TORONTO – Ontario health officials today reported 476 new cases of Covid-19 and 14 deaths. The contagion count comes after 429 new infections were recorded in Ontario on Tuesday, 511 on Monday, 580 on Sunday and 704 on Saturday. Ontario’s seven-day moving average is now 573, down from last week’s 610, and is steadily declining. But the good news is another: 39,460 tests were processed today, so many more than Tuesday (when there were 25,441), but despite this the cases remain well below 500, so the positivity rate still falls, from 1.8 percent to 1.7 percent. 

Of the new infections reported today, 335 involved people who were unvaccinated, partially vaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown, the remaining 141 involved fully vaccinated people. Also recorded, we said, 14 deaths, with the total rising to 9,771, but the province has announced that four of the deaths actually occurred more than a month ago. At least 280 people are in hospital due to Covid-19, including 46 fully vaccinated people and 234 people not fully vaccinated or with unknown vaccination status. At least 156 patients are in intensive care in Ontario hospitals and 103 are breathing with the assistance of a ventilator.

The province said another 617 cases of the disease had been resolved as of today, bringing the number of Ontario patients cured to 575,167. today’s report brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases in Ontario to 589,517, including deaths and recoveries. 4,579, on the other hand, the cases still active (those known) in Ontario.

Most of the new cases today were detected in parts of the Greater Toronto Area: 84 new cases in Toronto, 44 ​​in the York region, 39 in the Peel region and 21 in the Durham region. 44 new cases were also reported in Windsor-Essex, 33 in Hamilton, 25 in Middlesex-London, 23 in Ottawa and 22 in the Niagara region. All other regions reported fewer than 20 new cases.

Analyzing today’s cases again, 173 refer to Ontario schools: 156 cases involve students and 16 cases involve staff (one case has not been identified). 773 out of 4,844 schools have at least one case of Covid-19 and, currently, eight schools in Ontario are closed due to outbreaks.

On the vaccine front, the province reports that 10,649,353 people in Ontario have received both doses and are now considered fully vaccinated against the disease. In the past 24 hours, 32,296 doses have been administered to Ontario residents. Just over 21.9 million vaccine doses have been administered in the province since the start of the campaign.

The situation also appears stable in Quebec: today the province recorded 506 new cases and 3 deaths against the 436 infections and 8 deaths on Tuesday. Admissions have increased by three, to a total of 294 people currently receiving inpatient treatment for the disease. There has been no change in the number of ICU patients, which currently stands at 90: four patients have been discharged and another four have been hospitalized.

There are 5,039 active (known) cases in Quebec. Overall, 11,400 people have died so far. 413,306 infections since the beginning of the pandemic and 396,867 healings.

One last, interesting fact: there are great differences between the different regions of the province, with some more affected than others. The region with the highest level of cases right now is Laval, with a rate of 109 active cases per 100,000 population. Laval is followed by Chaudiere-Appalaches, with a rate of 102 active cases per 100,000 population, and then Montreal, which is significantly lower with a rate of 78 active cases per 100,000 population. This is followed by the Laurentides, with a rate of 66, Lanaudiere with 60 and Monteregie with 52. Most other Quebec regions have rates of less than 30 active cases per 100,000 population.

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