TORONTO – They undulate, but remain around 700: this is now the average of new daily infections in Ontario. Today 740 were recorded, fewer than 835 on Saturday but up from 722 on last Sunday. The weekly average, to be precise, is now 688, compared to 564 a week ago. Of the new cases recorded today, 551 involve people who are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status and 189 those who are fully vaccinated. 

141 new cases in Toronto, 106 in Hamilton, 63 in the York region and 63 in the Peel region. Two other virus-related deaths have also been confirmed in the past 24 hours, bringing the province’s death toll to 9,498. With 22,890 tests processed on Saturday, the positivity rate across the province is now at 3.3 percent, up slightly from last Sunday’s 3.2 and with the highest number since the beginning of June.

As for the “burden” on hospitals, there are currently 158 patients in intensive care, up from 141 a week ago.

Front-Vaccines: Until today, 20,709,011 doses of the vaccine were administered in Ontario and 82.8 percent of people aged 12 and over received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine while 76.0 per cent are fully immunized.

Ontario health officials also analyzed the trend of variants in the province: today, 97 new cases of the Alpha variant (English) were recorded, bringing the total of cases in the province to 146,328. More numerous, as always lately, the infections related to the Delta (Indian variant): 136, which bring the total to 9,130. No new cases, however, of the Beta variant or the Gamma variant (South African and Brazilian).

Quebec has added 579 new coronavirus infections since Saturday, breaking the province’s reporting streak of more than 600 cases in the past few days. Furthermore, no new deaths were reported today. Of the new cases, 416 were recorded among people who were not vaccinated or who received the first dose less than 14 days before falling ill. 76 people who tested positive received the first dose for more than two weeks, 87 cases among fully vaccinated people. The seven-day mean increase is now 524 new cases per day for Quebec. The data collected is based on 17,649 tests analyzed, with a positive rate of 2.6 percent. 

In total, 126 people are receiving hospital treatment, an overall decrease of five compared to Saturday. Of these, 36 are in intensive care (-2). The province has administered 30,682 doses of the vaccine since the last update. Of these, 23,655 are second doses and 7,027 are first doses. Of the eligible population (ages 12 and up), 86 percent have received the first dose and 78 percent are fully vaccinated.

More worrying is the situation in Alberta which on Friday reported 1,168 new cases of Covid-19, out of 11,565 tests. The province is currently at the top of the sad ranking of daily infections in Canada. Alberta has in fact reported 1,168 new cases and transmission of the virus continues to grow. For the third consecutive day, the province recorded numbers on Friday that reach levels not seen since May, during the third wave of the pandemic.

There are 9,655 active cases throughout the province, here is how they are divided regionally: Edmonton 3,026, Calgary 2,838, North Zone 1,666, South Zone 1,074, Central Zone 1,025 (other zones: 26). The hospitalizations also continue to grow every day. Now 336 people are in hospital, of which 74 are in intensive care.

The number of hospitalizations in the province has grown by 28 in a single day, while the number of ICU hospitalizations has grown by 10. Of the people currently in hospital, approximately 78% are unvaccinated, 4% are partially vaccinated and 18% are fully vaccinated. Of the 74 in the ICU, 97.3% are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated. Five, however, the new deaths registered on Friday.

The 1,168 new cases were detected on 11,565 tests, with a positive rate of 10.26 percent. The highest positivity rate in the province was recorded in the North Zone: 22.66%. The labs also detected 750 cases of coronavirus variants. As of the last update, 77.7% of Alberta residents have received at least one dose of a vaccine and 69.3% have received two doses. Of the total population of Alberta, approximately 59% received both doses of the vaccine.

Photo by Graham Ruttan on Unsplash