Ontario sees more than 10,000 new COVID-19 cases
Posted December 25, 2021 10:24 pm.
Last Updated December 25, 2021 11:40 pm.
Ontario is reporting 10,412 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, according to data from Public Health Ontario.
The daily case count is the first time the province has reported more than 10,000 cases and marks a pandemic high for the third day in a row. The province reported 9,571 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, shattering the previous record of 5,790 that came a day earlier.
Ontario is also reporting four additional virus related deaths.
Locally there are 2,899 in Toronto, 1,025 in York Region, 965 in Peel Region, 572 in Durham Region and 558 in Halton.
Ontario saw another 1,872 resolved cases.
Experts believe the testing backlog in the province means the true number of infections caused by the Omicron variant could potentially be much higher than what is being reported.
The Ontario Hospital Association said Saturday there were 165 COVID patients in the ICU, the province reported 164 ICU patients on Friday.
December 25 – Critical Care Services Ontario is reporting 165 adult patients w/ #COVID related critical illness (CRCI) in ICUs. 97 CRCI patients were ventilated. There were 18 new adult admissions. The 7-day rolling avg. of CRCI patients in ICU is 164. #onpoli #onhealth pic.twitter.com/q67pqb92MX
— Ontario Hospital Association (@OntHospitalAssn) December 25, 2021
Though the rapid increase in cases is not seeing a correlating surge in hospitalizations and ICU metrics, although some health experts warn the vast spread of Omicron could still put pressure on the health care system in the new year.
“The silver lining is this might be a less deadly variant,” said Dr. Isaac Bogoch on Friday. “(But) when you have so many people infected even a small percentage that land in hospitals ends up being a lot of people.”
Bogoch said he expects case counts to continue to rise with more opportunities for transmission as people gather for the holidays. He estimates a peak could occur shortly after Jan. 1.
The Ministry of Health did not report COVID-19 data on Christmas due to the holiday. New data won’t be available on the government website until Dec. 29, but Health Minister Christine Elliott will be tweeting out information between Dec. 26 and Dec. 28.
