Ontario reports more than 700 new cases of COVID-19 for 3rd straight day
Posted November 20, 2021 9:59 am.
Last Updated November 20, 2021 11:06 am.
For the third straight day, Ontario is reporting more than 700 new cases of COVID-19.
Health officials confirmed 728 new infections on Saturday, a slight decrease from the 793 of the previous day.
Of the new cases, 441 are in those who are not fully vaccinated or who have an unknown vaccination status, while 287 are fully vaccinated.
The seven-day rolling average of new cases continues to climb, sitting at 634 – the highest its been since September 24.
A week ago, 661 new cases were reported while a month ago at this time that number was just above 300.
Toronto reported 89 new infections while 63 new cases were confirmed in Simcoe-Muskoka. Another 60 COVID-19 infections were added in the Sudbury region. Waterloo Region confirmed 49 new cases while Peel added 45, and 41 were reported in Windsor-Essex.
Another five people have died as a result of the virus, bringing the provincial death toll to 9,964.
The province completed 30,138 tests in the past 24 hours with a test positivity rate of 2.3 per cent.
Health officials say 15,367 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered on Friday, including more than 5,500 first doses. So far, almost 89 per cent of Ontarians aged 12 and over have received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and more than 85 per cent are fully vaccinated.
The province says 283 people are hospitalized due to COVID-19 with 215 of those patients not fully vaccinated or having an unknown status. Updated data on the number of patients in the ICU and on ventilators was not available on Saturday.
On Friday, Health Canada authorized the use of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in children aged five to 11. It hopes to have 2.9 million child-sized doses of the vaccine, enough for a first dose for every child in the five to 11 age group, by the end of next week.
The kids’ vaccine was approved with a three-week interval between doses, but the National Advisory Committee on Immunization has suggested at least eight weeks between doses. Evidence has shown that a longer interval between doses increases the efficacy of the drug, and may even reduce the risk of rare side-effects like inflammation of the heart.
Health Canada is still reviewing Moderna’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccine for children aged six to 11 years of age.
Files from The Canadian Press were used in this report
