Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Today, Ontario is reporting 1,747 new cases, although the provincial government states today’s case count “may be higher than expected due to a data catch-up process” related to the provincial Case and Contact Management system.
With today’s cases, the seven-day average of daily cases has increased by 68 to 1,337. Today’s new cases include 12 more cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant (for a total of 1,036) and 1 more case of the B.1.351 South Africa variant (for a total of 44).
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 5 new cases to report and an additional 15 cases resolved, with the number of active cases across the region decreasing by 10 to 108. However, these numbers do not include Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland, and Haliburton as the health unit does not issue updates on Sundays.
Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (545), Peel (352), and York (163).
There are double-digit increases in Hamilton (93), Ottawa (83), Durham (55), Simcoe Muskoka (50), Sudbury (49), Niagara (48), Waterloo (48), Thunder Bay (40), Lambton (38), Halton (38), Windsor-Essex (28), Brant (23), Middlesex-London (13), Haldimand-Norfolk (13), and Eastern Ontario (12), with smaller increases in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (9), Southwestern (8), Huron Perth (7), and Northwestern (6).
The remaining 12 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with 2 health units reporting no new cases at all.
Of today’s new cases, 55% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (624) among people ages 20-39 followed by 492 cases among people ages 40-59.
With 1,167 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has decreased by 0.1% to 93.9%. The average positivity rate across Ontario has increased by 0.2% from yesterday to 3.1%, meaning that 31 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on March 13.
Ontario is reporting 15 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), but there have been only 2 new COVID-related deaths in long-term care homes over the past seven days.
Hospitalizations have decreased by 88 from yesterday to 601, but more than 10% of hospitals did not submit data for this report, so the actual number of hospitalizations may be higher. The number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs has increased by 7 from yesterday to 282, and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators has increased by 11 to 186.
A total of 47,618 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation decreasing by 11,262 to 18,494.
A total of 1,158,355 doses of vaccine have now been administered, an increase of 41,859 from yesterday, with 285,615 people fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, an increase of 929 from yesterday, representing 1.94% of Ontario’s population.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 5 new cases to report in Peterborough. There are no new cases in Hastings Prince Edward. Case information for Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland, and Haliburton is unavailable as the health unit does not issue updates on Sundays.
There are 4 new cases of presumed variants of concern in Peterborough, for a total of 116. However, only 1 case has been confirmed as a variant of concern.
An additional 15 cases have been resolved, including 14 in Peterborough and 1 in Hastings Prince Edward.
There are currently 108 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, a decrease of 10 from yesterday, including 62 in Peterborough, 17 in Northumberland, 13 in Hastings Prince Edward (3 in Quinte West, 4 in Belleville, 1 in Tyendinaga & Deseronto, 3 in Prince Edward County, 1 in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, and 1 in North Hastings), 14 in Kawartha Lakes, and 2 in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 767 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (696 resolved with 9 deaths), 557 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (501 resolved with 55 deaths), 465 in Northumberland County (436 resolved with 12 deaths), 53 in Haliburton County (50 resolved with 1 death), and 439 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (420 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: 767 (increase of 5)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 1 (no change)
Presumed variants of concern cases: 116 (increase of 4)
Active cases: 62 (decrease of 9)
Close contacts: 141 (decrease of 32)
Deaths: 9 (no change)
Resolved: 696 (increase of 14)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 27 (no change)*
Total tests completed: Over 45,000 (increase of 200)
Outbreaks: Severn Court Student Residence, Trent Champlain College residence, Regency retirement home in Lakefield (no change)
Vaccine doses administered: 10,320 (no change, last updated March 11)
*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. These numbers are from March 13.
Confirmed positive: 1,075, including 557 in Kawartha Lakes, 465 in Northumberland, and 53 in Haliburton (increase of 3, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes, 1 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton)*
Cases with N501Y mutation: 25, including 3 in Kawartha Lakes and 22 in Northumberland (increase of 4 in Northumberland)**
Active cases: 33, including 14 in Kawartha Lakes, 17 in Northumberland, and 2 in Haliburton (net decrease of 1)
Probable cases: 1 in Kawartha Lakes (no change)
High-risk contacts: 234, including 154 in Kawartha Lakes, 41 in Northumberland, and 3 in Haliburton (net decrease of 30)***
Hospitalizations (total to date): 48, including 28 in Kawartha Lakes, 17 in Northumberland, and 3 in Haliburton (increase of 1 in Kawartha Lakes)****
Deaths (including among probable cases): 68, including 55 in Kawartha Lakes, 12 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (no change)
Resolved: 987, including 501 in Kawartha Lakes, 436 in Northumberland, 50 in Haliburton (increase of 4 in Northumberland)
Tests completed: 152,416 (increase of 579)
Outbreaks: CrossFit Lindsay, Hyland Crest long-term care home in Haliburton (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 36 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).
*****An outbreak was declared at Hyland Crest long-term care home in Minden on March 12 based on a single case.
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: 439 (no change)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 5 (no change)
Active cases: 13 (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: 420 (increase of 1)
Tests completed: 75,391 (increase of 3,989)
Vaccine doses administered: 12,154 (increase of 210)
Outbreaks: Unidentified workplace in Belleville (no change)
Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 318,106 (increase of 1,747)*
COVID-19 variants of concern (VOC) confirmed cases: 1,036 of B.1.1.7 UK variant (increase of 12); 44 of B.1.351 South Africa variant (increase of 1); 34 of P.1 Brazilian variant (no change)
VOC R(t): 1.29 (as of March 9)**
7-day average of daily new cases: 1,401 (increase of 64)
Resolved: 298,570 (increase of 1,167), 93.9% of all cases
Positivity rate: 3.1% (increase of 0.2%)
Hospitalizations: 601 (decrease of 88)***
Hospitalizations in ICU: 282 (increase of 7)
Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 186 (increase of 11)
Deaths: 7,153 (increase of 15)
7-day average of daily new deaths: 12 (no change)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,878 (no change)
Total tests completed: 11,755,109 (increase of 47,618)
Tests under investigation: 18,494 (decrease of 11,262)
Vaccination doses administered: 1,158,355 (increase of 41,859)
People fully vaccinated (two doses): 285,615 (increase of 929), 1.94% of Ontario’s population (est. 70-90% required for herd immunity)
*The provincial government states today’s case count “may be higher than expected due to a data catch-up process” related to the provincial Case and Contact Management system.
**R(t) is a virus’s effective reproduction number, which is the average number of new infections caused by a single infected individual at a specifc time (t) in a partially immunized population. To successfully eliminate a disease from a population, R(t) needs to be less than 1.
***More than 10% of hospitals did not submit data for this report, so the actual number of hospitalizations may be higher.
For more information about COVID-19 in Ontario, visit covid-19.ontario.ca.
