Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Today, Ontario is reporting 1,553 new cases, with the seven-day average of daily cases increasing by 66 to 1,427. The provincial government’s top science advisors say Ontario is now in a third wave of the pandemic, with variants of concern driving exponential growth of cases in some areas of the province.
While Ontario is reporting only 2 more confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant today (for a total of 1,136) and 1 more case of the P.1 Brazilian variant (for a total of 35), the province’s top science advisors said earlier this week that presumed variants of concern accounted for almost half of new infections on March 15.
The provincial government announced today the Ottawa region is moving to the ‘Red-Control’ level of Ontario’s COVID-19 response framework effective March 19, as a result of worsening trends in key health indicators in the region.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 13 new cases to report and an additional 9 cases resolved, with the number of active cases across the region remaining unchanged at 101. See below for details for each health unit in the region.
Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (404), Peel (294), and York (176).
There are double-digit increases in Durham (85), Ottawa (82), Hamilton (80), Lambton (48), Waterloo (43), Halton (38), Eastern Ontario (33), Windsor-Essex (33), Thunder Bay (30), Niagara (28), Sudbury (24), Middlesex-London (24), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (18), Simcoe Muskoka (15), Chatham-Kent (15), Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (12), Leeds, Grenville & Lanark (12), Northwestern (11), and Brant (11), with smaller increases in Peterborough (9) and Algoma (8).
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, 58% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (569) among people ages 20-39 followed by 439 cases among people ages 40-59.
With 1,236 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 decreased by 0.4% from yesterday to 3.1%, meaning that 31 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on March 17.
Ontario is reporting 15 new COVID-19 deaths today, including 1 death in a long-term care home. Ontario has averaged 13 new daily deaths over the past week (no change from yesterday).
Hospitalizations have decreased by 11 from yesterday to 730, with the number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs increasing by 4 to 304, and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators decreasing by 4 to 186.
A total of 58,560 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation decreasing by 2,871 to 32,330.
A total of 1,359,453 doses of vaccine have now been administered, an increase of 58,119 from yesterday, with 292,269 people fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, an increase of 1,610 from yesterday, representing 1.98% of Ontario’s population.
There are 119 new cases in Ontario schools, a decrease of 60 from yesterday, including 99 student cases, 19 staff cases, and 1 case of an unidentified person. There are 22 new cases in licensed child care settings in Ontario, a decrease of 30 from yesterday, with 15 cases among children and 7 cases among staff.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 13 new cases to report, including 5 in Peterborough, 4 in Kawartha Lakes, 2 in Haliburton, 1 in Northumberland, and 1 in Hastings Prince Edward.
There are 11 new regional cases of presumed variants of concern, including 10 in Peterborough and 1 in Hastings Prince Edward.
An additional 9 cases have been resolved, including 5 in Peterborough, 3 in Northumberland, and 1 in Kawartha Lakes. Outbreaks at CrossFit Lindsay and Highland Wood long-term care home in Haliburton Highlands have been declared resolved.
There are currently 101 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region (no net change from yesterday), including 56 in Peterborough, 15 in Northumberland, 12 in Kawartha Lakes, 9 in Haliburton, and 9 in Hastings Prince Edward (3 in Quinte West, 2 in Belleville, 2 in Prince Edward County, 1 in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, and 1 in North Hastings).
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 793 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (727 resolved with 10 deaths), 563 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (509 resolved with 55 deaths), 472 in Northumberland County (445 resolved with 12 deaths), 60 in Haliburton County (50 resolved with 1 death), and 441 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (426 resolved with 6 deaths). The most recent death was reported in Peterborough on March 16.
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: 793 (increase of 6)*
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 1 (no change)
Presumed variants of concern cases: 136 (increase of 10)
Active cases: 56 (increase of 1)
Close contacts: 138 (decrease of 5)
Deaths: 10 (no change)
Resolved: 727 (increase of 5)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 27 (no change)**
Total tests completed: Over 45,250 (no change))
Outbreaks: Severn Court Student Residence, Trent Champlain College residence, unidentified congregate living facility in Peterborough (no change)
Vaccine doses administered: 13,911 (increase of 3,591 as of March 18)
*The health unit reports 5 new cases in the last 24 hours, with 3 cases from previous days added to the total case count.
**As of March 18, 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).
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: 1,095, including 563 in Kawartha Lakes, 472 in Northumberland, and 60 in Haliburton (increase of 7, including 4 in Kawartha Lakes, 1 in Northumberland, and 2 in Haliburton)*
Cases with N501Y mutation: 34, including 5 in Kawartha Lakes and 28 in Northumberland (decrease of 1 in Haliburton)**
Active cases: 36, including 12 in Kawartha Lakes, 15 in Northumberland, and 9 in Haliburton (net decrease of 3)
Probable cases: 0 (no change)
High-risk contacts: 367, including 82 in Kawartha Lakes, 189 in Northumberland, and 60 in Haliburton (net increase of 78)***
Hospitalizations (total to date): 49, including 29 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 (no change)
Resolved: 1,004, including 509 in Kawartha Lakes, 445 in Northumberland, 50 in Haliburton (increase of 4, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes and 3 in Northumberland)
Tests completed: 155,685 (increase of 1,701)
Outbreaks: Hyland Crest long-term care home in Minden, St. Michael Catholic Elementary School in Cobourg (decrease of 2)*****
*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 18, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports 1 patient hospitalized with COVID-19 (no change).
*****Outbreaks at CrossFit Lindsay and Highland Wood long-term care home in Haliburton Highlands have been declared resolved.
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: 441 (increase of 1)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 7 (increase of 1)
Active cases: 9 (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: 426 (no change)
Tests completed: 75,726 (no change)
Vaccine doses administered: 14,905 (increase of 1,084)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 1,345 (no change)
Outbreaks: None (no change)
Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 323,509 (increase of 1,553)
COVID-19 variants of concern (VOC) confirmed cases: 1,136 of B.1.1.7 UK variant (increase of 2); 47 of B.1.351 South Africa variant (no change); 35 of P.1 Brazilian variant (increase of 1)
VOC R(t): 1.34 (decrease of 0.01, as of March 14)*
7-day average of daily new cases: 1,427 (increase of 66)
Resolved: 303,493 (increase of 1,236), 93.8% of all cases (decrease of 0.1%)
Positivity rate: 3.1% (decrease of 0.4%)
Hospitalizations: 730 (decrease of 11)
Hospitalizations in ICU: 304 (increase of 4)
Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 186 (decrease of 4)
Deaths: 7,202 (increase of 15)
7-day average of daily new deaths: 13 (no change)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,888 (increase of 1)
Total tests completed: 11,925,298 (increase of 58,560)
Tests under investigation: 32,330 (decrease of 2,871)
Vaccination doses administered: 1,359,453 (increase of 58,119)
People fully vaccinated (two doses): 292,269 (increase of 1,610), 1.98% 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.
For more information about COVID-19 in Ontario, visit covid-19.ontario.ca.
