Ontario’s COVID cases continue concerning rise with 1,800-plus new infections
Posted December 15, 2021 9:10 am.
Last Updated December 15, 2021 12:13 pm.
Ontario is reporting its highest COVID-19 case count Wednesday in nearly seven months.
According to health officials, 1,808 people have tested positive and another nine people have died from the virus.
The new infections pushed the seven-day rolling average of cases to 1,514 — an increase from 1,007 a week ago.
Wednesday’s case count is the highest it’s been since May 21 when 1,890 cases were reported. But the COVID tally is lower than it was a year ago on this date, when there were 2,275 cases.
Of the 1,808 new cases, 664 (23 per cent) are in individuals who are not fully vaccinated, while 98 are in those with an unknown vaccination status.
Nearly 45,000 tests were conducted over the past 24 hours, pushing the positive rate slightly lower to six per cent. On Tuesday, the positivity rate sat at 6.6 per cent.
In a tweet, Health Minister Christine Elliott 357 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 — 273 are not fully vaccinated, or have an unknown status and 84 are fully vaccinated. She said 153 patients are being treated for COVID in a hospital ICU — of those patients, 124 are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status.
Graph showing the number of COVID patients in an Ontario ICU as of Dec. 15. HANDOUT/Ontario Hospital Association
According to the latest data, 90 per cent of Ontarian residents aged 12 and older now have at least one dose of a COVID vaccine, with nearly 87 per cent double vaccinated.
This update comes as the Ford government is expected to make an announcement Wednesday afternoon about COVID booster doses.
On Tuesday, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore said he will recommend the province take additional measures to combat the fast-spreading Omicron variant.
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With files from Michael Ranger of CityNews
