Ontario reports lowest daily increase of COVID-19 cases in over 3 months

By Michael Ranger

Ontario is reporting 847 cases of COVID-19 and 10 deaths on Wednesday.

Locally, there are 257 new cases in Toronto, 170 in Peel and 131 in York Region.

The province reports nearly 34,000 completed tests compared to over 27,000 a day ago. These numbers are down from the 48,701 tests reported on Sunday. Testing is typically down in days following a weekend.

The test positivity rate is down to 3 per cent from 3.6 per cent a day ago. The rate dropped to a near four-month low of 2.3 per cent on Friday last week.

The rolling seven-day average drops to 1,002 cases. The average has dropped nearly every day since Jan. 11, where it peaked at 3,555. It is the lowest seven-day average since Nov, 6.

Ontario reported 904 cases and 13 deaths on Sunday.

As cases trend down in the right direction, instances of the more transmissible strains have been identified in 15 public health units.

The latest provincial numbers confirm 338 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant first detected in the UK and six cases of the B 1.351 variant first detected in South Africa. That makes 29 additional B.1.1.7 variant cases compared to a day ago.

The province is also confirming a single case of the P.1 variant first detected in Brazil.

According to the latest provincial modelling data released last week, the UK variant (B.1.1.7) likely accounts for 10 per cent of current cases, the data suggests the variant will soon become the dominant strain of the virus.

“There’s some evidence that it may also be more lethal,” said Dr. Adalsteinn Brown, Co-Chair of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table. “If the B.1.1.7 variant behaves as it did in the United Kingdom, cases will start to grow here again in late February or early March; that is unless we can limit the spread through public health measures.”

The stay-at-home order was lifted in most Ontario health units this week as the province slowly eases pandemic restrictions and moves forward with its gradual reopening plan.

Toronto, Peel Region, York Region, and North Bay Parry Sound is set to remain under the stay-at-home order until at least Feb. 22 but the order lifted for 27 Ontario public health units as of Tuesday.

Dr. Lawrence Loh, medical officer of health for Peel Region, has said he supports reopening schools but further economic reopening is risky.

“Anything beyond schools at this point in time, I really think we need to take a very close look at,” said Loh.

In-person classes have now resumed across the entire province.

School boards in Toronto, Peel Region, and York Region welcomed back students this week after a stretch of online learning that began in January as part of a provincial lockdown.

There is now a total of 288,583 confirmed cases in the province since the onset of the pandemic with 6,729 deaths. Of the confirmed cases 10,985 are active and 270,869 have been resolved.

There are 1,456 more resolved cases as active cases fall to the lowest point since Nov. 11.

As of 8:00 p.m. Thursday, 489,484 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered.

Among the active cases, 719 people are currently in the hospital. That number is down over 200 patients in the last week.

Among the hospitalized, 298 are in the ICU. Last week, the number of ICU patients dipped below 300 for the first time in the new year.

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