Ontario’s daily COVID case count above 1,000 for seven straight days

Ontario is reporting a slight dip in new COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, but the case count is still well over 1,000 — a surge health officials say is likely being caused by the Omicron variant.

The province has recorded 1,429 new cases of the virus, marking the seventh straight day Ontario has seen more than 1,000 infections.

The daily caseload pushed the seven-day rolling average to 1,401 — the highest it has been since late May.

Another five people have died as a result of the virus, raising the provincial death toll to 10,084.

More than 33,000 tests have been conducted over the last 24 hours, pushing the positivity rate to 6.6 per cent — the highest it’s been since mid May.

Health Minister Christine Elliott said of the 1,429 new cases, 526 (around 23 per cent) are in those who are not fully vaccinated and 94 cases are in people with an unknown vaccination status.

Graph showing the number of vaccinated individuals in the province. HANDOUT/Ontario’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table

Elliott said of the 385 people currently in hospital with COVID, 300 of them are not fully vaccinated or have not disclosed their vaccination status. She added that 162 people are in the ICU and 131 of those patients are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status.

As of Tuesday, 90 per cent of Ontarians aged 12 and older have one dose of the vaccine, while nearly 88 per cent are fully vaccinated.

There are 95 confirmed cases of Omicron in the province. On Monday, the province’s panel of expert advisers on COVID-19 estimated the new variant makes up 30 per cent of new daily infections, with cases doubling every three days.

Monday saw a high COVID case count with 1,536 being reported and one death.

On the heels of rising case counts in recent days, the province’s top doctor Dr. Kieran Moore will be holding an update at 3 p.m. on Tuesday in addition to his regularly scheduled update on Thursday.

Some Ontario cities impose restrictions

Higher COVID numbers has also prompted cities in the province — like Kingston — to begin imposing restrictions to curb the spread of the virus.

The Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Piotr Oglaza, has limited gatherings to a maximum of five people as of Monday evening until Dec. 20.

Restaurants in Kingston are also subject to new guidelines, which include closing indoor dining during certain hours, a ban on serving alcohol after 9 p.m. and a limit on the number of people per table.

Kingston is seeing its highest collective case count of the virus during the pandemic — accounting for the largest number of ICU patients in the province.

On Sunday, Queen’s University announced in-person exams were being halted due to rising cases among students, becoming what is believed to be the first in the province to take this step.

Waterloo and London, Ontario have also announced similar measures.

Officials in Peterborough, meantime,  have instructed workplaces to have all non-essential staff to work from home if possible — as part of new measures that go into effect Wednesday.

Similarly in Toronto, officials said the plan for city workers to return to in-person work in 2022 has been put on hold.

While in Ottawa, a backlog in its contact-tracing system due to a surge in Omicron cases has the health unit urging residents who test positive for COVID-19 to immediately self-isolate and alert their close contacts themselves.

____

With files from The Canadian Press