TORONTO – More tests and fewer cases: what emerges from today’s data on the progress of the pandemic in Ontario is a good sign. 269 new cases of Covid-19 were recorded, the lowest number since last August 5 (213). Today is also the fourth consecutive day of decline: Friday 492, Saturday 373, Sunday 370 and Monday 326 out of 18,397 tests processed against 21,800 today: the positivity rate is 1.5%. The noticeable daily drop in infections also lowered the seven-day moving average to 364 from 407 a week ago.

Of the latest cases, 142 were detected in unvaccinated people, 11 partially vaccinated, 93 fully vaccinated and 23 with unknown vaccination status. So far, more than 87 percent of eligible Ontarians have received one dose of the vaccine and more than 83 percent have received two (remember that children under 12 cannot yet receive the vaccine).

Another 427 people have recovered from the virus in the last 24 hours: the active (known) cases in Ontario therefore drop to 3,051, compared to 3,135 a week ago.

Unfortunately, six deaths were also recorded today: five actually occurred in the last month and one occurred more than a month ago, according to the health ministry. The death toll linked to the virus in Ontario is now 9,852.

Let’s move on to the territorial distribution of today’s cases: in the Greater Toronto Area, Toronto reported 39, while 36 were recorded in the Peel region, 13 in York, 7 in Halton and 4 in Durham. 27 cases were reported in Windsor-Essex and 21 in Niagara.

233 people still hospitalized in hospitals throughout the province, 138 of whom in intensive care units but at least nine intensive care patients have arrived from Saskatchewan where hospitals are close to collapse so much so that, as reported by Cp24, the province of Ontario could accept another 14 ICU patients from Saskatchewan in the coming days.

Health Minister Christine Elliott points out that 121 ICU patients are not fully vaccinated or have only an unknown vaccination status and 17 are fully vaccinated.

To date, since the start of the pandemic, Ontario has recorded 598,110 laboratory-confirmed coronavirus cases and 585,207 recoveries.

Photo by CDC on Unsplash