Ontario reports more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases for second straight day

For the second straight day the province of Ontario is reporting more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases.

Health officials confirmed 1,053 new infections on Saturday – a slight increase from the 1,031 that was reported on Friday.

It marks the highest single-day total since May 29.

Of the new cases, 554 are in individuals who are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccine status while 499 are in fully vaccinated people.

Almost 24 per cent of Ontarians are not fully vaccinated yet they represent almost 53 per cent of the new cases reported.

The seven-day average of new cases continues to climb and sits just shy of 900. A week ago it was 728.

While the number of hospitalizations remains stable, ICU admissions due to COVID-19 saw a marked increase. There are 284 people in hospital with 220 of them not fully vaccinated or having an unknown vaccine status while 160 individuals are in ICU, 136 of those patients are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown status. The number of patients on a ventilator is just shy of 100.

An additional eight Ontarians have died as a result of the virus, bringing the provincial total up to 10,024. One of the deaths reported Saturday was added to the total as part of a data clean up.

The province completed 36,268 tests in the last 24-hour period for a positivity rate of 3.5.

A total of 80,898 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine was administered on Friday, including 28,324 first doses and almost 22,000 booster shots. The province says 90 per cent of eligible Ontarians 12 and up have received at least one dose of the vaccine while just over 87 per cent are now fully vaccinated.

Toronto reported 139 new cases of COVID-19 while the Simcoe Muskoka District added 101 new infections. Ottawa confirmed 69 new cases while Peel Region added 59 and York Region reported 54 additional infections.

Toronto Public Health confirmed the first three cases of the Omicron variant on Friday. All three are travel-related with two of the individuals returning to Canada from Nigeria.

York Region officials also confirmed its first case of the new variant on Friday in a child under the age of 12, who returned to Vaughan after travelling from the southern African region.