Ontario’s new COVID-19 cases climb to over 600, another 7 deaths

Ontario reported 677 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday — a rise from 463 cases the day before.

Another seven people have died as a result of the virus, bringing the provincial death toll to 9,677. However, the province said one of the deaths happened more than a month ago.

Health officials conducted 37,630 tests over the past 24 hours, with a positivity rate of 1.9 per cent.

According to provincial data, 529 of the new cases are in individuals who are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status, while 148 are fully vaccinated.

Moreover, of the new cases, 136 are in Toronto, while 76 are in Peel Region and 11 in York Region.

Health Minister Christine Elliott said 307 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 (excluding ICU) and 193 are in the ICU.

Of hospitalized patients, 273 are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status, while 34 are fully vaccinated.

Of the 193 patients in the ICU, 181 are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status, and 12 are fully vaccinated.

The province reported 122 new cases in schools (106 students, 14 staff and two unspecified), bringing the total number of cases reported to 1,186. So far, 702 schools across the province have at least one active case of the virus.

The province said 85.5 per cent of Ontarians aged 12 and over have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 79.6 per cent are fully vaccinated.

On Wednesday, the province’s COVID-19 vaccine certificate system went into effect. Premier Doug Ford asked Ontarians to be patient with business owners as they work out how to implement the vaccine passport. He added they will be leading with education, rather than enforcement.