TORONTO – For the third consecutive day, Ontario has reported fewer than 700 new Covid-19 infections and the seven-day moving average of daily cases continues to decline. Health officials in fact recorded 613 new cases today, marking a slight compared to 654 on Sunday, 640 on Saturday and 727 on Friday. The daily average is now 621 (last week it was 710). And with about 22,600 tests processed in the last 24 hours, the provincial positivity rate remains steady at 2%, like Sunday. Furthermore, no new deaths were reported today. 

Of the new infections, 454 were detected in people who were not fully vaccinated or with an unknown vaccination status. With just over 22,600 COVID-19 tests processed in the past 24 hours, the health ministry says the province’s positivity rate is now around two percent.

Most of Monday’s infections were recorded in the Greater Toronto Area: 117 cases in Toronto, 70 in the Peel region and 48 in the York region. Windsor-Essex reported 45 cases, Ottawa 41 and Hamilton 46. Other municipalities reporting more than 20 new infections include Brant (26), Wellington-Guelph-Dufferin (26), Durham (22) and Waterloo (22).

The province reported a further 174 school-related cases, including 145 among students (a school in Courtice, Ontario. Closed after 11 cases were confirmed and an outbreak was declared). 28 cases were instead reported in childcare facilities.

On the hospitalization front, 184 patients are receiving treatment for Covid-19 in intensive care: 130 are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.

Meanwhile, the vaccination campaign continues. In the past 24 hours, 20,454 doses have been administered. In total, more than 10.4 million people have received two injections and are caring fully vaccinated. Just under 30% of Ontario’s population has not yet received two doses of the vaccine, including children under the age of 12 who are not yet eligible for immunization even though the City of Toronto announced today that it has formed a group. planning to prepare children ages 5 to 11 to inoculate the vaccine when administration to children in Canada is approved.

The situation also seems to improve in Quebec where 519 new cases were recorded today against 719 on Sunday. Of the new cases, 377 were detected in people who did not receive two doses of the vaccine, while 142 cases in individuals who received the second dose more than seven days ago.

25 hospitalizations and 23 hospital discharges, with an increase of two hospitalizations. Of the 25 hospitalizations, 13 are for fully vaccinated people and 12 for people who received the second dose of the vaccine more than seven days ago. 299 people are currently in hospital, while the number of people in intensive care has increased by five in the last 24 hours to 95. However, no deaths were reported today, while on Sunday there were two.

On the vaccination front, another 7,746 doses were administered in Quebec, of which 7,387 in the last 24 hours and 359 before September 26, for a total of 12,860,606 doses. Now, about 79% of the entire Quebec population has received one dose of the vaccine, while 74% have received two.

In the pic, hands using hand sanitizer (photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash)