Ontario sees vaccination bump as province reports more than 800 COVID-19 cases

Ontario is reporting 807 new COVID-19 cases on Friday and three deaths from the last week.

The province is reporting six additional deaths but says “due to a data clean-up” three of the six occurred more than a week ago.

Of the new cases, 628 are in people who are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status and 179 are in those fully vaccinated. There were 738 more resolved cases.

There were 28,786 tests completed in the last 24-hour period for a percent positivity of 3.2 per cent.

The rolling seven-day average is now 731, up from 665 one week ago.

Provincial data shows 169 people in the ICU with COVID-19 complications, with 105 on ventilators.

Ontario administered 43,855 vaccine doses in the last 24-hour period. It is the most doses administered in nearly two weeks.

Of the doses administered on Thursday, 21,284 were first doses. It marks the most first doses administered in the province since July 9 and it comes the day after the Ford government announced a vaccine certificate system on Wednesday.

There are 83.4 per cent of Ontarians aged 12 and over that have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, 76.8 per cent are now fully vaccinated.

Christine Elliott took to social media on Thursday, a day after Ontario’s vaccine certificate system was announced, and revealed the bookings for vaccine appointments through the provincial portal had more than doubled from the previous day.

Starting Sept. 22, Ontario residents will have to show proof of vaccination to enter some non-essential businesses such as restaurants, movie theatres, and gyms. Individuals are considered fully vaccinated if 14 days have passed since receiving the second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

On Oct. 22, the province aims to launch a QR code and verification app for businesses to streamline the process.

There will be exceptions for those with limited medical exemptions and children under 12 who can’t be vaccinated.