Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
With Ontario reporting 4,249 new cases on Friday morning, Premier Doug Ford held a media conference to warn Ontarians the province is in a “desperate situation”, referring to COVID-19 modelling projections he has seen that will be released to the public on Tuesday (January 12).
“When you see the modelling, you’ll fall off your chair,” Ford said. “Everything is on the table right now. There will be further measures because this is getting out of control, and we have to do whatever it takes.”
“This is so, so serious,” he added, urging Ontarians to stay home and adhere to public health measures. “As a matter of fact, this is the most serious situation we’ve ever been in — ever — since the beginning of this pandemic.”
Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario’s associate chief medical officer of health, echoed Ford’s warning.
“Today’s numbers are, to be frank, they’re scary,” Dr. Jaffe said. “It’s going the wrong way. We have more and more people hospitalized, more and more people in ICU, more and more people on ventilators. The hospitals are starting to have to cut back on elective surgeries and other very important procedures that require ICU care. They’re starting to have to move patients between hospitals.”
Dr. Jaffe said there are an increasing number of outbreaks in congregate care, particularly in long-term care, as well as increased positivity rates even in children. She added that, with the more contagious UK variant of COVID-19 now in Ontario, the province is in a “very serious situation.”
“We need to consider all possible measures to contain this infection,” she said. “We don’t want more people dying. We don’t want the ICUs overwhelmed. We don’t want morgues overwhelmed. We don’t want to scare people, but on the other hand I think there’s too much complacency.”
Today’s record increase of 4,249 new cases includes 450 cases from Toronto, mainly from January 5 and 6, that were not previously counted due to a data upload delay. However, even excluding these cases, the total case count for today is still a record-breaking 3,799, with the seven-day average of daily cases across the province increasing by 253 to 3,394.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 27 new cases to report and 29 additional cases resolved, with the number of active cases across the region decreasing by 1 to 188. Another new COVID-related death is being reported in Kawartha Lakes.
Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (1,382, which includes the 450 previously unreported cases). Peel (691), York (427), Niagara (213), Windsor-Essex (184), Hamilton (175), Durham (170), Ottawa (154), Waterloo (147), and Halton (134).
There are double-digit increases in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (85), Simcoe Muskoka (75), Lambton (56), Middlesex-London (53), Eastern Ontario (45), Brant (41), Southwestern (40), Huron Perth (31), Grey Bruce (20), Haldimand-Norfolk (20), Sudbury (13), Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge (13), Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (12), Renfrew (12), and Chatham-Kent (10), with smaller increases in Thunder Bay (8), Peterborough (8), Northwestern (7), Leeds, Grenville & Lanark (7), and Porcupine (6).
The remaining 4 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with all reporting at least 1 case.
Of today’s new cases, 51% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (1,618) among people ages 20-39, followed by 1,217 cases among people ages 40-59. With 2,738 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has decreased by 0.5% to 84.1%. The average positivity rate across Ontario has increased since yesterday by 0.1% to 6.2%, meaning that 62 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on January 6.
Ontario is reporting 26 new COVID-19 deaths today, including 15 deaths in long-term care facilities. Hospitalizations have decreased by 26 to 1,472. With 6 more patients with COVID-19 in ICUs reported today, there are now 368 COVID-19 ICU patients in Ontario. With 5 more COVID-19 patients on ventilators reported today, there are now 250 COVID-19 patients on ventilators.
A total of 73,067 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation increasing by 7,285 to 73,067. A total of 87,563 doses of vaccine have been administered, with 14,932 daily doses administered and 4,053 total vaccinations completed (i.e., both doses).
Due to the winter break and the remote learning period during the provincial shutdown, there will be no data to report for schools in southern Ontario until January 26. There are 28 new cases in licensed child care settings, a decrease of 15 from yesterday, with 14 cases among children and 14 cases among staff.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 27 new cases to report, including 9 in Peterborough, 6 in Hastings Prince Edward, 6 in Northumberland, 4 in Kawartha Lakes, and 2 in Haliburton. None of the new cases reported today in licensed child care settings are in the greater Kawarthas region.
There is 1 new COVID-related death to report in Kawartha Lakes — the third death in three days. While none of the three deaths are related, the health unit reports those who have died were all high-risk contacts of confirmed cases.
An additional 29 cases have been resolved, including 12 in Peterborough, 6 in Hastings Prince Edward, 5 in Kawartha Lakes, 4 in Northumberland, and 2 in Haliburton.
