Ontario reports 4th straight day of 2,000-plus COVID-19 cases, another 40 deaths
Posted December 18, 2020 10:08 am.
Last Updated December 18, 2020 10:53 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
For the fourth straight day, Ontario is reporting more than 2,000 new COVID-19.
Provincial health officials recorded 2,290 new infections on Friday, a slight decrease from the record 2,432 that were reported the previous day.
Friday’s total also pushed the overall number of infections across the province to more than 150,000 since the pandemic began.
Toronto accounts for 30 per cent of all new cases with 691 followed by 361 in Peel Region and a record 296 in York Region.
Premier Doug Ford is holding an emergency meeting Friday with the Health Minister and the province’s Chief Medical Officer of Health to discuss what he calls “next steps” to try and stem the tide of rising new cases and hospitalizations in the province.
“Everything is on the table when it comes to protecting the health of Ontarians,” he said.
An additional 40 people died from the virus, bringing the provincial total to 4,098.
The province says it completed a record 68,246 tests in the previous 24 hours, however, the backlog continues to increase and now sits at more than 81,000.
Hospitalizations fell to under 900 but the number of patients in the ICU with the virus remains virtually unchanged at 261.
In the province’s long-term care homes, 757 residents currently have COVID-19 and 11 new deaths were reported Friday.
The province says 139 of its 626 long-term care homes are experiencing an outbreak.
It also reported 133 new COVID-19 cases related to schools, including at least 111 among students.
Those bring the number of schools with a reported case to 957 out of Ontario’s 4,828 publicly funded schools.
RELATED: Everything you need to know about coronavirus
- Coronavirus: Full coverage
- What you need to know today
- Live coverage of coronavirus news from Toronto reporters
Files from The Canadian Press were used in this report
