TORONTO – Cases in Ontario returned to increase within twenty-four hours but the daily average drops thanks to the good numbers of the last few days: today, provincial health officials recorded 677, up from 463 on Wednesday but significantly lower than to 864 on last Thursday. The seven-day moving average of new infections therefore still drops to 665, down from a week ago (732). 

With 37,630 tests processed in the last 24 hours (versus 39,000 on Wednesday), the positivity rate across the province is now 1.9%, down from 2.4% last week and slightly up from 1.8% yesterday.

Of the cases confirmed today, 529 (78%) were detected in individuals who are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status and 148 (22%) in those fully immunized.

As for the territorial distribution of the new infections, Toronto recorded 136, the Peel region 76 and the York region 73. The number of known and active infections in the province is now 5,845, down from 6,129 last Thursday.

In the last twenty-four hours, another 7 deaths related to the virus have also been reported, including one that according to the province occurred last month: the total death toll of Covid-19 in Ontario since the start of the pandemic is now at 9,677.

Meanwhile, the number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care is rising again: there are currently 193 patients, compared to 187 on Wednesday and 191 last week. 181 of these patients are not fully vaccinated or have unknown vaccination status and 12 are fully immunized.

Hospitalizations are also increasing in Quebec, especially among the unvaccinated. Admissions have increased overall by three since Wednesday after 32 people were hospitalized and 29 were discharged: there are now 283 people in hospital, with 90 in intensive care, and most patients are not fully vaccinated.

The same goes for the new cases of Covid-19 which today in Quebec were 754 (compared to 683 on Wednesday): of them, 542 never received an injection or received the first dose less than two weeks ago.

Another 7 victims of the virus in Quebec today: the total since the beginning of the pandemic is now 11,347 deaths. 6,449 cases still active in Quebec.

Photo by lukasmilan from Pixabay