Ontario reports 1,873 new COVID-19 cases with record number of tests completed

Ontario reported 1,873 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, a slight rise from the 1,848 cases the previous day.

The most new cases are in Toronto (522), Peel Region (436), York Region (185), and Hamilton (109).

With more than half the new reported cases occurring in Toronto and neighbouring Peel and York, the stresses on front-line health workers and hospitals were showing.

In a social media post, Dr. Stephen Flindall, an emergency physician at Mackenzie Health hospital in Richmond Hill, said his Friday night shift was “crazy.”

“Our ED was chaotic,” Flindall tweeted. “There is almost no more room in our in-patient wards, one has been closed due to a COVID outbreak, our ICU is full, and patients were arriving in droves. I fear the lockdown is too late.”

York Region, along with Windsor-Essex, is set for lockdown on Monday as happened with Toronto and Peel Region last month. That means indoor public events, dining in restaurants and bars, and close personal care services are all off-limits. Indoor sports facilities also must close.

In addition, social gatherings in locked-down areas are barred except for members of the same household, and health authorities urged people to leave home only for essential reasons. Shopping at non-essential retailers will be limited to curbside pickup.

The province said tighter restrictions were needed – measures in other areas were also being increased a notch – to slow the spread of COVID-19 so that schools can stay open and hospital capacity can be protected.

Another 17 deaths were recorded, bringing the total to 3,933.

The disturbing COVID onslaught among the province’s most frail citizens also showed few signs of easing. Another 15 nursing home residents succumbed, with the total number of long-term care novel coronavirus fatalities reaching 2,381, authorities reported on Saturday.

In all, the province has now seen more than 9,200 cases of COVID-19 in 128 nursing homes since the pandemic began, an increase of 50 from previous reports. Cases among staff rose 26, with a total of 3,635 having been infected, eight fatally.

There were 1,918 resolved cases reported. Of the 118,350 cases reported in Ontario, 116,432 or 85.4 per cent are considered resolved.

Health officials also reported completing a record 65,260 tests in the previous 24-hour period, and a backlog of 67,654 tests. The overall positivity rate, however, remained stable at 3.2 per cent.

In total, 855 people are hospitalized in Ontario due to COVID-19, including 237 in intensive care. The province also says 143 people are on ventilators in hospital, an increase of 19 from yesterday.

Files from The Canadian Press were used in this report