Province reaches 10,000 COVID-19 related deaths, reports drop in daily cases

Ontario reported 687 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday as the province reached a grim milestone with 10,000 virus-related deaths.

The province opened the day with 9,997 cumulative fatalities to date. Ontario has logged the second-highest death toll in Canada, behind only Québec.

There have been 126 reported deaths in Ontario since Nov. 1 and 128 cumulative coronavirus-related deaths in October.

The growth trajectory of the seven-day average continues, with the province now at 794 as of Tuesday. It was as low as 532 on Nov. 11 and 362 at the start of the month (Nov. 1).

Nearly 89.9 per cent of Ontarians 12-and-up have one vaccine dose and nearly 86.4 per cent have two doses. Health Minister Christine Elliott says 266 people are hospitalized with the virus, while 218 are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status. Elliott says 48 are fully vaccinated.

“Individuals who are not fully vaccinated represent 23.6 per cent of Ontario’s total population and amount to 329 of Ontario’s 687 new reported cases,” Elliott wrote on Twitter. “50 cases are in individuals with an unknown vaccination status.”

Toronto’s public health unit is reporting 94 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday — a drop from 106 and 129 tallied in the past two days. The city has seen 704 infections since last week.

Peel Region confirmed 60 new cases today, with 47 in Halton, 30 in York and 18 in Durham Region. Elsewhere, the Windsor-Essex public health unit says 71 COVID-19 cases are being reported with 57 new infections out of Simcoe-Muskoka’s health unit.

Ottawa is reporting a significant dip in cases with only 17 confirmed on Tuesday after seeing 32 on Monday and 58 cases through Sunday.

There are 320 new COVID-19 cases in Ontario schools — 279 of which are in students. Currently, 749 schools are reporting at least one case and 12 schools are closed because of an outbreak. The province has reported 1,655 school-related cases in the last two weeks.

The province reported 788 cases on Monday compared to 761 on Sunday.

Ontario is investigating four other possible cases of the omicron COVID-19 variant Monday after the country’s first two positive samples were detected in Ottawa.

Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Kieran Moore, says Ontario is performing genome sequencing on all eligible positive COVID-19 tests to identify any omicron cases.

Hundreds of people who had recently travelled from African countries deemed high-risk for the variant were contacted for testing.

The emergence of the omicron variant has prompted several countries, including Canada, to impose travel bans on people from southern Africa. The province is offering to test for travellers who have returned from high-risk areas — but new widespread restrictions will not be considered until more is known about the new variant.

Moore said Monday the government is currently reviewing measures and are expected to update the province’s booster rollout as early as this week. As things stand, individuals 70-and-up are eligible for booster shots, as well as anyone who received two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

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With files from The Canadian Press