TORONTO – Fewer cases of Covid-19 than in previous days, but the positivity rate is skyrocketing: 30.9%. A percentage never seen in Ontario. Virtually every three Covid-tests carried out, one is positive. 

Today, provincial health officials reported 11,352 new cases: fewer than 13,578 on Monday, 16,714 on Sunday and 18,445 on Saturday. But the moving average of daily infections calculated over seven days remains high: 14,435, from 8,318 on the same day last week. Additionally, as Public Health Ontario warns, the case count is an underestimate of the true number of active infections in Ontario due to problems with the availability of testing resources in the province.

With the 54,346 tests processed in the last 24 hours and the 11,352 cases detected, however, the provincial positivity rate is 30.9 percent.

The pressure on hospitals is increasing: currently, 1,290 people are hospitalized and there are 266 patients in intensive care, both numbers up compared to the day before today. According to data from the Ontario Science Table, people who are fully vaccinated with at least two doses are 83.2 percent less likely to end up in hospital and 95.3 percent less likely to end up in therapy. intensive compared to unvaccinated people. Furthermore, the “table” also noted “that there was a 12.4% reduction in the risk of contracting Covid-19 for people who are fully vaccinated, with at least two doses, compared to those not vaccinated”.

Regarding the distribution of new cases in Ontario, officials in the Greater Toronto Area reported 2,480 new infections in Toronto, 1,486 in the Peel region, 1,059 in the York region, 635 in the Durham region and 466 in the Halton region. 612 new cases were reported in the Waterloo region, 489 in Simcoe-Muskoka, 482 in Ottawa, 449 in Middlesex-London, 407 in the Niagara region 337 in Windsor-Essex and 330 in Hamilton. All other regions reported fewer than 300 new cases. There are now 134,130 active and known cases across Ontario.

According to the province’s epidemiological report, of the 11,352 new infections reported today, 973 were detected in children under the age of 12. The province then recorded 1,030 cases of today’s cases in young people aged 12 to 19 and another 4,431 cases in people aged 20 to 39, 3,298 cases in people aged 40 to 59, 1,300 cases in people aged 60 to 79 and 318 cases in people over 80 years of age.

The alarm also returns in nursing homes and long-term care homes: those with active outbreaks are 135 (Monday they were 98) and, in just 24 hours, positive residents have gone from 249 to 499 and staff members from 520 they went to 874. There are also two victims of nursing homes where the total number of deaths, since the beginning of the pandemic, has gone from 3,833 to 3,835.

In the last 24 hours, a total of 10 deaths have been reported, bringing the total of Ontario, since the beginning of the pandemic, to 10,239.

In the pic, a laboratory worker is using a pcr swab in a hospital (photo by Mufid Majnun on Unsplash)