Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
With Ontario reporting 1,371 new cases today, the provincial government has announced four public health units will be moving to more restrictive levels in the province’s colour-coded COVID-19 response framework: Sudbury and Lambton are moving into ‘Grey-Lockdown’, Northwestern is moving into ‘Red-Control’, and Leeds, Grenville and Lanark is moving into ‘Yellow-Protect’. With the exception of Sudbury, which moves into its new level on March 13, the remaining changes take effect on March 15.
The seven-day average of daily cases has increased by 17 to 1,269. Today’s new cases include 49 more cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant (for a total of 1,005), 1 more case of the B.1.351 South Africa variant (for a total of 42), and 6 more cases of the P.1 Brazilian variant (for a total of 34).
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 19 new cases to report and an additional 12 cases resolved, with the number of active cases across the region increasing by 10 to 126.
Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (371), Peel (225), York (111), and Hamilton (109).
There are double-digit increases in Ottawa (83), Thunder Bay (52), Simcoe Muskoka (43), Windsor-Essex (39), Sudbury (37), Waterloo (36), Durham (35), Halton (34), Middlesex-London (31), Lambton (27), Niagara (22), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (19), Northwestern (13), Eastern Ontario (12), Brant (11), Leeds, Grenville & Lanark (10), and Chatham-Kent (10), with smaller increases in Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox (9), Renfrew (9), and Haldimand-Norfolk (6).
The remaining 10 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with 2 health units reporting no new cases at all.
Of today’s new cases, 57% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (504) among people ages 20-39 followed by 359 cases among people ages 40-59.
With 1,124 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases is unchanged at 94.1%. The average positivity rate across Ontario is unchanged from yesterday at 2.4%, meaning that 24 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on March 11.
Ontario is reporting 18 new COVID-19 deaths today, with no new deaths in long-term care homes. Ontario has averaged 12 new daily deaths over the past week (no change from yesterday).
Hospitalizations have decreased by 4 from yesterday to 676, with the number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs increasing by 5 to 282 and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators increasing by 5 to 189.
A total of 64,611 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation decreasing by 5,289 to 36,744.
A total of 1,062,910 doses of vaccine have now been administered, an increase of 43,503 from yesterday, with 282,748 people fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, an increase of 1,034 from yesterday, representing 1.92% of Ontario’s population.
There are 137 new cases in Ontario schools, an increase of 13 from yesterday, including 99 student cases and 38 staff cases. There are 20 new cases in licensed child care settings in Ontario, a decrease of 7 from yesterday, with 14 cases among children and 6 cases among staff.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 19 new cases to report, including 10 in Peterborough, 4 in Northumberland, 3 in Hastings Prince Edward, and 2 in Kawartha Lakes. There are no new cases in Haliburton.
There is 1 new COVID-related death to report in Northumberland.
There are 8 new cases of presumed variants of concern in Peterborough, for a total of 109.
An additional 12 cases have been resolved, including 9 in Peterborough, 2 in Hastings Prince Edward, and 1 in Kawartha Lakes.
There are currently 126 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, an increase of 10 from yesterday, including 79 in Peterborough, 20 in Northumberland, 13 in Hastings Prince Edward (3 in Quinte West, 6 in Belleville, 2 in Tyendinaga & Deseronto, 1 in Prince Edward County, and 1 in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory), 13 in Kawartha Lakes, and 1 in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 759 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (671 resolved with 9 deaths), 556 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (501 resolved with 55 deaths), 464 in Northumberland County (432 resolved with 12 deaths), 52 in Haliburton County (50 resolved with 1 death), and 436 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (417 resolved with 6 deaths). The most recent death was reported in Northumberland on March 12.
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: 759 (increase of 12)*
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 1 (no change)
Presumed variants of concern cases: 109 (increase of 8)
Active cases: 79 (increase of 3)
Close contacts: 201 (decrease of 21)
Deaths: 9 (no change)
Resolved: 671 (increase of 9)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 26 (no change)*
Total tests completed: Over 44,650 (increase of 150)
Outbreaks: Severn Court Student Residence, Trent Champlain College residence, Regency retirement home in Lakefield (no change)
Vaccine doses administered: 10,320 (increase of 4,393, last updated March 11)
*The health unit is reporting 10 new cases in the last 24 hours. However, 2 caes have been added to previous days, increasing the total case count by 12.
**As of March 12, Peterborough Regional Health Centre is reporting fewer than 5 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and 19 patients transferred from other areas as a result of a provincial directive (increase of 2).
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: 1,072, including 556 in Kawartha Lakes, 464 in Northumberland, and 52 in Haliburton (increase of 6, including 2 in Kawartha Lakes and 4 in Northumberland)*
Cases with N501Y mutation: 21, including 3 in Kawartha Lakes and 18 in Northumberland (no change)**
Active cases: 34, including 13 in Kawartha Lakes, 20 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (increase of 6, including 2 in Kawartha Lakes and 4 in Northumberland)
Probable cases: 1 (increase of 1 in Kawartha Lakes)
High-risk contacts: 264, including 166 in Kawartha Lakes, 44 in Northumberland, and 4 in Haliburton (net increase of 19)***
Hospitalizations (total to date): 47, including 27 in Kawartha Lakes, 17 in Northumberland, and 3 in Haliburton (no change)****
Deaths (including among probable cases): 68, including 55 in Kawartha Lakes, 12 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (increase of 1 in Northumberland)
Resolved: 983, including 501 in Kawartha Lakes, 432 in Northumberland, 50 in Haliburton (increase of 1 in Kawartha Lakes)
Tests completed: 151,837 (increase of 781)
Outbreaks: CrossFit Lindsay (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.
**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 50 high-risk contacts directly followed up through the Public Health Ontario contact tracing process that are missing the contacts’ county.
****As of March 12, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports no patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (no change).
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: 436 (increase of 3)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 5 (no change)
Active cases: 13 (increase 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: 417 (increase of 2)
Tests completed: 71,402 (no change)
Vaccine doses administered: 11,500 (increase of 821)
Outbreaks: Unidentified workplace in Belleville (no change)
Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 314,891 (increase of 1,371)
Total COVID-19 variant cases: 1,005 of B.1.1.7 UK variant (increase of 49); 42 of B.1.351 South Africa variant (increase of 1); 34 of P.1 Brazilian variant (increase of 6)
7-day average of daily new cases: 1,269 (increase of 17)
Resolved: 296,252 (increase of 1,124), 94.1% of all cases
Positivity rate: 2.4% (no change)
Hospitalizations: 676 (decrease of 4)
Hospitalizations in ICU: 282 (increase of 5)
Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 189 (increase of 5)
Deaths: 7,127 (increase of 18)
7-day average of daily new deaths: 12 (no change)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,877 (no change)
Total tests completed: 11,649,060 (increase of 64,611)
Tests under investigation: 36,744 (decrease of 5,289)
Vaccination doses administered: 1,062,910 (increase of 43,503)
People fully vaccinated (two doses): 282,748 (increase of 1,034), 1.92% of Ontario’s population (est. 70-90% required for herd immunity)
For more information about COVID-19 in Ontario, visit covid-19.ontario.ca.
