TORONTO – Today, Ontario did not report new deaths from Covid-19 for the first time in almost a month: the last day the province had reported no fatalities was last April 4. Since then, Ontario has recorded 370 deaths. The total since the beginning of the pandemic is 12,842. 

The provincial laboratories have processed 11,849 test samples in the last 24 hours, detecting 1,275 cases of Covid-19, for a positive rate of 14%: the average is now 14.2%, a sharp decrease compared to that of a week ago (17.5%). In the hospitals of Ontario there were 1,423 infected patients today, a number slightly inferior to the 1,455 of yesterday. 211 people in intensive care, 24 more than on Sunday but down by 7 compared to a week ago.

The number of outbreaks in the places most at risk is increasing: 224 active in long-term care homes and another 186 in nursing homes (up, respectively, from 195 and 167 last year). There are also 104 active outbreaks in hospitals, up from 88 seven days ago. The active and known cases in the province continue, however, to decline: today 29,173, against 30,190 on Sunday. The tests are reserved for the “at risk” categories only, and therefore do not photograph the real situation, but the trend seems to be that of a decline in infections, as also demonstrated by the declining positivity rate.

Similar trend in Quebec, where today there was a slight decline in hospitalizations and “only” 3 deaths linked to Covid-19, bringing the total in the province since the beginning of the pandemic to 15,009. The number of people in hospital dropped to 2,170, 12 over the previous 24 hours. The cases of intensive care, however, increased by 3 units, reaching 78.

906 new cases registered today, to which 310 (out of a total of 371 tests) must be added as detected through the portal results of the quick do-it-yourself tests performed at home. The active and known cases are now 43,320. Finally, there are 7,377 healthcare workers at home for reasons related to the coronavirus: a sharp decline compared to a week ago.

Photo by Prasesh Shiwakoti (Lomash) on Unsplash