Ontario reports over 1,400 new COVID-19 cases ahead of expanded booster shot rollout
Posted December 12, 2021 10:10 am.
Last Updated December 12, 2021 1:03 pm.
Ontario is reporting 1,476 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday and eight additional deaths, marking the fifth-straight day of over 1,000 daily infections in the province.
Ontario reported 1,607 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is now 1,235, up nearly 300 cases from one week ago. The province reported 1,053 new cases last Saturday. One month ago, Ontario’s seven-day average was 537.
Health Minister Christine Elliott says 222 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, and 158 people are in ICU due to the virus. She says 612 of Ontario’s 1,476 new reported cases involved those without a vaccine, and 93 cases are in individuals with unknown vaccination status.
Just below 40,000 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours.
Based on current estimations, Ontario’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table says Omicron is making up roughly 21 per cent of current cases in the province. This is up from 11.3 per cent in the last report as of Friday.
The province says 80 per cent of all residents aged five and older have at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and 85 per cent are fully vaccinated. Courtesy: Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table
The province is seeing an alarming increase in school-related COVID-19 infections, with 302 active outbreaks as of Sunday — 272 in elementary schools. There are now 16 school closures across Ontario, with just under 5,000 reporting at least one case of the virus.
Currently, 88 per cent of Ontarians 12-and-up are fully vaccinated, while 9 per cent of the population remains unvaccinated. Only 3 per cent are partially vaccinated. Over 80 per cent of individuals aged five and up are fully vaccinated, and 14 per cent are without a vaccine.
Current COVID-19 Risk in Ontario by Vaccination Status (Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table)
Just over one million eligible Ontario citizens have received a booster shot.
Toronto is reporting over 200 new COVID-19 cases for the second-straight day. The last time the City saw consecutive days with over 200 cases was back on May 31. Peel Region recorded 96 new cases on Sunday, with 73 in York Region and 52 in Halton.
Simcoe-Muskoka, Windsor-Essex and Waterloo Region recorded 81 new cases on Sunday, with 67 other infections in Hamilton and 57 in Durham Region.
The rise in cases comes with the province set to expand its booster shot rollout to include any resident over the age of 50. These individuals are eligible to book a third vaccine appointment as of Monday. The expanded booster strategy is a suite of measures meant to protect against a surge in cases and the spread of Omicron.
RELATED: Dr. Fauci says early reports encouraging about Omicron variant
Ontarians 18 and older will be able to book a third dose starting Jan. 4, provided it’s been at least six months since they received their second shot. The province also confirmed Friday it would not be phasing out vaccine certificates in some settings next month as originally planned.
Scientists are still probing Omicron’s unusual characteristics, but it is believed to be highly transmissible. However, doctors and medical experts suspect that the Omicron variant is causing milder COVID-19 symptoms than Delta, even if it seems to be spreading faster.
Ontario’s top doctor said on Friday that the new variant is expected to become the dominant virus strain within weeks. It was first detected in the province in late November.
The latest federal COVID-19 modelling projections cast a pall over holiday planning as we head into the Christmas and New Year’s periods. It shows that if it’s assumed the Omicron variant is three times more transmissible than Delta and becomes the dominant strain, the number of daily cases in Canada could explode from about 3,300 currently to 26,600 by mid-January.
Dr. Thesera Tam said last week that so far, researchers have encountered more moderate cases associated with Omicron, but there is more to learn about the severity of the variant.
With files from The Canadian Press and Michael Ranger of CityNews