There are currently 188 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, a decrease of 1 from yesterday, including 82 in Peterborough, 42 in Kawartha Lakes, 33 in Northumberland, 27 in Hastings Prince Edward (6 in Quinte West, 13 in Belleville, 3 in Prince Edward County, and 5 in Central Hastings), and 4 in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 423 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (336 resolved with 5 deaths), 303 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (239 resolved with 35 deaths), 288 in Northumberland County (252 resolved with 3 deaths), 36 in Haliburton County (32 resolved with no deaths), and 325 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (293 resolved with 5 deaths). The most recent death was reported in Kawartha Lakes on January 8.
The provincial data in this report is pulled from Ontario’s integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS) at 12 p.m. the previous day. Data from local health units is more current and is usually reflected in the provincial data the following day. There may be discrepancies between the Ontario data reported today (which is from yesterday) and the local health unit data reported today (which is from today).
Peterborough Public Health
Peterborough Public Health’s service area is the City and County of Peterborough and the Hiawatha and Curve Lake First Nations.
The health unit provides daily reports, including on weekends, excluding statutory holidays.
Confirmed positive: 423 (increase of 9)
Active cases: 82 (decrease of 3)
Close contacts: 165 (increase of 10)
Deaths: 5 (no change)
Resolved: 336 (increase of 12)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 16 (no change)*
Total tests completed: Over 39,800 (increase of 150)
Outbreaks: Community Living Trent Highlands group home in Peterborough, Unidentified congregate living facility in Peterborough, Workplace in Otonabee-South Monaghan (no change)
*As of January 8, Peterborough Regional Health Centre is reporting fewer than 10 patients hospitalized with COVID-19. An exact number is not provided.
Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit
The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit’s service area is the City of Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland County, and Haliburton County.
The health unit provides reports from Monday to Saturday, excluding statutory holidays.
Confirmed positive: 627, including 303 in Kawartha Lakes, 288 in Northumberland, and 36 in Haliburton (increase of 12, including 4 in Kawartha Lakes, 6 in Northumberland, and 2 in Haliburton)*
Active cases: 80, including 42 in Kawartha Lakes, 33 in Northumberland, and 4 in Haliburton (net increase of 2)
Probable cases: 2, including 2 in Kawartha Lakes (net decrease of 1)
High-risk contacts: 138, including 49 in Kawartha Lakes, 61 in Northumberland, and 7 in Haliburton (net increase of 8)**
Hospitalizations (total to date): 26, including 17 in Kawartha Lakes, 8 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (no change)***
Deaths (including among probable cases): 38, including 35 in Kawartha Lakes and 3 in Northumberland (increase of 1, in Kawartha Lakes)
Resolved: 523, including 239 in Kawartha Lakes, 252 in Northumberland, 32 in Haliburton (increase of 11, including 5 in Kawartha Lakes, 4 in Northumberland, and 2 in Haliburton)
Institutional outbreaks: Christian Horizons group home in Northumberland, Hope St. Terrace long-term care home in Port Hope (no change)
*The health unit states that total counts and counts for individual counties may fluctuate from previously reported counts as cases are transferred to or from the health unit based on case investigation details and routine data cleaning.
**This total includes 16 high-risk contacts directly followed up through the Public Health Ontario contact tracing process that are missing the contacts’ county.
***As of January 8, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports 4 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19.
Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Hastings Prince Edward Public Health’s service area is Hastings County (including Bancroft) and Prince Edward County.
The health unit provides daily reports, excluding statutory holidays.
Confirmed positive: 325 (increase of 6)
Active cases: 27 (no change)
Deaths: 5 (no change)
Currently hospitalized: 2 (no change)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU: 0 (no change)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator (total to date): 0 (no change)
Resolved: 293 (increase of 6)
Swabs completed: 30,188 (increase of 1)
Institutional outbreaks: None (no change)
Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 208,394 (increase of 4,249)*
Resolved: 175,309 (increase of 2,738, 84.1% of all cases)
Positivity rate: 6.2% (increase of 0.1%)
Hospitalized: 1,446 (decrease of 26)
Hospitalized and in ICU: 369 (increase of 6)
Hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator: 250 (increase of 8)
Deaths: 4,882 (increase of 26)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 2,943 (increase of 15)
Total tests completed: 8,366,403 (increase of 71,481)
Tests under investigation: 73,067 (increase of 7,285)
Vaccinations: 14,932 daily doses administered, 87,563 total doses administered, 4,053 total vaccinations completed (2 doses)
*This total includes around 450 cases in Toronto, mainly from January 5 and 6, that were not previously counted due to a data upload delay. Excluding these cases, the total case count for today is 3,799.
For more information about COVID-19 in Ontario, visit covid-19.ontario.ca.
