TORONTO – It is necessary to go back until June 4th to find a bulletin of the daily cases of Covid-19 in Ontario that reports more than 850 infections: then the cases were 914. Today, in Ontario, we have not reached at that figure but we are close to it: 865 new infections in twenty-four hours, just now that the provincial health officials have been experiencing fewer than 700 infections for three days. 

Ontario’s seven-day moving average is now 728, up from 646 last week. And with 27,293 tests processed in the last 24 hours, the positive rate in the province is 3% (a week ago it was 2.4%). Of the new cases reported today , 692 involved people who were unvaccinated, partially vaccinated, or whose vaccination status is unknown. The remaining 173 infections involved fully vaccinated people. As for the deaths, 14 were recorded (bringing the total deaths in the province to 9,530), four of which occurred in the last week and ten more than a week ago.

At least 320 people are still in hospital: 28 are fully vaccinated and 292 not fully vaccinated or with unknown vaccination status. 162 patients are in intensive care in Ontario hospitals and 105 are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator. There have been 681 healed in the last few days: the number of patients healed in Ontario since the start of the pandemic is now 551,510. Including deaths and recoveries, the total number of confirmed cases in Ontario is 567,071. 6,031 cases still active.

Regarding the territorial distribution of today’s new cases, most were reported in parts of the Greater Toronto Area: 175 new cases in Toronto, 104 in the Peel region, 91 in the York region, and 22 in the Durham region. Provincial health officials also reported 89 new cases in Hamilton, 51 in Simcoe Muskoka, 48 in Windsor-Essex, 39 in Ottawa and 33 in the Niagara region. All other regions reported fewer than 30 new cases.

Meanwhile, in Quebec, 699 new cases and 1 death were reported today. The last daily count marked the second consecutive day in which new infections exceeded 600 in the province. Admissions remain stable at 138. There are 42 patients in intensive care, an increase of two compared to the previous day.

During the pandemic, Quebec recorded a total of 390,613 cases and 11,289 deaths related to the virus. 374,266 the healings. 5,058 cases still active.

Alberta also shows no sign of slowing the growth of infections: on Wednesday, the province recorded 1,315 new cases, the highest daily total since last May 13. New cases were detected on 12,141 tests, with a positivity rate of 11.1 percent. 8 deaths, bringing the total in the province to 2,383. Admissions have increased by 34 since Wednesday’s update: there are now 465 people in the hospital, including 107 in intensive care beds. Of those currently in intensive care, approximately 87% are unvaccinated, 7% are partially vaccinated, and 6% are fully vaccinated.

Alberta continues to lead the country in active cases by a large margin. There are now 12,290 active cases in the province. 254,245 total cases since the beginning of the pandemic and 239,572 healings.

In total, since the beginning of the pandemic, Canada has registered (until 12 noon yesterday) 1,504,604 cases. 26,977 deaths, 1,444,868 healings, 32,497 cases still active.

In the pic: Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge, Alberta (photo by Graham Ruttan on Unsplash)