Ontario reports 409 new coronavirus cases with most in Toronto-area, Ottawa

Ontario is reporting 409 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Thursday, bringing the provincial total to 48,496.

Thursday’s case count is a jump back into the 400s after Wednesday saw 335 new cases. Ontario cases have been, overall, on the upward trend over the last couple weeks.

According to Thursday’s provincial report, 151 new cases were recorded in Toronto, 82 in Ottawa, 46 in Peel Region, 34 in York Region and 26 in Waterloo.

All other public health units in Ontario reported 15 or fewer cases.

Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said more than 30,600 tests were processed in the last 24 hours. The province has said it is looking at increasing testing capacity to 50,000 tests a day.

A total of 3,680,614 tests have been completed since the pandemic began. There are currently 53,840 people awaiting test results.

Elliott also said 63 per cent of Thursday’s cases are people under the age of 40.

Here is a breakdown of the total cases in Ontario by gender and age:

• 22,910 people are male — an increase of 204 cases.
• 25,227 people are female — an increase of 203 cases.
• 3,789 people are 19 and under — an increase of 64 cases.
• 16,339 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 195 cases.
• 13,991 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 91 cases.
• 8,138 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 41 cases.
• 6,228 people are 80 and over — an increase of 18 cases.

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The province notes that not all cases have a reported age or gender.

The province also notes that the number of cases publicly reported each day may not align with case counts reported by the local public health unit on a given day. Local public health units report when they were first notified of a case, which can be updated and changed as information becomes available.

The death toll in the province has risen to 2,836 as one more death was reported.

Meanwhile, 41,886 Ontarians have recovered from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, which is 86 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 286 from the previous day.

Ontario has 88 people hospitalized due to COVID-19 (unchanged from the previous day), with 27 patients in an intensive care unit (up by three) and 11 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (up by two).

The newly reported numbers for Thursday’s report are valid as of 2 p.m. Wednesday for Toronto, Ottawa and Middlesex-London public health units, and 4 p.m. Wednesday for the rest of the province.

Ontario child care centres and schools

Meanwhile, government figures show there have been a total of 210 school-related COVID-19 cases in Ontario — 101 among students and 40 among staff (69 individuals were not identified). This is an increase of 31 more cases since the previous day.

The COVID-19 cases are currently from 178 out of 4,828 schools in the province.

Affected schools are in Toronto, Oakville, Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa, Mississauga, Brampton, Caledon, Orangeville, Aurora, Milton, Tottenham, Waterloo, Cambridge, Kitchener, Brantford, Welland, Ancaster, Balmertown, Hamilton, Niagara Falls, Barrie, Orillia, Huntsville, Amherstburg, Thornhill, Maple, Woodbridge, Vaughan, Markham, London, Windsor, Embrun, Orleans, Nepean, Rockland, Ottawa, Kemptville, Kingsville, Elmira, Thunder Bay and Pembroke.

Two schools in Ontario are closed as a result of positive cases, the government indicated.

There have been a total of 107 confirmed cases within child care centres and homes — an increase of three more since the previous day.

Numbers for cases in schools and child care centres is updated weekdays only, at 10:30 a.m.

Ontario long-term care homes

According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 1,861 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario, which is an increase of one death from the previous day. There are 33 current outbreaks in homes, an increase of two. Eight health-care workers and staff in long-term care homes have died.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 62 active cases among long-term care residents and 83 active cases among staff.

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