Ontario reports most COVID-19 deaths since the spring, decrease in cases with record testing

Ontario is reporting 45 deaths related to COVID-19, a number not seen since the first wave of the pandemic in the spring.

The province is also reporting 1,848 cases of COVID-19 and nearly 63,100 tests completed on Friday.

This is a decrease from the record 1,983 cases reported a day ago and comes with a record number of completed tests. It’s the second day in a row the province has broken the daily record for testing. Ontario reported 61,800 completed tests on Thursday.

The test positivity rate drops to 3.2 per cent, down from 3.6 a day ago. It’s the lowest test positivity rate since early November.

The rolling seven day average increases slightly to 1,872, up from 1,862 a day ago.

There are 1,753 more resolved cases.

Of the 45 reported deaths, 29 come from residents of long-term care homes. Homes in the province are reporting 63 new cases from residents and and 26 from staff.

There is now a total of 136,631 confirmed cases in the province since the onset of the pandemic with 3,916 deaths. Of the confirmed cases 16,283 are active and 116,432 have been resolved.

Among active cases, 808 people are currently in the hospital, down 21 from a day ago. Among the hospitalized, 235 are in the ICU and 124 are on ventilators. That makes seven more patients in the ICU and eight less patients on ventilators from the previous day.

Hospitalizations are up 134 since one week ago.

More than half of new cases come from people under the age of 40 with the 20-39 age group responsible for the most.

Locally, there are 469 new cases in Toronto, the city reports a decrease in daily cases for the fourth straight day after reporting over 600 on Monday.

Peel reports more than 100 fewer cases, 386, than a day earlier. York Region drops slightly to 205 from 208.

Durham Region reports an increase, up to 91 from 55. Halton is up to 56 new  from 51 on Thursday.

Overall the GTA is reporting 1,207 new cases after reporting 1,325 on day ago.

The biggest problem spot outside of the GTA continues to be Windsor-Essex County. The region reports 106 cases after reporting a record 112 a day ago.

 

COVID-19 in schools

The province reported 151 new COVID-19 cases in schools on Thursday.

Among the new cases in schools, 125 are related to students, while 26 are linked to staff.

Over 18 percent of schools in the province currently have a reported case of the virus. Eleven schools in Ontario are currently closed as a result of COVID-19.

You can find which schools are reporting cases on the province’s website, when it is updated daily at 10:30 a.m.