TORONTO – Covid-19 in Ontario, a new record broken: the province today recorded 10,436 new cases (and 3 deaths), surpassing the previous record-count of December 25 (10,412). But the actual infections in Ontario could be more than double: the laboratories have in fact processed 59,259 samples and 74,535 remain in the research phase. Not only that: simply booking a molecular test appointment in the Toronto area is now a real challenge, so many people with symptoms can’t even get tested. 

The seven-day moving average of daily infections in Ontario is now 9,183 (just a week ago it was 3,520) and positivity has reached 26.9% and has remained between 19 and 25 percent in the last four days. Of today’s cases, 1,514 involved unvaccinated people, 425 partially vaccinated, 8,221 fully vaccinated and 276 with an unknown vaccination status. According to the Ontario Science Advisory Table, full vaccination now generates a 12% reduction in the risk of Omicron variant infection.

On the hospital front, there are now 726 hospitalized patients, compared to about 500 on Christmas Eve. The number of ICU patients reached 190, up from 168 a week ago. Infectious disease specialist Dr. Alon Vaisman told CP24 that the fact that hospitalizations are not exploding, given the recent number of cases in Ontario, is growing. “Every day we don’t see a huge spike in hospitalizations and deaths is a reassuring feature”, he said. “It always takes a little longer to see the full picture, but if you look at the total case and patient counts in the hospital, there has been a very large discrepancy for some time now”.

Regarding the distribution of cases, Toronto reported 2,715 new cases, the York region 1,252 and Peel 1,066. The Durham region recorded 524 infections, Hamilton 539 and Halton 437. As for deaths, today’s 3 bring the total, since the beginning of the pandemic, in Ontario to 10,171. There are 76,992 active and known cases.

As for deaths, today’s 3 bring the total, since the beginning of the pandemic, in Ontario to 10,171. There are 76,992 active and known cases.

Even Quebec today broke the record, for the second consecutive day, of cases reported in a single day, with 13,419 new infections and with the positivity rate rising to 28%. 10 deaths were also reported. Admissions continue to grow, with a net increase of 102 in one day: there are now 804 Covid patients in Quebec hospitals, 122 of them in intensive care. Quebec’s total hospital capacity for Covid patients is 825 non-ICU beds and 210 ICU beds.

The spread of cases now affects all the provinces of Canada: today for example in Manitoba a new daily record was set, with 947 infections, just one day after having established the previous record of 825. In Alberta, where the controversy raged yesterday due to the absence of data from 23 December onwards (to the point that someone activated a sort of “black market” of data on social networks), the counts relating to the period 24 December – 28 December were disclosed: 8,250 new cases, of which 1,400 registered on Tuesday. But these are, the authorities reported, impartial data: the infections could be many more.

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