, required health care providers to temporarily cease non-emergent and non-urgent surgeries and procedures in hospitals and community settings.
On the vaccine front, there were 145,461 doses administered in the last 24-hour period.
As of 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, 7,431,638 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered.
The vaccine rollout continues to ramp up across the province.
Halton Region is allowing residents 18 and older to book COVID-19 vaccination appointments a day after the Ford government expanded eligibility provincewide to anyone 18 and older.
Peel Region announced it will open vaccine bookings to youth 12 and up on Thursday. Residents 16 and older were given the green light to begin booking their shots through its local system on Tuesday.
Graphics courtesy of Dr. Jennifer Kwan
The latest numbers come as Health Minister Christine Elliott announced a “safe and careful” reopening plan for the province will be released soon.
“I can’t give you any more details on that but it will be very soon,” Elliott said Tuesday. “It will also be sector-specific looking at different types of sectors could perhaps be reopened and what their specific needs and timelines are.”
Premier Doug Ford’s office confirmed with 680 NEWS that it will not return to the colour-coded framework when it starts to reopen parts of the province.
In Quebec, Premier Francois Legault presented his government’s COVID-19 reopening plan Tuesday, which begins with lifting the curfew on May 28 and ends with the possible removal of the mask mandate in late August.
