Ontario is reporting more than 1,900 new COVID-19 infections today, up from the number of new cases reported over the weekend but down from the province’s single-day record confirmed last week.
Provincial health officials logged 1,940 new COVID-19 cases today, a notable jump from the 1,677 reported on Sunday but up only slightly from the 1,925 confirmed last Monday.
Today’s daily case count also falls below the record 1,983 new infections confirmed on Dec. 10.
The rolling seven-day average of new infections is now 1,841, up from 1,820 last Monday but down from the record 1,874 reported on Saturday.
More than 57,000 tests were completed over the past 24 hours and the province says today’s test positivity rate is 4.6 per cent, up from four per cent last week.
Of the new cases reported today, 544 are in Toronto, 390 are in Peel Region, 191 are in York Region, 114 are in Windsor, and 134 are in Hamilton.
An additional 23 deaths were confirmed yesterday, including 11 residents of long-term care homes in the province.
150 active outbreaks in long-term care facilities
Seven more outbreaks were confirmed in Ontario long-term care homes today, bringing the total number of active outbreaks in those facilities to 150, up from 118 at this point last week.
According to the province’s latest epidemiologic summary, there are 79 new cases of COVID-19 among residents of Ontario’s long-term care homes and 15 among staff. The total number of long-term care residents who have died in the province after becoming infected with COVID-19 is now 2,490.
The number of virus-related hospitalizations and intensive care patients also continues to climb. There are now 857 patients with COVID-19 receiving care in Ontario hospitals with 244 in intensive care units (ICU). Last Monday, the province was reporting 725 COVID-19 related hospitalizations and 213 ICU patients.
Another 1,535 infections are considered to be resolved today and the number of active cases in the province is now 16,586, up from 16,034 last week.
On Monday, the first shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in Ontario and the province confirmed that the first doses of the vaccine will be administered today.
Infectious diseases specialist Dr. Abdu Sharkawy said the vaccine has offered a “great boost to everyone’s morale.”
“We are very excited obviously. The vaccine certainly can’t come soon enough… It’s giving us a tangible sense of hope that we can see this pandemic at some point coming to an end. I think we are also very guarded about this enthusiasm,” he said.
“We want to be careful not to let our guard down and remember that it is going to be important to maintain all of our public health measures in terms of masking and distancing and limiting contacts… the vaccine is an insurance policy, it is not a cure-all, so we are going to have to be very disciplined and very patient for some time to come.”
New cases in the GTHA:
Toronto: 544
Peel Region: 390
York Region: 191
Durham Region: 68
Halton Region: 64
Hamilton: 134
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