Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Today, Ontario is reporting 1,268 new cases, with the seven-day average of daily cases decreasing by 51 to 1,350.
Today’s new cases include 70 more cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant, for a total of 1,106. The R(t) value for variants of concern — the average number of new infections caused by a single infected individual at a specific time (t) in a partially immunized population — has increased by 0.12 to 1.41.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 10 new cases to report and an additional 17 cases resolved, with the number of active cases across the region decreasing by 9 to 99. See below for details for each health unit in the region.
Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (366), Peel (220), and York (147).
There are double-digit increases in Hamilton (71), Thunder Bay (61), Ottawa (57), Durham (53), Halton (47), Sudbury (33), Simcoe Muskoka (33), Niagara (27), Leeds, Grenville & Lanark District (19), Waterloo (18), Brant (17), Lambton (14), Eastern Ontario (13), and Windsor-Essex (10), with smaller increases in Northwestern (9), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (9), Middlesex-London (8), and Southwestern (8).
The remaining 13 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with 4 health units reporting no new cases at all.
Of today’s new cases, 59% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (494) among people ages 20-39 followed by 335 cases among people ages 40-59.
With 1,114 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has decreased by 0.1% to 93.8%. The average positivity rate across Ontario has increased by 0.7% from yesterday to 3.8%, meaning that 38 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on March 14.
Ontario is reporting 9 new COVID-19 deaths today, including 3 in long-term care homes. Ontario has averaged 12 new daily deaths over the past week (no change from yesterday).
Hospitalizations have increased by 98 from yesterday to 699, 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 16 from yesterday to 298, and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators has increased by 1 to 187.
A total of 33,975 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation decreasing by 7,540 to 10,954.
A total of 1,191,553 doses of vaccine have now been administered, an increase of 33,198 from yesterday, with 287,283 people fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, an increase of 1,668 from yesterday, representing 1.95% of Ontario’s population.
There are 110 new cases in Ontario schools, a decrease of 27 from March 12, including 91 student cases, 15 staff cases, and 4 cases among unidentified people. There are 32 new cases in licensed child care settings in Ontario, an increase of 12 from March 12, with 21 cases among children and 11 cases among staff.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 10 new cases to report, including 5 in Haliburton, 3 in Northumberland, 1 in Kawartha Lakes, and 1 in Peterborough. There are no new cases in Hastings Prince Edward for the second day in a row.
There are 9 new regional cases of presumed variants of concern, including 5 in Peterborough, 2 in Kawartha Lakes, 1 in Northumberland, and 1 in Hastings Prince Edward.
There is 1 new hospitalization in Kawartha Lakes.
An additional 17 cases have been resolved, including 8 in Peterborough, 5 in Kawartha Lakes, 3 in Northumberland, and 1 in Hastings Prince Edward. An outbreak at Regency retirement home in Lakefield was declared resolved on March 15.
There are currently 99 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, a decrease of 9 from yesterday, including 55 in Peterborough, 17 in Northumberland, 12 in Hastings Prince Edward (3 in Quinte West, 4 in Belleville, 3 in Prince Edward County, 1 in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, and 1 in North Hastings), 10 in Kawartha Lakes, and 5 in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 768 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (704 resolved with 9 deaths), 558 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (506 resolved with 55 deaths), 468 in Northumberland County (439 resolved with 12 deaths), 58 in Haliburton County (50 resolved with 1 death), and 439 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (421 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: 768 (increase of 1)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 1 (no change)
Presumed variants of concern cases: 121 (increase of 5)
Active cases: 55 (decrease of 7)
Close contacts: 132 (decrease of 9)
Deaths: 9 (no change)
Resolved: 704 (increase of 8)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 27 (no change)*
Total tests completed: Over 45,050 (increase of 50)
Outbreaks: Severn Court Student Residence, Trent Champlain College residence (decrease of 1)**
Vaccine doses administered: 10,320 (no change, last updated March 11)
*As of March 15, Peterborough Regional Health Centre is reporting fewer than 5 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (no change) and 19 patients transferred from other areas as a result of a provincial directive (no change).
**An outbreak at Regency retirement home in Lakefield was declared resolved on March 15.
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 14 and 15.
Confirmed positive: 1,084, including 558 in Kawartha Lakes, 468 in Northumberland, and 58 in Haliburton (increase of 9, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes, 3 in Northumberland, and 5 in Haliburton)*
Cases with N501Y mutation: 28, including 5 in Kawartha Lakes and 23 in Northumberland (increase of 3, including 2 in Kawartha Lakes and 1 in Northumberland)**
Active cases: 34, including 10 in Kawartha Lakes, 17 in Northumberland, and 7 in Haliburton (net increase 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 (no change)***
Hospitalizations (total to date): 49, including 29 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: 995, including 506 in Kawartha Lakes, 439 in Northumberland, 50 in Haliburton (increase of 8, including 5 in Kawartha Lakes and 3 in Northumberland)
Tests completed: 152,883 (increase of 467)
Outbreaks: CrossFit Lindsay, Hyland Crest long-term care home in Minden (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 35 high-risk contacts directly followed up through the Public Health Ontario contact tracing process that are missing the contacts’ county.
****As of March 15, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports 1 patient hospitalized with COVID-19 (increase of 1).
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: 6 (increase of 1)
Active cases: 12 (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: 421 (increase of 1)
Tests completed: 75,700 (increase of 309)
Vaccine doses administered: 12,508 (increase of 354)
Outbreaks: Unidentified workplace in Belleville (no change)
Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 319,374 (increase of 1,268)
COVID-19 variants of concern (VOC) confirmed cases: 1,106 of B.1.1.7 UK variant (increase of 70); 44 of B.1.351 South Africa variant (no change); 34 of P.1 Brazilian variant (no change)
VOC R(t): 1.41 (increase of 0.12, as of March 11)*
7-day average of daily new cases: 1,350 (decrease of 51)
Resolved: 298,570 (increase of 1,114), 93.8% of all cases (decrease of 0.1%)
Positivity rate: 3.8% (increase of 0.7%)
Hospitalizations: 699 (increase of 98)**
Hospitalizations in ICU: 298 (increase of 16)
Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 187 (increase of 1)
Deaths: 7,162 (increase of 9)
7-day average of daily new deaths: 12 (no change)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,881 (increase of 3)
Total tests completed: 11,789,084 (increase of 33,975)
Tests under investigation: 10,954 (decrease of 7,540)
Vaccination doses administered: 1,191,553 (increase of 33,198)
People fully vaccinated (two doses): 287,283 (increase of 1,668), 1.95% of Ontario’s population (est. 70-90% required for herd immunity)
*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 specific 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.
