Ontario reports record COVID-19 cases, more than 2,000 for 3rd straight day

By Michael Ranger

Ontario is reporting a record 2,432 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday.

Locally, there are 737 new cases in Toronto, 434 in Peel, 209 in York Region, 190 in Windsor-Essex County and 142 in Hamilton.

This is the second day this week the province has broken its record of daily cases and the third day since the start of the pandemic, and third day in a row, with over 2,000 new cases.

Ontario reported 2,275 cases on Tuesday although that came with slightly higher numbers from a change in the date extraction process. The province reported 2,139 cases on Wednesday.

The province is also reporting 23 new deaths as a result of the virus, down from 43 a day ago. The provincial death toll since the onset of the pandemic surpassed 4,000 with Wednesday’s report.

Ontario completed nearly 58,200 tests. This is up from 49,200 tests on Wednesday and 39,600 on Tuesday.

The test positivity rate is four per cent, down from 5.4 per cent in Wednesday’s report.

There are 2,009 more resolved cases.

Of the 23 reported deaths, 13 come from a residents of long-term care home. Homes in the province are reporting 76 new cases from residents and and 33 cases from staff.

There is now a total of 148,967 confirmed cases in the province since the onset of the pandemic with 4,058 deaths. Of the confirmed cases 17,484 are active and 127,425 have been resolved.

Among active cases, 919 people are currently in the hospital. This number is down 13 patients from a day ago. The province crossed the 900 patient threshold for the first time in the second wave on Tuesday. Hospitalizations are up 90 since on week ago.

Among the hospitalized, 263 are in the ICU and 172 are on ventilators. The number of ICU patients is up seven from a day ago while patients on ventilators increased by 15.

The latest numbers from the province come the same day the Ontario Hospital Association released a statement calling for further lockdowns to curb a “devastating surge in COVID-19 patients.”

Despite the increase in provincial cases, three regions in the GTA actually saw fewer cases than a day ago.

Toronto reported 737, down from 780, and Peel dropped to 434 from 528. Durham saw nearly half as many cases, 73 compared to 143 a day ago.

Both York and Halton Region saw more cases than Wednesday. York up to 209 from 148, Halton up to 104 from 55.

Good news for the GTA, overall the region saw fewer cases despite the higher total from the province. The region was responsible for 1,557 of new cases. That makes for 64 per cent of the total provincial cases reported on Thursday. The GTA was responsible for 77 per cent of cases on Wednesday.

Hamilton reports a large spike of 142 new cases after seeing just 42 new cases on Wednesday.

Windsor-Essex County continues to be the biggest problem spot outside of the GTA, with the the region seeing a record 190 new cases after reporting 111 cases a day ago. The number breaks the record of 185 cases on Tuesday.

Winsdor-Essex and York Region entered into lockdown on Monday.

 

COVID-19 in schools

The province reported 170 new COVID-19 cases in schools on Thursday.

Among the new cases in schools, 143 are related to students, while 26 are linked to staff.

Nearly 20 per cent of schools in the province currently have a reported case of the virus. Twenty-two schools outside of Windsor-Essex are currently closed as a result of COVID-19. This includes 12 schools in Toronto.

All schools in Windsor-Essex are currently closed for in-person learning.

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

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