Ontario reports fewest new COVID-19 cases in 7 weeks

Ontario is reporting 429 new COVID-19 cases and three additional deaths on Tuesday.

It is the smallest daily increase of new cases since Aug. 17 and the first time the province is reporting fewer than 500 cases since last Wednesday. The province reported 466 new cases one week ago.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says 301 cases are in individuals who are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status and 128 are in fully vaccinated individuals.

There are now 155 people in the ICU due to COVID-19 and 147 of them are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status.

The rolling seven-day average of cases is now 576, down from 582 a day ago and reaching the lowest point since Aug. 22.

There were 25,441 tests completed in the last 24-hour period for a test positivity rate of 1.8 per cent.

The province is reporting 45,727 COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the last two days. The Ministry of Health said no vaccine numbers were reported on Monday due “to a technical issue.”

There are now 86.6 per cent of Ontarians 12 and older who have received at least one dose, 81.5 per cent are now fully vaccinated.

---

 

---

The province is reporting another 250 school-related cases among students and staff. As of Tuesday, more than 16 per cent of schools in the province have at least one COVID-19 case and six schools have been forced to close.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore announced Tuesday that Ontario is rolling out a rapid COVID-19 testing program for schools in areas of the province with high transmission.

Dr. Moore said rapid tests will be made available as determined by local medical officers of health. Parents will be able to choose if their children participate in the screening.

The rapid tests will be used only for unvaccinated students with no symptoms who are not high-risk contacts of a case. If a child receives a positive result, they will still need to get a lab-based PCR test to confirm.