Ontario reports fewer than 1,000 COVID-19 cases for 4th straight day

Ontario is reporting 870 new COVID-19 cases and 10 additional deaths on Thursday.

It is the fourth consecutive day with a daily increase of fewer than 1,000 cases.

The province is reporting a test positivity rate of 2.8 per cent for the second straight day. The last time the positivity rate was lower was on March 12.

There were 34,277 tests completed in the last 24-hour period.

Locally, there are 225 new cases in Toronto, 167 in Peel and 49 in the Porcupine Health Unit region.

The province reports another 1,563 resolved cases, dropping the active case count. Resolved cases have outnumbered new infections each day since mid-April.

There are now 729 people hospitalized in the province with 546 in the ICU. Hospitalizations are down nearly 350 since one week ago while ICU numbers have dropped more than 100 in the last week.

Graphics courtesy of Dr. Jennifer Kwan

Ontario’s Science Advisory Table now estimates that the more transmissible Delta variant (B1.617.2) accounts for nearly a quarter of all cases in the province.

Dr. Lawrence Loh said Wednesday that while Peel Region’s vaccination rollout has helped limit the spread of the virus, there are growing concerns about the B.1.617 variant and its presence in and across the community.

There were another 150,884 vaccine doses administered in the last 24-hour period.

As of 8:00 p.m. Wednesday, 9,493,005 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered and 67 per cent of Ontarians have received at least one dose, while 6.5 per cent of residents are fully vaccinated.

Graphics courtesy of Dr. Jennifer Kwan