Ontario reports over 1,500 new COVID-19 cases, highest standalone case count in over a month

Ontario is reporting 1,508 new COVID-19 cases and 14 deaths on Wednesday.

It is the highest daily increase the province has seen in over a month, not counting two days in recent weeks where data errors led to an overestimation of cases.

Locally, there are 542 new cases in Toronto, 253 in Peel and 107 in York Region.

There were over 49,000 tests completed in the last 24 hour period. This is up significantly from the nearly 29,000 tests completed a day ago. Testing numbers are typically down early in the week.

The province’s test positivity rate is down to 3.5 per cent from 4.5 a day ago. Tuesday’s number was the highest positivity rate the province has reported in over a month.

There were 58,202 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered in the last 24 hour period, a single-day record in daily doses for the second straight day.

As of 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, 1,301,334 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the province.

Three mass vaccination clinics in Toronto opened their doors on Wednesday.

The goal is for these clinics to eventually be used to vaccinate the general public, but officials are reminding residents that as of right now, they will only accept people over the age of 80 who have made an appointment.

Premier Doug Ford recently took aim at York Region, questioning the health units move to start administering COVID-19 vaccinations to frontline workers when some seniors over 80 still haven’t received the shot.

The region began vaccinating those in the 80 and above age group at the beginning of the month and they are now expanding COVID-19 vaccinations to include eligible frontline health care workers, like massage therapists and naturopaths.

As the province ramps up vaccination efforts, some health officials say the province has already entered the third wave of COVID-19.

The latest provincial numbers confirm three additional cases of the B.1.1.7 variant first detected in the UK and an additional cases of the B.1351 variant first detected in South Africa.

There are now 1,134 cumulative cases of the B.1.1.7 variant, 47 cases of the B 1.351 variant and 34 cases of the P.1 variant first detected in Brazil.

The province is reporting 9,652 cases where a mutation has been detected but the exact lineage cannot be determined.

Ontario’s science advisory table says the more transmissible variants of concerns now account for almost half of the new cases in the province.

The group says the growth in variant cases is happening across the province with almost two-thirds of public health units experiencing exponential growth.

The province reported 1,074 cases and 11 deaths on Tuesday.

The rolling seven-day average increases slightly to 1,361 cases, that number has been slightly climbing in recent weeks and is up 123 from one week ago.