Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Today, Ontario is reporting 990 new cases, with the seven-day average of daily cases decreasing by 28 to 1,035.
Ontario is also reporting 27 new cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant, for a total of 826, with no increase in other variants of concern.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 19 new cases to report and an additional 16 cases resolved, with the number of active cases across the region increasing by 2 to 128.
Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (284) and Peel (173).
There are double-digit increases in York (82), Ottawa (60), Thunder Bay (54), Waterloo (33), Durham (32), Simcoe Muskoka (27), Lambton (27), Windsor-Essex (27), Hamilton (24), Halton (24), Leeds, Grenville & Lanark (19), Sudbury (17), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (17), and Eastern Ontario (12), with smaller increases in Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge (8), Peterborough (8), Middlesex-London (8), Brant (8), Niagara (8), and Huron Perth (7).
The remaining 12 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with 4 health units reporting no new cases at all.
Of today’s new cases, 58% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (396) among people ages 20-39 followed by 287 cases among people ages 40-59.
With 1,152 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has increased by 0.1% at 94.4%. The average positivity rate across Ontario remains unchanged since yesterday at 2.3%, meaning that 23 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on March 5.
Ontario is reporting 6 new COVID-19 deaths today, including 2 new deaths in long-term care homes. Ontario has averaged 13 new daily deaths over the past week, a decrease of 2 from yesterday.
Hospitalizations have decreased by 23 from yesterday to 620, with the number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs decreasing by 2 from yesterday to 278 and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators also decreasing by 2 to 181.
A total of 57,829 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation decreasing by 6,241 to 27,796.
A total of 860,412 doses of vaccine have now been administered, an increase of 39,698 from yesterday, with 270,625 people fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, an increase of 1,562 from yesterday, representing 1.84% of Ontario’s population.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 19 new cases to report, including 12 in Peterborough, 5 in Northumberland, 1 in Kawartha Lakes, and 1 in Hastings Prince Edward. There are no new cases in Haliburton.
There are now 56 presumed cases of variants of concern in Peterborough. An outbreak was declared at CrossFit Lindsay on March 5.
An additional 16 cases have been resolved, including 10 in Peterborough, 3 in Kawartha Lakes, 2 in Hastings Prince Edward, and 1 in Northumberland.
There are currently 128 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, an increase of 2 from yesterday, including 83 in Peterborough, 17 in Hastings Prince Edward (14 in Belleville, 1 in Tyendinaga & Deseronto, and 2 in Prince Edward County), 17 in Northumberland, and 11 in Kawartha Lakes. There are no active cases in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 711 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (619 resolved with 9 deaths), 545 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (492 resolved with 55 deaths), 452 in Northumberland County (424 resolved with 11 deaths), 51 in Haliburton County (50 resolved with 1 death), and 426 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (403 resolved with 6 deaths). The most recent death was reported in Haliburton on March 4.
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: 711 (increase of 11)*
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 1 (no change)
Presumed variants of concern cases: 56 (increase of 5)
Active cases: 83 (increase of 7)
Close contacts: 263 (increase of 5)
Deaths: 9 (no change)
Resolved: 619 (increase of 10)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 25 (no change)**
Total tests completed: Over 44,100 (increase of 100)
Outbreaks: Empress Gardens retirement home, Severn Court Student Residence, Trent Champlain College residence, Regency retirement home in Lakefield (no change)
Vaccine doses administered: 5,927 (no change)
*The health unit is reporting 12 new cases in the last 24 hours. A previously reported case has been removed from the total case count, for an increase of 11.
*As of March 5, Peterborough Regional Health Centre is reporting fewer than 5 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (no change) and 17 patients transferred from other areas as a result of a provincial directive (no change).
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 Sundays and statutory holidays.
Confirmed positive: 1,048, including 545 in Kawartha Lakes, 452 in Northumberland, and 51 in Haliburton (increase of 6, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes and 5 in Northumberland)*
Cases with N501Y mutation: 15, including 2 in Kawartha Lakes and 13 in Northumberland (increase of 1 in Northumberland)**
Active cases: 28, including 11 in Kawartha Lakes and 17 in Northumberland (net increase of 2)
Probable cases: 0 (no change)
High-risk contacts: 102, including 41 in Kawartha Lakes, 55 in Northumberland, and 3 in Haliburton (net increase of 9)***
Hospitalizations (total to date): 47, including 27 in Kawartha Lakes, 17 in Northumberland, and 3 in Haliburton (no change)****
Deaths (including among probable cases): 67, including 55 in Kawartha Lakes, 11 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (no change)
Resolved: 966, including 492 in Kawartha Lakes, 424 in Northumberland, 50 in Haliburton (increase of 4, including 3 in Kawartha Lakes and 1 in Northumberland)
Tests completed: 147,746 (increase of 654)
Outbreaks: Regency long-term care home in Port Hope, CrossFit Lindsay (increase of 1)*****
*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.
**The N501Y mutation has been identified in variants of concern including the B.1.1.7 UK variant, the B.1.351 South Africa variant, and the P.1 Brazilian variant.
***This total includes an additional 3 high-risk contacts directly followed up through the Public Health Ontario contact tracing process that are missing the contacts’ county.
****As of March 5, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports no patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (no change).
*****An outbreak was declared at CrossFit Lindsay on March 5.
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, including on weekends, excluding statutory holidays.
Confirmed positive: 426 (increase of 1)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 4 (no change)
Active cases: 17 (decrease of 1)
Deaths: 6 (no change)
Currently hospitalized: 0 (no change)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU: 0 (no change)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator (total to date): 0 (no change)
Resolved: 403 (increase of 2)
Tests completed: 66,299 (no change)
Vaccines administered: 6,371 (increase of 1,588)
Outbreaks: Unidentified workplace in Central Hastings, unidentified workplace in Belleville (no change)
Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 306,997 (increase of 990)
Total COVID-19 variant cases: 826 of B.1.1.7 UK variant (increase of 27); 31 of B.1.351 South Africa variant (no change); 3 of P.1 Brazilian variant (no change)
7-day average of daily new cases: 1,035 (decrease of 28)
Resolved: 289,735 (increase of 1,152), 94.4% of all cases
Positivity rate: 2.3% (no change)
Hospitalizations: 620 (decrease of 23)
Hospitalizations in ICU: 278 (decrease of 2)
Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 181 (decrease of 2)
Deaths: 7,052 (increase of 6)
7-day average of daily new deaths: 13 (decrease of 2)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,875 (increase of 2)
Total tests completed: 11,351,768 (increase of 57,829)
Tests under investigation: 27,796 (decrease of 6,241)
Vaccination doses administered: 860,412 (increase of 39,698)
People fully vaccinated (two doses): 270,625 (increase of 1,562), 1.84% of Ontario’s population (est. 70-90% required for herd immunity)
For more information about COVID-19 in Ontario, visit covid-19.ontario.ca.
