Ontario reports fewer than 150 new COVID-19 cases

Ontario is reporting 139 new cases of COVID-19 and four new deaths on Wednesday.

It is the third straight day below 200 new infections after the province saw four days above that mark. It is also the first time in eight days the province has reported below 150 daily cases.

The province is reporting 11 total deaths but says “due to a data clean-up, seven of the deaths being reported today occurred between December 2020 and February 2021.”

The test positivity rate is 1.2 per cent, up from 0.8 per cent one week ago. The positivity rate has been over one per cent for six days straight.

There were 17,115 tests completed in the last 24-hour period. Up from nearly 11,700 one day ago.

Locally, there are 26 new cases in Toronto, 19 in the Region of Waterloo, 18 in Peel Region, 15 in York Region and 12 in Hamilton.

The active case count in the province drops by 12  – there were 155 resolved cases.

The rolling seven-day avg is now 199, up from 161 one week ago and down slightly from the previous day.

There are now 108 people in the ICU with COVID-19 complications and 76 ICU patients on a ventilator. There was one new ICU admission and 12 new hospitalizations day over day.

Ontario administered 60,094 vaccine doses in the last 24-hour period.

As of 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, 19,652,011 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered, with 81.3 per cent of Ontario residents 12 and older having received at least one dose, 70.7 per cent are now fully vaccinated.

The Ford government unveiled its back-to-school guidelines on Tuesday, calling for students in Grades 1 to 12 to continue to wear masks “indoors in school, including in hallways and during classes, as well as on school vehicles.”

The government says it will monitor COVID-19 including ongoing risks related to variants of concern, such as Delta.

Students will attend in-person learning daily for the full school day (5 days) in elementary and secondary schools. Members of different cohorts can interact outside with distancing encouraged or inside with distancing and masking.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced $25 million more in ventilation funding for schools on Wednesday.